In Bangladesh, privacy is no longer a niche digital-rights issue. It now sits at the intersection of online fraud, technology-facilitated gender-based violence, digital welfare systems, platform power, and climate-disaster response. If we do not treat personal data as a rights issue now, it will keep being used as a weapon against the very people digital systems claim to serve.

Privacy in Bangladesh is often discussed as if it were a luxury concern, something secondary to connectivity, innovation, or service delivery. That is a mistake. Privacy is about power: who can see us, profile us, profit from us, silence us, and expose us. In a country where digital systems now shape communication, finance, welfare, policing, and political discourse, privacy is no longer a technical footnote. It is a democratic question and a social justice question. The good news is that Bangladesh has finally entered a new legal phase: the Personal Data Protection Ordinance, 2025 recognizes personal data as belonging to the individual, and government statements in 2026 say a National Data Governance Authority is being prepared to oversee collection, processing, protection, and accountability. But law on paper is not the same thing as rights in practice.

The scale of Bangladesh’s digital exposure is already enormous. By late 2025, 48.9 percent of people aged five and above were direct internet users. At the household level, 56.2 percent had at least one internet user. Mobile phone use stood at 80.6 percent, but only 56.5 percent of people owned their own handset. Men were more likely than women both to own a mobile phone and to use the internet: 63.2 percent of men owned a handset compared with 52.8 percent of women, while internet use was 51.2 percent for men and 46.3 percent for women. By January 2026, Bangladesh had 128.99 million internet subscriptions, including 114.22 million mobile internet subscriptions and 14.77 million fixed connections. This is a mobile-first, uneven, shared-device digital ecosystem. That matters because privacy is hardest to protect when one device is shared, one account is borrowed, and one SIM becomes the gateway to everything.

That reality becomes brutal when intimate content becomes a tool for coercive control. Bangladesh’s 2024 Violence Against Women Survey, the country’s largest such survey to date, explicitly recognized technology-facilitated gender-based violence. The survey and its accompanying materials show that selected forms of TFGBV included unwanted sexual communications, sexual blackmail, image-based abuse, and technology-facilitated controlling behaviors. More than 8 percent of women with technology access had experienced selected forms of TFGBV in their lifetime, and more than 5 percent had experienced it in the past year. Women aged 20 to 24 faced the highest risk, and 46 percent of perpetrators were strangers, the single largest group. This tells us something important: privacy loss is not incidental to digital violence. It is often the mechanism of violence itself.

In that sense, leaked photos, hacked accounts, doxxing, coerced screen-sharing, and sexual blackmail are not separate issues. They are part of the same structure. A private image becomes public punishment. A phone number becomes an opening for harassment. A message archive becomes leverage. A screenshot becomes social control. In Bangladesh, where social stigma still falls disproportionately on women, intimate data does not merely travel. It can destroy trust, relationships, education, livelihoods, and public participation. That is why privacy must be understood not as secrecy, but as the right to maintain control over one’s own digital life.

WhatsApp data theft and fraud show how quickly ordinary communication tools can be turned into extraction tools. In November 2025, Bangladesh Police warned of a growing trend of fraudsters impersonating government officials on WhatsApp to demand money. But the deeper problem goes beyond impersonation. Earlier, the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre found that citizens’ NID details and phone-call records were being sold through 21 WhatsApp groups, 48 Telegram groups, and 720 Facebook groups and pages with a combined 3.2 million members and followers. According to the NTMC letter reported by The Daily Star, the data had been accessed through official credentials and sold for money. In other words, privacy breaches in Bangladesh are not only happening through anonymous hackers. They can also grow out of institutional access, weak safeguards, and the informal market for personal data.

And when personal data becomes tradable, marginalized communities become the easiest targets. The people most dependent on digital systems are often the least equipped to defend themselves when things go wrong. The same BBS data that show rising connectivity also show unequal ownership, especially for women. Digital social protection is also expanding through data-driven systems. Bangladesh’s new Family Card initiative is described by a government-linked social protection platform as a database-driven digital identification and social protection instrument, with mobile financial transfers, one card per household in the female head’s name, and door-to-door data collection for selection. Roundtable discussions on digitalising social safety net programmes have already warned about persistent data inaccuracies, exclusion of vulnerable groups, and limited digital literacy among elderly beneficiaries. When access to cash, food, or welfare depends on clean data and usable devices, a privacy breach is not just embarrassing. It can become economically punishing.

This is also why reporting systems themselves need scrutiny. Bangladesh Police’s Police Cyber Support for Women is an important initiative, and the service officially exists to support women facing cyber-crimes. Yet the wider picture shows a gap between help-seeking and safe redress. A March 2026 Daily Star feature reported that 60,808 women had sought assistance from the support centre by May 2024, with 9,117 cyber-harassment complaints recorded in 2024 alone. But the national VAW survey also found that only 48.5 percent of respondents knew where or how to report violence, and just 2.2 percent had heard of One-Stop Crisis Centres. Reporting is necessary, but if complaint systems require survivors to hand over screenshots, chat logs, phone numbers, account links, and intimate content without strict confidentiality, data minimization, and trauma-sensitive handling, then a pathway meant for safety can itself become another site of exposure.

The platform side is no less serious. Bangladesh does not suffer only from “too little moderation” or “too much moderation.” It suffers from the wrong kind of moderation: delayed, distant, context-poor, and often insensitive to Bangla-language realities and gendered abuse. In March 2026, Amnesty International warned that Meta’s delays in addressing harmful Facebook content in Bangladesh risked fueling real-world violence. Amnesty cited the rise of harmful online content before the February parliamentary election, the amplification of sectarian narratives, and authorities’ concerns about Meta’s delayed response to violent posts. It also specifically asked Meta for data on Bangla-language moderation staffing and emergency mitigation measures. This is what “one size fits all” looks like in practice: platforms collect data and profit from engagement in Bangladesh, but their safety systems often arrive too late, know too little, and leave local women and minorities carrying the risk.

That failure is inseparable from the business model. Amnesty’s warning is especially important because it does not frame harm only as a content problem. It points to Meta’s surveillance-based business model, built around maximizing engagement, as a structure that can amplify sensational and polarizing content. That matters for Bangladesh because misogynistic abuse, intimate-image threats, religious incitement, and targeted harassment do not spread in a vacuum. They spread through infrastructures optimized to keep people watching, clicking, and reacting. Privacy, then, is not just violated by a leak or a hack. It is also eroded by a commercial environment in which more profiling, more recommendation, and more behavioral prediction can increase women’s vulnerability to humiliation, blackmail, and coordinated abuse.

The climate angle is often overlooked, but it should not be. During the 2024 floods, 5.82 million people across 11 districts were affected and 502,501 people were displaced into 3,403 evacuation shelters. UN Women’s rapid gender analysis of the same floods warned of rising safety and security concerns for women and girls in the aftermath. At the same time, humanitarian response in Bangladesh is increasingly digital. A 2025 CERF report noted that agencies directly transferred cash assistance to women’s mobile financial accounts during the flood response. In principle, that can improve autonomy and speed. But it also means that after the floodwaters recede, the data remain: names, phone numbers, locations, household composition, beneficiary status, and payment trails. Add this to Bangladesh’s broader move toward database-driven welfare, and the privacy question becomes unavoidable. In a climate-vulnerable country, data protection must be built into disaster response from the start, not added later as an afterthought.

Bangladesh’s new legal architecture could help, but only if it is enforced in a rights-centered way. Official reporting around the 2025 ordinance says citizens are the owners of their personal data and have rights to access, correct, delete, and restrict automated decisions made using that data. That is a major shift in principle. But rights groups and legal commentators have warned that broad exemptions, vague “necessity” clauses, and executive powers over data storage and transfer could still enable disproportionate surveillance and weaken accountability. ARTICLE 19 has said the framework must be grounded in privacy, freedom of expression, and access to information. Tech Global Institute and others have warned that broad public-interest or official-authority exemptions could leave much state data processing outside real accountability. So the core question is no longer whether Bangladesh has a data law. It is whether Bangladesh will have a privacy regime that serves people, or one that merely formalizes institutional power.

Reclaiming privacy in Bangladesh therefore requires more than awareness campaigns and stronger passwords. It requires political choice. Complaint systems for online abuse must be survivor-centered and privacy-by-design. Platforms must invest in timely Bangla-language moderation, fast takedown pathways for non-consensual intimate content, and meaningful transparency. Welfare and disaster-response systems must collect only the data they truly need, store them securely, and give people clear rights over correction, deletion, and grievance. And the state must accept a basic democratic principle: data gathered for service delivery cannot quietly become data for unchecked surveillance, profiling, or informal markets.

“Our data, our rights” should not be a slogan reserved for conferences or policy papers. In Bangladesh, it is now a practical demand from women facing sextortion, from families navigating digital welfare, from minorities exposed to platform harms, from disaster-affected communities pushed into datafied relief systems, and from every citizen whose records can be copied, sold, or misused without their knowledge. The digital age will not become more humane on its own. Bangladesh will have to insist that privacy is not a privilege, not a technical add-on, and not a barrier to progress. It is the condition for dignity, safety, and freedom in a data-driven society.

• AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B)|

• Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence & Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) for Bangladesh.

• Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

By AHM Bazlur Rahman
Policy Advocate on Digital Governance, Information Integrity, & Digital Democracy

On 18 March 2026, more than 800 participants gathered for the United Nations’ first Global AI Multistakeholder Dialogue, a preparatory consultation ahead of the inaugural Global Dialogue on AI Governance scheduled for Geneva this July. Convened by the co-chairs, with UNESCO, the International Telecommunication Union, and the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General serving as joint Secretariat, the meeting was framed as a major step toward a more coordinated global approach to artificial intelligence.

I was honoured to participate in the 1st United Nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance in my capacity as Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) for Bangladesh.

That description is accurate, but incomplete.

What unfolded was not merely a technical conversation about how to regulate emerging technology. It was a revealing political moment. It showed that the global struggle over AI governance is, at its core, a struggle over power: who gets to define the risks, who gets to shape the rules, whose harms are recognised, and whose voices remain peripheral while decisions of global consequence are being made.

Artificial intelligence is often presented as a tool of efficiency, productivity, and innovation. But governance is never only about tools. Governance is about the social order within which those tools operate. It is about who benefits, who is exposed, and who can seek a remedy when harm occurs. That is why the first UN dialogue matters. It exposed, with unusual clarity, the fault lines that will define whether global AI governance becomes a vehicle for justice or merely another polished system for managing inequality.

One theme stood out above all others: human rights law cannot remain a ceremonial attachment to AI governance. It must be the foundation.

This point is easy to endorse rhetorically and far harder to honour structurally. Everyone is now comfortable saying that AI should be “human rights-based.” But such language means very little if rights are invited into the room only after the main architecture has already been designed around other priorities, such as market growth, national competitiveness, technical scalability, or geopolitical advantage.

