We need to keep the lines of communication open

In a tense world, our ability to communicate with each other is key: takeaways from the 76th UN General Assembly

The 76th UN General Assembly has given plenty of attention to the digital divide. “We can do better”, said UNGA President Abdulla Shahid, while Secretary-General Antonio Guterres rightly pointed out how wrong it is that half the world is still unconnected. But this UNGA has made me reflect more deeply on why that matters.

As many of the world’s nations got together in the same room for the first time since the pandemic, the atmosphere seemed often tense and tetchy. It’s as if Covid put nations in a fractious mood with each other, much like many families experienced after many months of being locked down together. That’s not surprising – world leaders are humans too, after all.

And when tensions are high, one thing matters above all else: to keep talking. As long as lines of communication are open, there is hope that disagreements can be solved and the worst outcomes can be avoided. The two sides in the Cold War realised that very clearly after the Cuban missile crisis, agreeing to install a hotline in Moscow and Washington.

In the popular imagination, that hotline was a big red telephone. In fact, the hotline changed as technology evolved: first it was teletype, then fax machines, then a computer link. It shows how talking depends on technology. But for our technologies to talk to each other depends, in turn, on common standards.

Towards a renewed multilateralism

Since 1865, agreeing on those standards has been the job of the International Telecommunication Union, or ITU, now a UN agency. Through the two World Wars, rise of independent countries, and the Cold War, the ITU kept people talking about how to talk. It recognized that before we can communicate about our disagreements, we need agreement on how to communicate.

Being able to talk implies belonging to the same network. That basic insight underlies both telecom systems and the United Nations. Listening to the speeches at the UNGA, I was struck by how many leaders looked back to the founding of the UN, in an era when everyone appreciated the value of multilateralism. Today it has become urgent that we rediscover that value.

The most fundamental assumption of our age is under serious threat – the assumption that, though there may be bumps in the road, the world is getting better. The threat of climate change looms ever more imminently, with Antonio Guterres calling the latest IPCC report a “code red” for humanity. And Covid has sent years of hard-won progress on the Sustainable Development Goals into reverse in many developing countries.

The world increasingly resembles the “burning platform” of an infamous decade-old speech by Nokia’s then CEO, describing how his company was being assailed from all sides. The only choice, he implied, was to jump into the icy sea. But we have nowhere else to jump. Despite ambitious plans to extend the reach of humanity, for now at least there is only one planet, and Covid has dramatically illustrated how impossible it is to wall yourself off from its problems.

Facing challenges together

Instead, we need solutions. Communications technology will play an important part in reviving momentum to achieve the SDGs – with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and the ITU’s Connect 2030 agenda setting specific goals and a framework for collaboration. To achieve real impact, though, we need to bring the private sector on board – a poignant observation in a month that saw the passing of John Ruggie, the driving force behind the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Working pragmatically with corporations is second nature to the ITU, where governments, industry, academia and all other stakeholders have always worked hand in hand to connect the world. This is exemplified by the recent partnership between the ITU and Vodafone to work on making smartphones more affordable for the 3.4 billion people who live in areas with mobile network coverage but are not yet online.

In a fast-changing world, learning from each other, wherever we are, is critical to quickly identify, share and implement good ideas. In early 2020, as countries raced to adapt to the sudden shift online of economic activity, governments with very different outlooks learned usefully from each other via the ITU’s REG4COVID platform. Now the Connect2Recover initiative is helping countries to identify and test digital solutions that could help us rebuild better and faster from the pandemic.

As the world looks beyond Covid, last week’s debates in New York have shown states have many disagreements. But the more we worry about new cold wars, the more we should appreciate the lesson of 156 years of the ITU: find areas of agreement, and make progress – and when we disagree, the best thing we can do is keep lines of communication open.