If that happens, human rights do not shape governance. They simply decorate it.

This distinction matters because AI is no longer a distant or speculative force. It is already embedded into labour markets, welfare systems, policing, education, healthcare, migration control, content moderation and public communication. It is already influencing how people are ranked, filtered, profiled, recommended to, excluded and surveilled. In that reality, rights cannot be treated as a later-stage compliance exercise. They must define the structure from the beginning.

Dignity, equality, non-discrimination, participation, transparency, accountability and access to remedy must not be inserted into AI governance after the central assumptions have been settled. They must be the assumptions.

A second major issue raised in the dialogue was the fragmentation of participation in civil society. This may sound procedural, but it is not. It goes directly to the credibility of the governance model itself.

The current global AI ecosystem is crowded with consultations, forums, expert tracks, working groups, diplomatic processes, standards initiatives and parallel policy conversations. This abundance is often celebrated as a sign of openness. In practice, however, it creates a quieter form of exclusion. The actors with resources, mobility, staff depth and institutional access are able to remain present across multiple tracks. Those without such capacity are not.

The burden falls most heavily on under-resourced organisations, especially from the Global South, that are expected to engage in highly technical, fast-moving and multilingual processes while lacking the budgets and infrastructure that wealthier institutions take for granted. The result is formal openness without substantive equity.

This is not simply a logistical inconvenience. It is a governance failure.

A process cannot meaningfully call itself multistakeholder if participation is distributed so unevenly that only a narrow class of well-connected actors can engage consistently. Inclusion is not achieved by multiplying forums if most affected communities do not have a realistic chance to shape outcomes across them. In such a system, fragmentation becomes a mechanism through which inequality is reproduced while procedural legitimacy is maintained.

Then there is the most unsettling absence of all: the ordinary public.

Governments are represented. Experts are represented. Industry is represented. Civil society networks, to some extent, are represented. But ordinary citizens, the people already living with the consequences of AI systems, remain largely absent from the room.

That absence should alarm anyone serious about democratic legitimacy.

The people most affected by AI are not hypothetical subjects of future policy. They are workers assessed by algorithmic management systems, women subjected to technology-facilitated abuse, young people shaped by recommender architectures, language communities excluded from model design, and citizens whose information environment is increasingly mediated by opaque systems they neither chose nor control. Yet their informed experiences are still weakly reflected in global governance discussions.

This is not a minor participatory gap. It is a legitimacy problem.

If AI governance continues to be built primarily around institutional, diplomatic and corporate perspectives, then it will reproduce the same top-down logic that has already undermined public trust in digital governance more broadly. Public legitimacy cannot be manufactured through technical sophistication alone. It requires governance structures that are responsive to lived experience, not just expert abstraction.

Another of the most important interventions during the dialogue concerned the role of the Global South. Here, the discussion cut through one of the most persistent habits of international technology policy: the assumption that governance models developed around the concerns of high-capacity jurisdictions can simply be transferred outward to everyone else.

They cannot.

The call for a global governance floor rather than a ceiling was one of the most meaningful contributions of the session. It recognised that countries do not encounter AI through a single risk profile. For a handful of powerful states and corporations, the dominant concern may be frontier systems, advanced computer governance, or long-horizon safety scenarios. Those concerns are real. But for many countries in the Global South, the immediate and pressing issues are different: exploitative data practices, opaque platform enforcement, discriminatory automation, disinformation, language exclusion, lack of consumer protection, and limited access to remedy.

To pretend that all contexts can be governed by the same priorities in the same sequence is not a neutral choice. It is a political choice that privileges the worldview of the already powerful.

Global South is not a passive recipient of regulatory ideas produced elsewhere. It has distinct institutional conditions, social vulnerabilities, democratic challenges and development priorities. It must be recognised not as an audience for imported governance, but as a co-author of the global framework itself. Anything less would merely repeat older patterns of global standard-setting in which power remains concentrated while inclusion is largely symbolic.

The dialogue also laid bare a serious and urgent gap in the current governance conversation: the absence of meaningful cross-border infrastructure to identify and respond to AI-related harms.

This is astonishing given the transnational nature of AI systems. Models, platforms, automated services, and generative tools operate across jurisdictions. Harm does as well. A single system can affect people in multiple countries at once, but accountability remains fragmented across national regulators, domestic legal systems, and isolated policy frameworks. As a result, harms are often visible only in fragments. One country sees one effect, another sees a different one, and no institution has the authority or structure to assemble the full picture.

There is still no robust global mechanism for incident reporting, coordinated evidence collection, shared regulatory alerting, or rights-based cross-border response. This is not a minor technical omission. It is a structural vacuum. Without such infrastructure, global AI governance risks remaining a language of principle without the institutional means to respond when harms outpace legal systems.

And then there is the issue too often treated as peripheral when it is, in fact, central: Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGVB).

TFGBV cannot be dismissed as a niche concern or a specialist matter for separate policy silos. It sits squarely at the centre of today’s AI harms. It is intensified by recommender systems, generative image tools, synthetic media, identity manipulation, automated abuse, weak platform enforcement, and inadequate legal remedies. It affects bodily autonomy, mental well-being, equal participation, freedom of expression, and democratic voice.

When women and girls are driven out of digital spaces through technology-enabled violence, this is not simply an online safety issue. It is a governance issue, a rights issue, and a justice issue. Any AI governance framework that fails to meaningfully integrate TFGBV is not merely incomplete. It is fundamentally flawed.

The broader lesson from the first United Nations Global AI Multistakeholder Dialogue is clear. The debate over AI governance is not only about controlling technology. It is about deciding what kind of international order will govern that technology and whose interests.

Currently, we are learning from the project titled Strengthening Resilience Against Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and Promoting Digital Development.

Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) is implementing the project titled “Strengthening Resilience Against Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and Promoting Digital Development,” under the Nagorikata: Civic Engagement Fund (CEF) programme. The GFA Consulting Group is providing Technical Support and is funded by Switzerland, Global Affairs Canada, and the European Union.

Will AI governance be built as a genuinely rights-based, inclusive, and accountable framework? Or will it become another diplomatic and regulatory architecture in which power speaks first, legitimacy is assumed, and those most exposed to harm are invited in only after the terms have been set?

That is the real choice now confronting the international community.

The danger is not only that the world will adopt weak rules. It is that it may adopt impressive-looking rules that leave underlying inequalities intact. A governance system can be globally branded, procedurally elaborate, and rhetorically inclusive, yet still reproduce the very hierarchies it claims to address. That danger is particularly acute in the AI era, where technical complexity can easily become a shield for political imbalance.

The international community should resist that path.

AI governance cannot be credible if it is written mainly by those closest to power and then presented as a universal settlement. It cannot claim legitimacy while ordinary citizens remain peripheral. It cannot call itself rights-based while treating human rights as secondary. It cannot speak of inclusion while structuring participation in ways that systematically privilege the well-resourced. And it cannot protect people in practice while leaving cross-border harms and gendered violence inadequately addressed.

The Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication will submit written input ahead of the 30 April 2026 deadline. That contribution will be guided by a simple conviction: the future of AI governance must be grounded in human rights, democratic legitimacy, Global South agency, platform accountability, and meaningful protection against real-world harm.

Because the central question is no longer whether artificial intelligence should be governed. It is whether governance will serve the many or merely formalize the power of the few.

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AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy| MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) | Chief Executive Officer| Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) | & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence & Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) for Bangladesh.

Policy Research Fellow | Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution| ceo@bnnrc.net |

Dhaka/New York | 16 December 2025 — As the world marks two decades of efforts to build an information society, the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting (16–17 December 2025), held under the WSIS+20 review process, serves as a timely reminder that building a digital society is not simply about deploying technology. It is about strengthening rights, capabilities, trust, and accountability. In this context, Bangladesh’s urgent priority is to translate global commitments into a measurable, inclusive, and human-centred national action agenda.

The core message of WSIS+20 is clear: a people-centred information society is not defined by high-speed Internet alone, but by a safe, meaningful, and equal-opportunity digital life—one in which women and girls, persons with disabilities, marginalized workers, and rural communities can participate fully and benefit fairly.

WSIS+20 for Bangladesh: A Practical Mirror

Bangladesh has made visible progress in digital services, connectivity, and innovation. Yet a critical question remains: has the benefit of this progress reached everyone equally? If gaps in inclusion, trust, and accountability persist, digital transformation can also produce new forms of inequality. Three priority realities must therefore guide national implementation:

1. Internet access alone does not guarantee empowerment—without skills, language access, safety, and affordability, connectivity can widen disparities.

2. Weak digital governance weakens the digital state—data risks, cyber threats, and misinformation erode public trust.

3. E-services do not automatically mean inclusion—unless we measure who is excluded and why, policy becomes blind to real barriers.

Five Policy Compasses from WSIS+20 for Bangladesh

1) Meaningful Connectivity:
Beyond coverage, ensure affordable data, stable speeds, and reliability. Prioritise backhaul development for remote char/haor/hill regions, connect schools and health facilities, and treat emergency communications as a critical service.

2) Digital Public Services as Rights-Respecting Services:
Digital services must include offline alternatives, simple grievance redress mechanisms, and user-friendly design aligned with citizens’ language and literacy. Otherwise, services can become “form-driven” systems that increase burdens rather than reduce them.

3) Trust-Based Data Governance:
A data protection framework must ensure transparency, independent oversight, data minimisation, purpose limitation, and effective appeal/remedy mechanisms—because once trust is broken, acceptance of digital services declines sharply.

4) Safe Digital Spaces—Especially for Women and Girls:
To counter TFGBV, online harassment, and blackmail, strengthen digital safety education in schools and colleges, rapid support/help desks, platform accountability, and victim-centred law enforcement practices.

5) Local Language and Knowledge Infrastructure:
Bangla content, locally adapted service design, community media/radio, and open standards should not be treated as “soft” priorities. They are the core infrastructure of inclusion.

What “National Implementation” Means: A Three-Level Roadmap

Level 1: Policy and Law (Rules of the Game)

• Rights-respecting data protection: independent regulator, transparency reporting, clear limits on exceptions, and judicial oversight.

• Make interoperability and open standards mandatory in digital public infrastructure (ID, payments, service platforms).

Level 2: Institutions and Capacity (Capacity to Deliver)

• Establish Digital Service Design Units in government offices to integrate UX, inclusion, privacy, and cyber-risk.

• Strengthen citizen support centres at Union/Ward level—because inclusion is ultimately decided at the local level.

Level 3: Measurement and Accountability
Move beyond counting online services; measure:

• usage rates among women/persons with disabilities/rural communities

• time and cost reductions for citizens

• average grievance resolution time

• breach/cyber incident reporting and remedy

• safety and trust metrics

Statement

“WSIS+20 reminds us that the true measure of digital transformation is not the expansion of technology, but fair access, rights-respecting governance, and public trust. For Bangladesh, translating global commitments into national action now depends on maintaining a balanced focus on connectivity, capability, safety, and accountability—the key challenge and the greatest opportunity ahead.”

Note for Editors/Press

This statement provides a policy summary of WSIS+20 lessons and potential national priorities for Bangladesh, prepared in the context of the UN GA High-Level Meeting (16–17 December 2025).

AHM Bazlur Rahman
MSS (Government & Politics), LL.B
Digital Democracy Specialist and Responsible AI Ambassador for Bangladesh

Two Decades of Progress Towards Legal Recognition of Community Radio Broadcasting: Harnessing Digital Adoption and Innovation for Collective Empowerment

Over the past twenty years, the movement for legal recognition of community radio has advanced significantly, transitioning from the fringes of activism to becoming an integral part of laws, regulations, and national strategies. Many countries now recognize a “third tier” of broadcasting, granting licenses to community-owned and governed stations—a remarkable achievement that opens new doors for community voices.

However, having legal recognition is just the beginning; it is essential to translate this acknowledgment into real power in people’s everyday information lives. While community radio has established its legal status, the broader communication landscape has been transformed by digital technologies, platforms, and data-driven business models. It is crucial for community broadcasters to embrace digital adoption and innovation; otherwise, they risk becoming marginal players—even with formal recognition.

Legal Recognition: A Foundation for Growth

As we reflect on two decades of progress, it’s vital to highlight the concrete achievements that have been made:

- The explicit definition of community radio in law and policy;

- Clearer license categories and procedures that enhance understanding;

- The freedom to operate transparently and form networks.

These advancements are fundamental for ensuring long-term sustainability and planning for community stations. Legal recognition not only indicates that governments value local voices, but it also sets the stage for greater empowerment and resilience.

However, it’s important to recognize that legal status alone does not guarantee influence. A station can be legally operational yet face challenges from economic pressures, political hurdles, or changing demographics. Legal recognition should be seen as a stepping stone, providing the basis for further development rather than an endpoint.

The Digital Shift: A New Meeting Place for Communities

As policy discussions have evolved, so too have media consumption habits, soaring to new heights with the rise of smartphones, social media, and messaging apps. These digital tools have become woven into everyday life, allowing community members to receive news, connect with others, and share information seamlessly.

For community radio, this shift presents both exciting opportunities and important challenges. In a time filled with misinformation, trust in local, accountable voices is more crucial than ever. To stay relevant, community broadcasters should adapt by functioning as hybrid analogue-digital hubs, integrating traditional broadcasting with new digital communication methods.

Embracing Meaningful Digital Adoption

Digital adoption goes beyond merely having a social media presence or streaming radio content online. It involves a comprehensive rethinking of how content is produced, shared, and discussed. Key strategies for effective digital adoption include:

- Multi-platform content creation: Blending live broadcasts with podcasts, short videos, and engaging visuals to reach diverse audiences;

- Two-way engagement: Utilizing SMS, messaging apps, and social media to collect questions and story ideas from the community and address them on-air;

- Empowering youth leadership: Involving young community members as producers and digital curators, fostering a sense of ownership;

- Data-driven insights: Monitoring metrics like listener questions and download statistics to refine programming and topics.

By adopting these strategies, community radio can enhance its reach and responsiveness, reinforcing its core identity while navigating the digital landscape.

Innovating for the Public Good

In community media, innovation can be defined by a commitment to enhancing community understanding and collective action. It should not be limited to purchasing new equipment or chasing viral trends; instead, the focus must be on initiatives that genuinely strengthen community engagement. Examples can include:

- Programs designed to clarify misleading online information;

- Collaborative series co-created with women’s groups, farmers, or youth on pressing issues like climate change and public health;

- Accessible digital archives that allow effective programs to be shared and adapted across multiple stations;

Additionally, innovation can promote transparency and engagement internally by publishing station policies online and inviting community feedback.

Navigating New Risks in the Digital Space

While digital tools bring immense potential, they also pose new challenges. Individuals who voice their opinions online may encounter harassment, and personal stories can spread beyond their intended audience. Furthermore, platforms may change their guidelines unexpectedly, limiting the visibility of community-generated content.

Responsible digital adoption must therefore prioritize:

- Clear policies to ensure privacy, consent, and respectful communication;

- Basic training in digital safety for both staff and volunteers;

- Forming partnerships with civil society and regulators to safeguard community voices and rights.

Building Towards a Shared Future Agenda

Looking ahead, it’s essential to align the progress made in legal recognition with practices that embrace technological advancements. We envision communication as a public good—one that is shaped and owned by the communities it serves.

Legal frameworks should not only allow for digital experimentation by community broadcasters but also actively encourage it through funding, skill development, and equitable access to spectrum and data. In turn, stations should begin to view digital adoption and innovation as integral to their mission, rather than optional enhancements.

By effectively navigating both analogue and digital realms—remaining firmly rooted in local realities while expanding into broader networks—community media can ensure that legal recognition is not merely a conclusion, but rather the foundation for a transformative new era. In this future, communities will not just receive information about their destinies; they will actively shape that narrative through their own voices and on their own terms.

AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy | Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Bangladesh

From “Access” to “Integrity”

For many years, the national dialogue has been centred on connectivity and access: fibre-optic infrastructure, mobile coverage, digital services, online education, and the “Digital Bangladesh” vision. While these accomplishments are noteworthy, the more pressing issue is information integrity. It raises critical questions about the quality, independence, and safety of circulating information. Who defines visibility? Who assumes the risks when information becomes a tool for harm?

In Bangladesh, the answers reveal uncomfortable truths. The public sphere is characterized by a blend of partisan media, state-aligned regulations, opaque platform governance, and a pervasive fear of “crossing the line” in digital expression. Consequently, misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation do not appear in isolation; they are intertwined with the existing power dynamics.

Troubled Democracy and Fragile Speech

A troubled democracy encompasses more than disputed elections or a weak opposition; it touches upon the capacity of citizens to engage in meaningful dialogue, criticize openly, and organize without fear. In the digital landscape, various trends threaten these fundamental democratic processes.

Firstly, the concentration of media ownership and political power diminishes pluralism. Much of what is disseminated as “news” is influenced by partisan agendas, patronage, and corporate interests. While online platforms and YouTube journalism have attempted to carve out alternative spaces, they are also susceptible to legal and financial pressures.

Secondly, the legal framework around online speech – encompassing various ICT and cybercrime laws – is often viewed as ambiguous and open to exploitation. Even laws that supposedly shield against “false” or “harmful” content can have a chilling effect on legitimate criticism and investigative work. Hence, many journalists, activists, and young individuals resort to self-censorship long before any formal complaints arise.

Thirdly, political actors actively leverage information disorder. Disinformation campaigns, troll coordination, character attacks, and the strategic leaking of personal information are tactics employed to undermine critics, human rights advocates, women in public roles, and opposition voices. This exploitation of information chaos is not a mere by-product of digital advancement; it is a deliberate means of control.

Information Ecosystems as Power Systems

It is tempting to view the information ecosystem as a neutral space that merely hosts content. In truth, it operates as a complex power system. At the top are global tech companies that design algorithms, set moderation policies, and monetize user engagement. Below them are states that legislate, negotiate, and sometimes pressure platforms to remove or obscure content. At the national level, a host of actors – media outlets, political entities, security organizations, and commercial entities – vie to influence what is visible or invisible online.

This creates a unique paradox for Bangladesh. Citizens heavily depend on a limited number of dominant platforms for political insights and daily communication, yet these platforms operate with little transparency about how they decide content visibility. The architecture of these platforms—a like button, share counts, recommendation algorithms—quietly steers emotions and drives polarization. With Bangladesh’s youthful demographic, high mobile usage, and intense political rivalries, the country stands at the perfect crossroads for both genuine civic engagement and large-scale manipulation.

The State of Knowledge on Information Integrity

Despite the significance of these issues, a developing body of locally grounded research on information integrity in Bangladesh remains. Some studies have emerged, focusing on online hate speech, digital violence against women, election misinformation, journalist harassment, and data protection gaps. Civil society organizations, rights groups, and select academic institutions have begun documenting patterns of online abuse, governmental overreach, and platform involvement.

However, substantial gaps remain. Many research efforts are isolated projects driven by donor agendas rather than part of a comprehensive national research strategy. Researchers often face limited data access; state institutions rarely publish detailed information on complaints, content removals, or surveillance practices. Crucially, marginalized groups – women, gender-diverse individuals, rural youth, and ethnic/religious minorities – are frequently overlooked in discussions about information integrity, even though they often feel its impacts most acutely.

Advancing Digital Democracy, Not Just Digital Control

For digital development to strengthen rather than undermine democracy, Bangladesh must transcend a narrow emphasis on infrastructure and “security”. A rights-based approach to information integrity should encompass four integral components:

1. Protecting Fundamental Freedoms: It is essential to uphold online and offline freedoms of expression, privacy, and association as non-negotiable aspects of digital policy. Laws addressing online harms must be clearly defined, proportionate, and subject to independent oversight. Ambiguous terms like “offense,” “defamation,” or “anti-state content” must not become tools of dissent suppression.

2. Strengthening Independent Media: Information integrity relies on trustworthy intermediaries who can investigate, verify, and contextualize information. This necessitates support for independent media business models, protection for journalists against legal and physical threats, and promotion of ethical digital reporting standards. While fact-checking initiatives are beneficial, they cannot substitute for a structurally compromised media landscape.

3. Building Resilient Citizens: Digital democracy must focus on empowering citizens to act, not just protecting them from harm. Media and information literacy programs should be implemented in schools, universities, community centers, and professional training settings, enabling individuals to recognize manipulation, safeguard their data, and participate in respectful, evidence-based discussions. This is especially critical for young people who navigate much of their social and political lives online.

4. Demanding Accountability: There must be a concerted effort to hold global platforms accountable through regulation, advocacy, and strategic partnerships, encouraging investments in local language moderation and transparency in Bangladesh. Simultaneously, state institutions must also operate transparently regarding surveillance capabilities, data retention policies, law enforcement requests, and AI utilization in governance.

Towards a More Just Information Order

While Bangladesh’s democracy is fragile, it is not destined to fail. The digital landscape holds the potential to exacerbate its challenges through surveillance, propaganda, and fear, or conversely, to create avenues for more inclusive participation and accountability. The distinction hinges on our commitment to treat information integrity not merely as a technical issue for experts to resolve, but as a political and ethical struggle over whose voices matter, whose rights are safeguarded, and whose stories are told.

In this regard, the information ecosystem transcends being a mere backdrop for democracy; it becomes a primary battleground determining the future of democracy in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF) stands out as an inspiring example of how a developing nation can successfully adapt and democratize Internet governance principles. Established in 2006 in alignment with the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (UN IGF) framework, BIGF has flourished into an inclusive and transparent multistakeholder platform that not only champions Bangladesh’s national interests but also enriches the global digital dialogue.

At its essence, BIGF serves as a constructive bridge among various stakeholders—government agencies, civil society, private-sector leaders, academia, media professionals, and technical experts. By encouraging open dialogue among these diverse groups, BIGF ensures that digital policies and governance frameworks reflect both national contexts and global best practices. In doing so, it has secured its place as a credible national forum, adept at addressing evolving challenges in digital transformation, cybersecurity, privacy, and the safeguarding of human rights online.

A Pioneering National Initiative in Global Internet Governance

As the first national chapter of the UN Internet Governance Forum worldwide, BIGF holds a unique position in the evolution of Internet governance. Its proactive establishment showcases Bangladesh’s vision in recognizing the transformative potential of the digital landscape and its dedication to fostering inclusive engagement among all stakeholders in the governance process. This foundational step has paved the way for a participatory culture in digital policymaking, embracing values of inclusion, accountability, and shared responsibility rather than centralized control.

Over nearly two decades, BIGF has faithfully upheld the core principles of the UN IGF: openness, transparency, and multistakeholder collaboration. Its active contributions to the global agenda advocate for a free, secure, and inclusive Internet that promotes sustainable development, innovation, and social justice. Through continuous engagement in regional and international IGF processes, BIGF has also enhanced Bangladesh’s standing as a thought leader in the Global South.

The BIGF delegation has regularly participated in the Annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) since 2006 and the Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) since 2010. The BIGF is a member of the Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA), which was established to support the UN Internet Governance Forum.

BIGF has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Aspire to Innovate (a2i) from the ICT Division of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, and the Internet Society—Bangladesh Chapter. This collaboration aims to enhance partnerships and tackle Internet governance challenges. The goal is to promote comprehensive policy development and implement frameworks within the digital landscape.

Championing Inclusivity through Thematic and Demographic Platforms

A hallmark of BIGF is its unwavering commitment to inclusivity. The Forum has cultivated a vibrant network of thematic and demographic initiatives that make Internet governance accessible to audiences from all walks of life. Key initiatives include the Bangladesh School of Internet Governance (bdSIG), Bangladesh Youth IGF, Bangladesh Women IGF, Bangladesh Kids IGF, and Bangladesh Academia IGF.

Each platform serves a distinct purpose in fostering digital literacy, civic participation, and leadership among diverse social groups:

· Bangladesh School of Internet Governance(bdSIG) empowers emerging professionals and activists with the knowledge and skills necessary to engage effectively in national, regional, and international digital policy processes.

· Youth IGF nurtures a new generation of leaders who articulate youth perspectives on critical issues such as data rights, online safety, and entrepreneurship.

· Women IGF creates a supportive space for women to voice concerns about online gender-based violence, digital inclusion, and access to technology.

· Kids IGF, one of the first global initiatives of its kind, raises awareness among children and guardians regarding digital rights, safety, and responsible online behavior.

· Academia IGF connects researchers and educators to promote evidence-based policy recommendations for national and global governance frameworks.

Through these interconnected efforts, BIGF has established a multifaceted ecosystem that bridges awareness, advocacy, and practical action, transforming Internet governance from a remote policy concept into an engaged social movement rooted in local experiences yet aligned with global standards.

Bridging Local Realities with Global Aspirations

BIGF’s success is closely tied to its ability to frame global Internet governance debates within Bangladesh’s unique socio-economic and cultural contexts. It acknowledges that effective digital governance extends beyond mere infrastructure; it also hinges on the active participation, trust, and voices of the people. By facilitating dialogue among government, the private sector, and grassroots actors, the Forum helps translate global commitments—such as the WSIS Action Lines, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN Pact for the Future, and the Global Digital Compact into actionable national priorities.

For instance, discussions within BIGF have informed policymaking in key areas such as digital inclusion, spectrum management, cybersecurity, and data governance. Its platforms have provided timely insights into pressing issues ranging from misinformation and disinformation to digital taxation and the ethics of artificial intelligence. These contributions underscore the value of local multistakeholder frameworks in strengthening global governance.

A Model for the Global South

The Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum exemplifies a “Global South model” for localized digital collaboration. It illustrates how an open and inclusive process can thrive in a developing-country context, harmonising the interests of the state, the market, and society while placing citizens at the heart of decision-making. The Forum’s grassroots approach and commitment to inclusivity offer crucial lessons for other countries seeking to strengthen their national IGF structures.

Additionally, BIGF’s adaptability and resilience over nearly two decades underscore the importance of sustained institutional support for digital governance. Whether addressing challenges such as cyber threats, promoting media literacy, or advocating equitable Internet access, BIGF continues to focus on dialogue and collaborative problem-solving rather than polarization or control.

Looking Ahead: Building the Next Decade of Digital Cooperation

As Bangladesh approaches 2026 and beyond, BIGF stands ready to tackle the next wave of digital governance challenges—ranging from artificial intelligence ethics to cross-border data governance, and environmental sustainability of digital infrastructure, to addressing emerging online harms.

To maintain its effectiveness, BIGF must continue to foster collaboration across stakeholder groups and strengthen its connections to regional and global processes, such as the Asia-Pacific IGF and the UN WSIS+20 Review. It must also work to amplify the voices of marginalized groups, local innovators, and the rural digital workforce, ensuring that Internet governance remains both inclusive and forward-thinking.

Conclusion

From 2006 to 2025, the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum has evolved from a groundbreaking national initiative into a globally recognized model for inclusive, multistakeholder digital dialogue. Its steadfast commitment to transparency, inclusiveness, and rights-based governance has established it as a pillar of Bangladesh’s digital development journey.

By linking local realities to global aspirations, BIGF showcases how collaborative Internet governance can drive not only technological progress but also social justice, empowerment, and collective resilience in the digital age.

-AHM Bazlur Rahman, Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics | Bachelor of Laws (LL.B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC). Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

He has been actively engaged with the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process since 2002, contributing to global dialogues on digital inclusion, media development, and multistakeholder Internet governance. His work bridges grassroots innovation with international digital policy advocacy, emphasising inclusive and rights-based approaches to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Digital Development. He can be reached: +8801711881647

Today, 20 community radio stations broadcast over 200 hours of programming daily, engaging more than 1,000 young men and women. This innovative medium has rapidly gained popularity, reaching approximately 10 million people across 110 upazilas in 16 districts. The success of these stations has drawn wide recognition and appreciation from stakeholders across the public and private sectors.

Community radio has always been more than just a broadcasting medium; it has fostered a sense of belonging. This medium has transformed information into meaningful dialogue, turned technology into trust, and generated solidarity through sound.

Impact of Community Radio in Bangladesh

Voice for the Voiceless:

Community radio has provided marginalized and disadvantaged groups with a direct platform to express their perspectives and share their experiences. It has amplified the voices of those previously unheard, turning listeners into active participants in community dialogue.

Access to Information:

By ensuring access to timely and relevant information, community radio has empowered rural populations socially, politically, economically, culturally, and environmentally.

Dialogue and Good Governance:

Community radio has established an effective communication bridge between citizens, elected representatives, and government and non-government officials fostering transparency, accountability, and participatory governance.

Linking Citizens with National Development:

Through its locally relevant programming, community radio has connected rural communities with key national priorities such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and encouraged local ownership of national development agendas.

As Bangladesh now stands at the precipice of a new communication era — the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the country’s 20+ community radio stations are presented with both significant challenges and exciting opportunities: how can this community-centric medium adapt and thrive in a technology-driven age?

From Broadcasting to Digital Ecosystems

Community radio is already embarking on a digital transition. All stations now maintain active Facebook pages and livestreams, allowing youth volunteers to record stories using smartphones, edit them with open-source tools, and share them online.

The next step would involve deeper integration — forging AI-enabled community media ecosystems that merge voice, data, and active participation. This evolution can help narrow the digital divide by connecting rural voices with digital intelligence, ensuring that technology serves the people rather than overshadowing them.

The Potential of AI for Community Radio

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to empower community radio in several transformative ways:

Local-language Access and Voice Assistants: AI-powered voice systems can understand and respond in Bangla and regional dialects. For instance, a farmer in Bhola island could ask, “What should I do if pests attack my rice?” and receive a clear, spoken response sourced from agricultural databases, translated and contextualised by AI — ready to be broadcast by the radio host.

Data-Driven Programming: AI tools can analyse listener feedback, SMS data, and social media trends to pinpoint the issues that matter most to various communities. These insights can inform programme design, making it evidence-based, participatory, and locally relevant.

Accessibility and Inclusion: AI technologies like text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and real-time translation can enhance the accessibility of radio content for people with disabilities and multilingual audiences, ensuring that all voices are heard and valued.

Emphasizing Human-Centered Intelligence

The true strength of AI lies not in replacing human storytellers but in enhancing their ability to inform, translate, and connect. A forward-thinking community radio station could incorporate AI-assisted content producers — young individuals empowered to use AI tools for data collection and processing while still conveying stories with empathy and emotion. While machines can provide structure, only humans can deliver meaning, sustaining the core values of trust, participation, and human connection inherent in community radio.

Innovating Within Local Contexts

The rich diversity of Bangladesh presents vast opportunities for AI-driven innovation. Each region has unique communication needs, and AI can help cater to these differences:

- In coastal areas, community radio stations could harness AI to analyse weather data and issue early warning messages for fishing communities.

- In flood-prone char lands, AI could facilitate predictive alerts concerning river erosion or crop diseases.

- In the hill tracts, AI-assisted translation could effectively communicate development messages in indigenous languages.

This model of innovation could evolve into a National Network of AI-Enabled Community Media Hubs, linking local knowledge systems with national data infrastructures to ensure that information is both scientifically sound and deeply human.

Creating Responsible Policies and Participation

With opportunities come responsibilities. Ethical frameworks and inclusive governance structures must govern the integration of AI into community radio broadcasting:

Data Protection and Privacy: The voices of the community — whether in voice notes, messages, or behavioural data — are invaluable. Any use of this data for AI training must guarantee informed consent, privacy, and ownership.

Accountability and Control: Key questions need to be addressed: Who owns the servers? Who determines the filters and algorithms? If decisions about AI integration are made without community involvement, there is a risk of creating another remote authority, counter to the mission of community media.

Participatory AI Policy: Bangladesh’s forthcoming AI policy should specifically recognise community media as vital public-interest digital actors, enabling radio stations to access national AI infrastructure, training, and open datasets. AI must serve as a tool for empowerment rather than surveillance or exclusion.

Empowering Youth as “AI Media Facilitators

The future generation of community broadcasters will evolve into AI Media Facilitators. Young people, especially women and rural youth, can be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to utilise AI tools for data analysis, translation, and storytelling.

By fostering both digital and algorithmic literacy, these young communicators will transform raw data into relevant, human-centered narratives. Investing in their development will ensure that AI strengthens democratic engagement instead of undermining it.

Conclusion: Towards the Democratization of Intelligence

Community radio has the potential to evolve from simply broadcasting rural voices to facilitating intelligent conversations.

By integrating its grassroots communication heritage with the transformative power of AI, Bangladesh can enhance local development and democratise the intelligence landscape.

When a fisherman’s voice note from Cox’s Bazar receives the same algorithmic attention as a data set from Dhaka, this represents a significant step toward digital justice. In doing so, Bangladesh can demonstrate to the world that intelligence, whether artificial or otherwise, rightfully belongs to everyone.

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AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

In our ongoing battle against climate change in Bangladesh, the integrity of our information is not only important but essential. It corresponds profoundly with the goals set in the third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 3.0. When we prioritize accurate and trustworthy information, we empower ourselves and each other to create a meaningful, positive impact on our environment and our communities.

Bangladesh stands at the forefront of the global climate crisis, grappling with pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges. From rising sea levels and intensified cyclones to riverbank erosion, salinity intrusion, and unpredictable rainfall patterns, our nation faces a daunting reality. We know that effectively addressing these climate-related issues is not solely about constructing infrastructure and embracing green technologies; it profoundly involves ensuring information integrity. Reliable, transparent, and accessible information is crucial for informed policymaking, effective adaptation strategies, and mobilizing our communities. By prioritizing the integrity of our information, we can significantly enhance our ability to respond to climate risks together, fostering resilience and unity.

It is also vital for us to clarify the difference between misinformation and disinformation, as understanding these distinctions can significantly enhance our approach to information integrity. Disinformation is the intentional dissemination of false information intended to harm or deceive others, whereas misinformation often arises from well-meaning individuals who unknowingly share inaccurate information. Recognizing these nuances empowers us to combat the spread of falsehoods that can threaten our collective understanding and response to climate issues.

Moreover, addressing hate speech is equally important. This form of communication can harm individuals and groups based on characteristics such as religion, ethnicity, or gender, creating division in an already complex landscape. Misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech, when combined, can erode our information ecosystem, stifling social progress at a time when we need to come together more than ever.

While the threats to information integrity are not new, the impact of these challenges has escalated dramatically in our digital age. The rapid spread of information can often lead to confusion and misunderstanding among our communities. We must take proactive steps to mitigate the adverse effects of misinformation and strive for clear communication, ensuring that everyone can find their footing in the conversation around climate change.

Understanding Information Integrity

Information integrity means that our shared information is accurate, reliable, accessible, and trustworthy. In the context of climate change, maintaining this integrity allows all of us—policymakers, scientists, journalists, and communities—to unite around a common understanding of the truth.

Given the vulnerabilities related to climate change that intertwine with issues of poverty and governance in Bangladesh, the importance of information integrity truly cannot be overstated. Timely and accurate information can facilitate local adaptation efforts and foster social cohesion, truly making a difference in the lives of those most affected.

· Addressing Misinformation About Climate Change

· Misinformation regarding climate change can manifest in several ways:

· Underestimating Risk: Many in our communities may not fully grasp the impacts of rising sea levels or saline intrusion, often due to unclear communication from those in authority.

· Exaggerating Threats: Sensational reporting can provoke undue fear and anxiety, leading to confusion and distrust among the people.

· Misguided Solutions: A lack of accurate data may result in investments in projects that do not effectively address our challenges, wasting valuable resources that could be better utilised.

· Manipulated Narratives: Certain groups may spread misleading information to delay necessary environmental regulations or promote unsustainable industries, further complicating our efforts.

By addressing these critical issues head-on, Bangladesh can significantly enhance its ability to implement life-saving adaptation efforts across communities.

The Importance of Accurate Climate Information

Ensuring that our information is reliable enables Bangladesh to:

· Strengthen Policy Decisions: Accurate data on weather patterns and disaster impacts is crucial for making informed climate policy decisions, thereby helping to mitigate the risks associated with poor information.

· Mobilize International Support: Our reliance on global partnerships for climate finance and technology underscores the importance of transparent and credible reporting to build trust with international donors.

· Empower Communities: Accurate weather forecasts and effective adaptation guidance can have life-saving implications for local farmers, fishers, and coastal families during extreme weather events.

· Promote Accountability: Transparency in our information allows us to ensure that climate funds are utilized effectively, thereby fostering trust and confidence in governance.

The Role of Media, Civil Society, and Digital Governance

As we face the challenge of misinformation in our response to climate change, there are also immense opportunities for progress. Our efforts should focus on three key areas:

· Collecting and Producing Evidence: Understanding how misinformation impacts our battle against climate change is crucial.

· Developing Evidence-Based Communication Strategies: Effectively addressing misinformation challenges is vital for clear dialogue.

· Supporting Investigative Journalism: Initiatives that highlight misleading narratives can help improve public understanding of climate-related issues.

In our focus on Bangladesh and South Asia, we can work towards enhancing the integrity of information related to climate change. A comprehensive understanding of disinformation, malinformation, and conspiracy theories is crucial for developing policies that effectively address the climate crisis.

Civil society and the media play pivotal roles in this effort. By empowering journalists to provide accurate and nuanced reporting on climate change, we can encourage informed public discourse and mitigate sensationalism. Civil society organizations serve as critical watchdogs, ensuring that government commitments to climate resilience translate into actionable plans.

Through collaboration and the sharing of accurate information, these stakeholders can effectively combat misinformation while building public trust in climate action. Together, we can cultivate a well-informed community ready to respond decisively to the impacts of climate change.

Additionally, the evolution of digital governance is vital for regulating harmful misinformation while safeguarding freedom of expression. Policies like the Draft Digital Protection Ordinance 2025 can help strike a balance between promoting truthful information and encouraging democratic dialogue.

Building a Culture of Information Integrity

To effectively tackle climate change, it is essential that Bangladesh fosters a national culture that values information integrity. Some key strategies to consider include:

· Strengthening Early Warning Systems: Providing timely and accurate weather forecasts through trusted, local sources can empower communities.

· Capacity Building: Training for journalists, community leaders, and local organizations to verify climate information is crucial in countering misinformation.

· Digital Literacy: Promoting digital literacy across communities helps individuals discern credible information from misleading content.

· Data Transparency: Openly publishing climate data, including disaster losses and funding allocations, enhances accountability.

· Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration: Collaboration among government, civil society, academia, and the private sector is vital for maintaining the integrity of our information.

Aligning with Global Efforts

Our commitment to uphold information integrity aligns seamlessly with global frameworks such as the UN Global Digital Compact, WSIS Action Lines, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goals 13 (Climate Action) and 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). By prioritizing information integrity, Bangladesh can not only enhance its climate resilience but also build credibility on the international stage.

As we prepare for our graduation from LDC status in 2026 and the Summit of the Future in 2024, our commitment to information integrity will be crucial in addressing the climate challenges we face together effectively. This focus fosters resilience, trust, and a more inclusive path forward for all.

Conclusion

Climate change is not just an environmental challenge; it also presents substantial information management challenges that affect millions in Bangladesh. Ensuring that our information is accurate, accessible, and trustworthy is as critical as investing in physical infrastructure.

By prioritizing information integrity, Bangladesh can lay a strong foundation for resilient climate action, accountable governance, and an inclusive digital democracy. This collective effort is vital for safeguarding our citizens and showcasing our leadership in the fight against climate change.

The forthcoming publication of our third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0) outlines our ambitious targets for reducing emissions, building resilience, and ensuring sustainable development. Achieving these goals requires not only strong policies and technologies but also a commitment to trustworthy information.

Without integrity in our data, reporting, and communication, our climate actions may be misdirected, which can undermine the transparency and accountability we so deeply need. Misinformation can skew public understanding, weaken community involvement, and delay critical adaptation efforts. Ensuring information integrity will allow our citizens, policymakers, and global partners to base their actions on reliable evidence, fostering trust and collaboration.

In this way, information integrity becomes a cornerstone for effective climate governance and the successful implementation of NDC 3.0. Together, we can move toward a hopeful future built on cooperation, truth, and resilience.

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AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

The Bangladesh NGO Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) is proud to serve as an observer organization for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As a member of the Nairobi Work Programme (NWP) and The Paris Committee on Capacity-building (PCCB), BNNRC plays a vital role in advocating for meaningful dialogue and action on climate change. Through its engagement in these platforms, BNNRC aims to enhance local communication, improve information integrity, and empower communities to effectively respond to climate challenges in Bangladesh.

As Bangladesh embarks on its digital transformation, the integrity of its information landscape becomes increasingly crucial. To ensure a trustworthy information ecosystem by 2025, it is essential to develop coordinated responses that balance national security, rights-based governance, local resilience, and international collaboration.

The Importance of Addressing FIMI Now: The digital public sphere in Bangladesh has grown significantly, with mobile-first news consumption, vibrant social media engagement, and an expanding array of community and online media platforms. While this transformation enhances public participation, it also creates vulnerabilities that foreign actors can exploit through covert influence operations.

FIMI often aims not to foster healthy debate but to strategically distort narratives. It can polarize communities, undermine trust in institutions, influence policy decisions, and shape international perceptions about Bangladesh. As global geopolitics become increasingly complex and accessible AI-driven content creation expands, the threat of manipulation has heightened, making it imperative to address these challenges constructively.

Common Tactics and Strategies:

Inauthentic Amplification: The use of botnets and coordinated micro-influencer networks can amplify divisive narratives, especially during national events or significant policy discussions.

Narrative Laundering: Misleading claims often circulate through obscure channels before reaching mainstream discussions, causing confusion and misinformation.

Synthetic Media:The production of AI-generated content can create doubt around respected figures and institutions, leading to misinformation spreading rapidly.

Cross-Platform Narratives: Information can cascade across various social media platforms, gaining traction and local adaptation that complicates fact-checking efforts.

Fabricated Leaks: Fake documents and leaks can incite conspiratorial thinking and erode trust in public institutions.

Vulnerabilities in the Bangladeshi Context

Social Forwarding Reliance: Trust within families and communities can inadvertently accelerate the spread of unverified content.

Information Gaps: The scarcity of high-quality local content in Bangla on complex topics may allow misleading simplifications to take root.

Resource Constraints in Media: Financial limitations may push media outlets to prioritize sensational stories over thorough verification.

Civic Polarization: People may retreat to echo chambers, reinforcing their beliefs and making them more susceptible to FIMI.

Goals of FIMI to Address

Agenda Distortion: FIMI can divert focus from vital policy discussions by amplifying fringe issues.

Erosion of Institutional Legitimacy: Misinterpretations of routine governmental actions can diminish public confidence in democratic processes.

International Narrative Manipulation: Efforts to alter global perceptions of Bangladesh’s socio-economic conditions can affect diplomatic relations.

Fragmentation of Society:FIMI can exacerbate disagreements, turning them into identity-based conflicts that are challenging to resolve.

Principles for a Resilient and Rights-Respecting Response

Proportional and Legal Counter-Measures: Any responses should be legal, targeted, and open to review, ensuring the protection of legitimate speech.

Emphasis on Transparency Measures that provide clear information about content moderation (like warnings and demotions) can be more effective than outright bans.

Collaboration Among Stakeholders: Engaging government bodies, media, civil society, academia, and tech companies can harness diverse capabilities for a more robust defence.

Focus on Local Language: FIMI counter-strategies should predominantly prioritize the use of Bangla and regional dialects, ensuring accessibility for all.

Evidence-Informed Practices: Utilising standardised methodologies to measure effectiveness will help identify what strategies work best.

Building a Bangladesh FIMI Defense Architecture

Early-Warning and Threat Intelligence:

Create a National Information Integrity Fusion Cell to integrate signals from various platforms, alerts from civil society, and academic insights.

Develop narrative risk heatmaps to monitor trends across different platforms and languages.

Implement rapid attribution metrics to responsibly convey uncertainty regarding threats.

Cooperative Platforms and Protocols:

Establish protocols with major platforms for swift action against identified inauthentic behaviors, particularly during critical periods.

Require resources for enforcing policy in Bangla and provide transparency reports tailored to the local context.

Community Resilience and Support:

Offer grants to independent media for investigative desks, training in Open-source intelligence (OSINT), and collaborative debunking initiatives.

Empower community radio and trusted local influencers with tools for preemptive messaging and accurate information dissemination.

Enhance media and digital literacy programs in educational institutions nationwide.

Open Evidence Pipelines:

Create a public repository of debunked claims with easily accessible summaries and source trails for journalists and researchers.

Foster crowdsourced reporting through secure tip lines, while protecting whistleblowers and citizen fact-checkers.

Legal and Policy Enhancements:

Update laws to address covert foreign interference while safeguarding freedoms of expression and satire.

Require transparency in political advertising, including disclosures for content targeting diasporas.

Embracing AI—A Dual-Edged Sword

Generative AI presents both challenges and opportunities. While it lowers the barriers for creating misleading content, it also offers tools for defense, such as automated checks and rapid preemptive measures. Bangladesh could establish responsible AI verification initiatives in collaboration with universities to strengthen its defenses.

Strategic Priorities for 2025 (Bangladesh-Specific)

Implement a Bangla Prebunking Calendar aligned with significant national events to enhance public awareness.

Establish local Rumour Response Nodes linked to community media and youth organisations for timely interventions.

Form partnerships with platforms for emergency response capabilities and localized dashboards during crises.

Launch an Integrity Fellows program that places researchers and journalists in key positions within newsrooms and civil society organizations.

Conduct simulation exercises to prepare institutions for potential FIMI campaigns.

Measuring Effectiveness: Before implementation, define and disclose key performance indicators (KPIs) related to detecting and mitigating coordinated campaigns, policy enforcement accuracy, user trust measurements, and newsroom verification capacities. Conduct regular, independent audits and share findings publicly to build credibility.

Conclusion: FIMI thrives in environments where trust is compromised and transparency is lacking. By investing in proactive systems, cooperative governance with platforms, safeguarding civic spaces, and promoting Bangla literacy, Bangladesh can effectively counter foreign manipulation.

The overarching goal should be fostering resilient trust within society—creating a public space where citizens engage in rigorous discussions, verify information habitually, and form opinions free from covert interference, argue vigorously, verify habitually, and make up their minds free from covert foreign manipulation.

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AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

The 80^th President of the General Assembly, Ms. Annalena Baerbock, has taken an important step by reappointing H.E. Mr. Ekitela Lokaale, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kenya to the United Nations, and H.E. Ms. Suela Janina, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Albania to the United Nations, as co-facilitators. Their leadership will be crucial as we proceed with the intergovernmental process, which involves a series of preparatory meetings. These discussions aim to create an intergovernmentally agreed outcome document, which will be adopted at the upcoming high-level meeting of the General Assembly.

This meeting will focus on reviewing the implementation of the outcomes from the World Summit on the Information Society, paving the way for future advancements in this critical area.

This essential review process aims to engage diverse stakeholders and actively solicit their input, particularly during the preparatory phases. It seeks to evaluate the progress achieved based on the Summit’s outcomes while identifying areas that warrant ongoing attention and any challenges that may arise.

Moreover, the resolution emphasizes the importance of incorporating the outcomes from this high-level meeting as a significant contribution to the broader review process of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In accordance with the WSIS+20 Modalities Resolution (A/RES/79/277), the high-level meeting is scheduled to take place on 16-17 December 2025 and will occur at the highest possible level, adhering to the established rules and procedures of the General Assembly.

As we approach the High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 16–17 December 2025, the global multi-stakeholder community engaged in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is preparing with optimism. The outcomes of this meeting are poised to have a significant impact on the future of digital cooperation, governance, and sustainable development within the information society.

A Constructive Moment for Digital Cooperation

This High-Level Meeting arrives at a pivotal time, as digital transformation accelerates across all sectors. From artificial intelligence and data governance to cybersecurity and digital inclusion, the recognition is growing that the challenges of the digital age require a collaborative approach involving all stakeholders. The WSIS and IGF processes, built on the principle of multi-stakeholder participation, have provided invaluable platforms for dialogue, knowledge sharing, and consensus-building since their inception.

The December 2025 meeting aims to renew and enhance the WSIS process and clarify the future mandate of the IGF. These discussions will have profound implications for how the international community can harness digital technologies to promote inclusive growth, uphold human rights, and support sustainable development.

At the outset, after two decades of implementing the WSIS Action Lines, we recognise the tremendous opportunities presented by widespread connectivity, enhanced mobility, user-friendly interfaces, and emerging transaction channels. These advancements encourage us to expand government services beyond traditional online and mobile platforms.

It’s concerning to see the emergence of a significant aspect of the digital divide, which is unfolding alongside our access to information and knowledge. Unfortunately, this divide appears to be widening each day, rather than improving. It’s essential for us to acknowledge this challenge and collaborate to find solutions that enable everyone to benefit from the digital world.

The Access to Information and Knowledge sector is now fully commercialized and entirely dominated by the corporate sector, as observed after 20 years. Therefore, where are the voices of underserved communities in Access to Information and Knowledge? But voices need to be heard. This situation is regrettable for us, given our two decades of collaboration with the corporate sector.

The essential objectives of the WSIS mandate have yet to be fully realised, as outlined in the Geneva Plan of Action and the Tunis Agenda for Action.

There is a pressing opportunity to enhance the WSIS Forum to better address both longstanding and emerging challenges. Such an improvement would facilitate the exploration of potential solutions and support localisation efforts, while also fostering active engagement with the UN Resident Coordinator (RC) at the country level.

Currently, a notable gap appears to exist between the UN Resident Coordinator’s office and the issues concerning WSIS and the IGF at the country level. Strengthening this link could foster greater collaboration and enhance the effectiveness of our initiatives.

What is urgently needed is a permanent, reinforced, and even stronger WSIS and IGF Secretariat, with sustainable funding at both the Secretariat and country levels through three areas.

- Develop a localised action plan that aligns global WSIS commitments with national priorities. We need a centreal reporting system from the UN.

- Capacity Building and Awareness (Promote ICT education and digital skills.

Encourage the use of ICTs for inclusive development & run awareness campaigns on the benefits of an information & knowledge society.

- Create a multi-stakeholder engagement platform that facilitates regular consultations, shares progress updates, and fosters innovation and collaboration

Unifying Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives

In the past year, a diverse array of stakeholders—including governments, civil society, the private sector, technical communities, academia, and international organizations—have come together in consultations and dialogues to shape a shared vision for the future of WSIS and the IGF.

A strong consensus has emerged on the necessity of maintaining the multi-stakeholder model, ensuring that policy discussions reflect the input and perspectives of all involved parties.

Civil society organisations emphasise the importance of fostering open, inclusive, and transparent digital governance. The private sector highlights the need for policy environments that support innovation while upholding human rights. Technical experts advocate for ongoing collaboration to maintain a stable, secure, and interoperable internet. Collectively, the global community encourages the UNGA to embrace these priorities and adopt decisions that truly reflect the diverse voices and expertise integral to the information society.

Building on WSIS Successes

Since its inception in 2003, the WSIS process has successfully advanced multiple action lines aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on expanding connectivity, enhancing digital literacy, promoting access to information, and encouraging cultural diversity online. The IGF, established in 2006, has provided a vital platform for addressing emerging issues—including data protection and online safety—through constructive dialogue rather than conflict.

Renewing these mandates in 2025 will provide essential stability for the next chapter of global digital cooperation, especially as the international community prepares for the Global Digital Compact and navigates the complexities of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity norms, and digital equity.

Looking Ahead with Hope

The December 2025 High-Level Meeting of the UNGA represents not just a procedural milestone but also a transformative opportunity for the future of digital governance.

The global multi-stakeholder community approaches this decision with hope, anticipating that the UN will reaffirm its commitment to inclusive dialogue, shared responsibility, and the cooperative principles that are fundamental to both WSIS and the IGF.

In the spirit of multilateralism and collaborative engagement, the community is eager to support the UN in its mission to ensure that the information society continues to promote peace, development, and human rights for all.

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AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

Bangladesh is at a critical juncture in its digital transformation journey. The rapid advancement of global information and communication technology (ICT) and the growing demand for digital public services have made this transformation both urgent and relevant.

In Bangladesh’s development trajectory, digital transformation is no longer an option but one of the key foundations for sustainable progress. Through strategic ICT initiatives, governance is being strengthened, service delivery is becoming more efficient and transparent, and economic development is accelerating.

To this end, Bangladesh has already undertaken various digital initiatives that are playing a positive role in simplifying public services and energizing economic activities.

ICT has emerged as a crucial tool in strengthening governance. The introduction of e-governance has enhanced accountability in public services, enabling citizens to receive faster and more transparent services. Digital platforms are increasingly fostering citizen engagement in policy formulation, decision-making, and service delivery. Technology-driven solutions have brought about a revolutionary change in service improvement. Citizens can now access essential public and private services from home through online platforms, mobile applications, and digital helpdesks. As a result, both time and costs are reduced, and people’s quality of life is improving.

However, along with the growth of information technology, its misuse has also increased, including the rise of technology-facilitated violence. People from different walks of life are regularly subjected to online harassment, with women being disproportionately affected. A study by ActionAid Bangladesh revealed that more than 79% of women in Bangladesh have experienced gender-based violence facilitated by technology.

Comprehensive initiatives are urgently needed to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence. This requires stronger roles from relevant stakeholders, including government and non-government institutions, technology companies, civil society organisations, law enforcement agencies, elected representatives, media, and policymakers. By reinforcing their engagement, it is now imperative to create a safe digital environment for everyone, particularly women, on our digital platforms.

As Bangladesh makes significant strides toward becoming a digital nation, we are witnessing a transformative shift across various sectors, including financial inclusion, e-governance, health services, education, disaster response, and entrepreneurship. While these advancements are exciting, they also bring along new challenges, including data breaches, online harassment, misinformation, cybercrime, and privacy threats. Considering these challenges, the Government of Bangladesh has introduced the Cyber Protection Ordinance 2025, a proactive framework designed to safeguard citizens, institutions, and national interests in the digital realm.

Therefore, to maximise the effectiveness of this ordinance, establishing the role of a Digital Advocate is essential in Bangladesh.

Definition of the advocate:

An advocate in Bangladesh is a licensed legal professional authorised to practice law and provide legal services to clients. Advocates play a vital role in the country’s legal system, representing clients in court, offering legal advice, and participating in various aspects of legal practice.

Definition of the digital advocate:

A Digital Advocate in Bangladesh is a licensed legal professional who is authorised to practice in the field of law and provide specialised legal services related to digital rights, cybersecurity, data protection, internet governance, digital development, and emerging technologies.

Digital Advocates play a vital role in the country’s evolving digital-related legal and regulatory landscape by representing clients in court, offering expert digital legal advice, and engaging in litigation and policy matters concerning digital governance aligned with the Cyber Protection Ordinance 2025 in Bangladesh.

They contribute to safeguarding citizens’ digital rights, ensuring compliance with digital protection frameworks, and advancing justice in the rapidly evolving digital environment at the national, regional, and global levels.

The Digital Advocate community will proactively foster and nurture strategic relationships at national, regional, and global levels. Through participation in ongoing initiatives such as the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the UN Internet Governance Forum, the UN Global Digital Compact, and the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime.

Empowering Citizens’ Rights in the Digital Age

Navigating laws and ordinances can often be daunting for ordinary citizens. A Digital Advocate can bridge this gap by ensuring that individuals—particularly marginalized groups such as women, youth, and persons with disabilities—are informed about their digital rights and protections under the ordinance. This advocacy is crucial in a nation where digital literacy is uneven, leaving many vulnerable to online exploitation. By fostering awareness, we can ensure that the law translates into real-world protection for those who need it most.

Enhancing Platform Governance

The role of the digital advocate in enhancing platform governance is to establish a structured framework for managing and regulating digital platforms to achieve strategic goals, ensure efficiency, security, and sustainability, and balance the interests of diverse stakeholders, including users, developers, and platform owners. By guiding behavior through well-defined policies on control, pricing, and resource allocation, the digital advocate fosters a dynamic and inclusive ecosystem. This approach not only drives innovation but also mitigates risks, ensures long-term viability, and promotes alignment with broader societal values.

Championing Privacy and Data Protection

The digital landscape in Bangladesh generates immense amounts of personal data daily. As citizens routinely share sensitive information, from biometric data linked to national ID systems to financial transactions via mobile platforms, the role of a Digital Advocate becomes vital. This advocate can encourage the transparent and ethical implementation of the Digital Protection Ordinance, ensuring that personal data is safeguarded against misuse by corporations, political entities, or external actors. Additionally, strong advocacy can lead to enhanced accountability measures and independent oversight, thus reinforcing public trust in digital governance.

Addressing Technology-Facilitated Harms

As technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), cyberbullying, misinformation, and hate speech become more prevalent, the need for a proactive response is urgent. Women journalists, activists, and political leaders often face online harassment that can deter their public participation.

A Digital Advocate can work collaboratively with government agencies, civil society, and media professionals to raise awareness, promote timely law enforcement, and provide vital support to victims seeking justice. By fostering safe online environments, this role will significantly contribute to Bangladesh’s objectives of achieving gender equality and promoting inclusive digital development.

Promoting Transparency and Accountability

Legislation surrounding digital issues carries the potential risk of misinterpretation or misuse. Previous cyber laws in Bangladesh have faced criticism for imposing overly restrictive measures on freedom of expression. A Digital Advocate can play a crucial role in ensuring that the balance between state security and civil liberties is upheld. Through monitoring implementation, engaging in public consultations, and representing citizens’ interests, the advocate helps to shape a legal environment that enhances protection while simultaneously preserving democratic freedoms.

Fostering Public Trust in Digital Transformation

With Bangladesh poised to graduate from its status as a Least Developed Country (LDC) in 2026 and aspiring to become a regional leader in digital transformation, building public trust in digital systems is crucial. The Digital Advocate’s role in amplifying citizens’ voices, providing constructive policy feedback, and advocating for inclusive practices will be invaluable. By placing the needs of the people at the forefront of the Digital Protection Ordinance 2025, we can create a framework that advances both national security and digital empowerment.

Conclusion

The Cyber Protection Ordinance 2025 represents a significant milestone in Bangladesh’s journey toward a secure digital future. However, effective implementation requires more than just legislation; it necessitates the presence of a Digital Advocate who can interpret, explain, and ensure the ordinance truly serves the populace.

By protecting rights, amplifying voices, and fostering trust, the Digital Advocate will play a crucial role in building a safe, inclusive, and resilient digital county, thereby paving the way for a prosperous future for all citizens.

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AHM Bazlur Rahman, MSS (Government & Politics) and LL.B, serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC). A recognised practitioner of advancing digital democracy, he plays a leading role in advancing inclusive digital development at national, regional, and global levels.

As Bangladesh’s ambassador for responsible artificial intelligence, he champions ethical technology practices that align innovation with human rights and social good. In his capacity as a policy research fellow, he focuses on strengthening media, safeguarding information integrity, and shaping resilient societies in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. For collaboration or inquiries, he can be reached at: Email: ceo@bnnrc.net

Between 2003 and 2005, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) marked a pivotal moment in our global approach to information and communication. By outlining a vision for an inclusive information society and providing key recommendations, it laid the foundation for the digital governance architecture we rely on today.

As we reach the twenty-year anniversary, UN member states are reflecting on the significant strides made in achieving the goals established during WSIS, while also recognizing areas that require renewed focus and action. This introspection brings us to the WSIS+20 review process, culminating in December 2025 with a high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly.

In preparation for this meeting, consultations and negotiations are focused on creating a concrete outcome document for WSIS+20. The recently released zero draft serves as an optimistic starting point for this vital work.

The zero draft emphasizes the importance of bridging digital divides and fostering inclusion. While it's encouraging to note that 95% of the global population now has access to broadband and internet usage has surged from 15% in 2005 to 67% in 2025, we must remain vigilant about the disparities that still exist. Efforts must be made to address inequalities across countries, urban and rural areas, genders, individuals with disabilities, older populations, and minority language speakers. The draft advocates for affordable entry-level broadband, local multilingual content, and enhanced digital literacy, promoting mechanisms that ensure everyone has the opportunity to connect.

The digital economy presents exciting opportunities for growth in trade, finance, and industry, especially for small and women-led businesses. However, we must also consider the risks of exacerbating inequalities through concentrated technological power and automation. The draft highlights a commitment to advancing digital financial services and encourages all stakeholders to cultivate "open, fair, inclusive, and non-discriminatory digital environments."

Moreover, environmental sustainability remains a vital focus. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) play a crucial role in monitoring climate change and managing resources, but their expansion also raises challenges concerning energy consumption, emissions, and electronic waste. Therefore, the draft calls for the development of global reporting standards on environmental impacts, alongside global guidelines for sustainable product design and circular economy practices. This approach aims to ensure that as we innovate digitally, we also uphold our responsibility to the environment.

Together, we can foster a future where digital progress contributes positively to society and the planet, creating an inclusive and sustainable information society for everyone.

The Zero Draft presents a forward-thinking vision for the digital ecosystem, emphasizing the fundamental importance of human rights, confidence, security, and multistakeholder internet governance. It establishes human rights as the cornerstone of digital cooperation, highlighting commitments to safeguard freedom of expression, privacy, access to information, and the rights of women, children, and other vulnerable groups. Strengthening user confidence and security in technology emerges as a vital strategy for fostering innovation and sustainable development. The draft advocates for protective measures against threats such as online abuse, hate speech, and misinformation while upholding privacy and freedom of expression.

Moreover, the draft outlines several desirable attributes for the internet—including openness, freedom, global accessibility, interoperability, reliability, security, and stability. It underscores the importance of inclusive internet governance discussions that engage all stakeholder groups, including governments, private sector representatives, civil society, academia, and technical communities, across both developed and developing nations.

To enhance capacity building in artificial intelligence, the draft proposes a UN AI research program and an AI capacity-building fellowship, specifically aimed at supporting developing countries. It also acknowledges ongoing initiatives like the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance as critical contributors to this effort.

Recognizing the pivotal role of global cooperation in internet governance, the draft seeks to establish the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as a permanent UN body. It calls for enhanced support for the secretariat, improved working methods, and a commitment to ensuring that outcomes are reported to UN entities and processes for consideration. Furthermore, it addresses the important issue of IGF financial sustainability by requesting that the UN Secretary-General propose future funding solutions.

Finally, the draft highlights the interconnectedness of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the Global Digital Compact (GDC), and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, proposing mechanisms to better align these initiatives and prevent duplication. These include a joint implementation roadmap for WSIS and GDC, integrating GDC review processes into existing WSIS mechanisms, and conducting reviews of GDC-WSIS alignment at the General Assembly level. The draft also envisions a unified review of Agenda 2030 along with the outcomes of the WSIS-GDC joint implementation roadmap in 2030, alongside a comprehensive WSIS+30 review in 2035.

Looking ahead, the Zero Draft lays a constructive groundwork for the upcoming negotiations in preparation for the High-Level Meeting in December 2025. Member states and other stakeholders are encouraged to contribute their feedback by September 26, setting the stage for an evolving discussion that will refine the outcome document and determine which elements will be retained, revised, or removed. removed.

Surveillance has become an increasingly significant feature of governance in the digital age. Across the world, states are investing in advanced surveillance technologies to monitor citizens, manage security threats, and maintain law and order. Bangladesh is no exception.

As Bangladesh seeks to cultivate critical thinking and innovation, it's important to examine and prioritise spending in ways that effectively support the fostering of responsible surveillance practices in Bangladesh

According to the Daily Star report on Monday, August 11, 2025, the Bangladesh Government has purchased surveillance equipment worth over Tk 1,382 crore, as per import data and a contract agreement under a sweeping infrastructure called "Integrated Lawful Interception System (ILIS)" that can intercept, decrypt, inspect, and store enormous volumes of national internet and telecom traffic, enabling real-time, centralized surveillance.

However, these developments raise critical questions: Are current surveillance investments in Bangladesh being directed responsibly? How can the country balance security needs with democratic rights, privacy, and long-term sustainability?

It is important to address the broad authority granted to the government, allowing national security, intelligence, or law enforcement agencies to "intercept, record, or collect information" from individuals based on national security or public order.

The definitions of "national security" and "public order grounds" can vary, leading to differing interpretations. Additionally, establishing a requirement for notifying citizens before their data is accessed or processed could enhance transparency and trust in the system. Engaging in dialogue about these issues can help ensure a balanced approach that protects both security interests and individual privacy rights.

It is essential to assess the tangible outcomes of surveillance investments. While new buildings and computers are noteworthy achievements, there is significant room for improvement in Bangladesh's investments in research and knowledge generation. By focusing on enhancing these areas, we can unlock greater potential and foster effective development that benefits society.

The pictures illustrate a promising opportunity for the government to shift its focus from control to one that nurtures creativity and innovation. By reevaluating these priorities, we have the potential to significantly boost the nation's intellectual growth and enhance its competitiveness for future generations. Adopting a more balanced approach can lead to substantial advancements, fostering a vibrant and dynamic society.

What steps can we take to effectively locate and remove these surveillance devices? How can we identify and hold accountable those responsible for violating privacy and supporting the previous regime's surveillance operations? Furthermore, what measures can we put in place to ensure that such invasive surveillance does not return, allowing us to protect the rights and freedoms of the public?

This article reassesses the trajectory of surveillance in Bangladesh and explores pathways for fostering responsible practices that align with the values of peace, inclusivity, and sustainable development.

The Growing Surveillance Landscape in Bangladesh

Over the past decade, Bangladesh has significantly expanded its surveillance infrastructure. The government and law enforcement agencies have invested in closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, biometric identification systems, artificial intelligence (AI) powered monitoring tools, and digital tracking systems.

Examples include:

• Smart City Initiatives: Dhaka, Chattogram, and other cities have introduced CCTV and facial recognition technology to address crime and traffic congestion.

• National Identification System: The biometric-based NID system is widely used, linking surveillance capacities with access to financial, social, and administrative services.

• Cybersecurity and Counterterrorism Measures: Monitoring of online spaces, including social media platforms, is increasingly employed to detect threats and control harmful content.

While these tools can enhance public safety and administrative efficiency, their unregulated or unchecked use can undermine human rights, particularly the rights to privacy and freedom of expression.

Challenges and Concerns

Privacy and Data Protection

Bangladesh does not yet have a comprehensive data protection law, leaving citizens vulnerable to misuse of personal information. Surveillance systems collect massive amounts of sensitive data, often without clear guidelines on storage, access, and use.

Risk of Political Misuse

Surveillance tools can be used not only against criminals but also against political opponents, activists, journalists, and civil society organizations. This undermines democratic values and discourages dissent.

Exclusion of Marginalized Communities

Technology-driven surveillance systems may disproportionately affect vulnerable groups such as slum dwellers, migrant workers, and ethnic minorities. Without safeguards, these groups could be unfairly targeted or excluded.

Economic Costs and Priorities

Surveillance technology requires heavy financial investment. For a developing country like Bangladesh, diverting scarce resources toward expansive surveillance rather than healthcare, education, or climate resilience could exacerbate inequality and hinder the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Trust Deficit

When citizens perceive surveillance as intrusive or politically motivated, trust in government institutions erodes. This can create resistance and social unrest, counteracting the very purpose of surveillance.

Toward Responsible Surveillance Practices

Bangladesh must reassess how surveillance investments are designed, implemented, and monitored. Responsible surveillance does not mean rejecting technology outright; rather, it emphasizes using surveillance tools ethically, legally, and inclusively.

Establish a Robust Legal and Policy Framework

• Enact a comprehensive data protection law that clearly defines how personal data can be collected, stored, and used.

• Develop national guidelines on surveillance technology that align with international human rights standards, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

• Introduce judicial and parliamentary oversight mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability.

Prioritise Citizen-Centred Approaches

• Engage civil society, academia, and media in dialogue on surveillance practices.

• Conduct public consultations before deploying large-scale surveillance technologies.

• Ensure that surveillance does not disproportionately target marginalized groups or limit citizens’ ability to freely assemble and express themselves.

Reallocate Investments for Sustainability

• Invest in community policing, social cohesion, and digital literacy as cost-effective alternatives to heavy surveillance.

• Integrate surveillance projects within broader digital public infrastructure (DPI) and Digital Public Goods (DPG) initiatives, ensuring that technology benefits citizens rather than intimidates them.

• Prioritize climate resilience, healthcare, and education when balancing the national budget alongside surveillance investments.

Promote Technological Ethics and AI Accountability

• Mandate ethical and responsible AI use in surveillance systems, with safeguards against bias in facial recognition and predictive policing.

• Encourage Bangladeshi universities and research institutions to explore the ethical dimensions of surveillance and AI.

Strengthening Regional and Global Collaboration

• Learn from best practices in other South Asian countries that are grappling with similar challenges.

• Collaborate with international organizations such as the UN Human Rights Council, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and Global Digital Compact initiatives to harmonize surveillance with digital rights.

Role of Civil Society and Media

Civil society organizations (CSOs) and the media in Bangladesh play a crucial role in fostering responsible surveillance. CSOs can advocate for stronger privacy rights, educate citizens on digital safety, and monitor state practices to ensure compliance. Media professionals can raise awareness at both the local and national levels about the responsible use of technology and citizens’ digital rights.

Looking Ahead: Surveillance and Peaceful Futures

Bangladesh’s journey toward achieving middle-income status and eventual graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status requires striking a balance between economic growth and inclusive governance.

Surveillance, if deployed responsibly, can support law enforcement and disaster response. But if left unchecked, it risks becoming a tool of oppression and inequality.

A sustainable and peaceful future demands that surveillance practices in Bangladesh be rooted in accountability, citizen trust, and democratic principles.

By reassessing investments today, Bangladesh can avoid the pitfalls of authoritarian surveillance models and instead create a future where security, dignity, and human rights are mutually reinforcing.

AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

Fifteenth UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (UN Crime Congress) 2026: Highlighting the Vital Contributions of Civil Society Organizations in Bangladesh and South Asia for a Safer Future.

As we prepare for the Fifteenth UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (UN Crime Congress), scheduled to take place from April 25 to April 30, 2026, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates,

The overarching theme of this esteemed gathering will be “Accelerating crime prevention, criminal justice, and the rule of law: protecting people and the planet while advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the digital age,” in accordance with General Assembly resolution 78/223.

The United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice serves as a vital and inclusive platform uniting policy-makers, practitioners, scholars, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society representatives from around the globe, all dedicated to the fields of crime prevention and criminal justice. Since its inception in 1955, the Congress has convened every five years in various regions, addressing a broad spectrum of themes that resonate within the global context.

These Congresses have significantly contributed to shaping both national and international policies, as well as professional practices in this critical area. They facilitate an open forum for: (a) the constructive exchange of perspectives among States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and distinguished experts across diverse professions and disciplines; (b) the sharing of valuable experiences regarding research, legislative frameworks, and policy development; and (c) the identification of emerging trends and challenges in the realm of crime prevention and criminal justice.

UN Crime Congress, set for 2026, presents a pivotal opportunity for the global community to address pressing issues such as organized crime, cyber threats, trafficking, and the protection of human rights within justice systems. For South Asia, and specifically Bangladesh, this Congress is an excellent platform to showcase the vital contributions of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in fostering fair, inclusive, and people-centered approaches to crime prevention and justice reform.

Global Significance of the UN Crime Congress

Since its inception in 1955, the UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice has served as the foremost inclusive forum for dialogue on crime prevention, criminal justice, and the rule of law. This gathering brings together Member States, UN agencies, academics, and CSOs to exchange ideas, share best practices, and influence the international agenda on justice and security. The upcoming 2026 session is expected to address both traditional issues, such as organized crime, corruption, and drug trafficking, as well as emerging challenges like cybercrime, technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), and the integration of digital justice systems.

South Asia’s Crime and Justice Landscape

In South Asia, there has been a notable trend of terrorist groups increasingly leveraging emerging technologies. For instance, cryptocurrencies are being utilized for the financing of terrorism, while platforms such as social media, gaming environments, and encrypted virtual spaces are being misappropriated to disseminate disinformation and facilitate radicalization and recruitment efforts, targeting individuals, including the youth.

In light of these challenges, the misuse of artificial intelligence for malicious purposes has come to the forefront. Consequently, there is a pressing need for states to equip law enforcement agencies with the necessary lawful tools and authorizations to effectively combat these developments. This includes fostering enhanced international cooperation for the cross-border sharing of digital evidence, ensuring the protection of critical infrastructure from cyber threats, and strategically disrupting virtual communication channels used for radicalization. The effective implementation of the new convention on cybercrime is also essential.

It is imperative for South Asian nations to strengthen national efforts that criminalize all forms of terrorism. This involves bolstering legislation against money laundering and the financing of terrorism, as well as establishing robust measures for the seizure, freezing, and confiscation of criminal proceeds. Furthermore, enhancing domestic law enforcement and interagency collaboration, alongside conducting comprehensive national risk assessments, will be crucial.

Need to emphasize the significance of a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach to preventing and countering terrorism. This includes the active engagement of civil society, women, youth, and local communities in developing comprehensive solutions that address the underlying causes of violent extremism.

Fostering respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law is essential to enhancing effective counter-terrorism measures. Taking proactive initiatives to support victims of terrorism is vital. These efforts aim to ensure that victims receive the respect and recognition they deserve, while also offering protection, support, access to justice, compensation, and pathways for healing and restoration.

Home to nearly two billion people, South Asia boasts a rich tapestry of socio-political realities. Although the region has made notable progress in legal reforms and enhancing access to justice, there remain significant opportunities for improvement:

Addressing cross-border trafficking of persons, drugs, and arms is crucial for reinforcing peace and security.

Tackling climate-induced migration, particularly in Bangladesh, creates a promising avenue to reduce vulnerabilities related to human trafficking and exploitation.

Enhancing digital literacy and resilience is crucial in combating the growing threats of cybercrime, disinformation, and TFGBV.

Fostering youth employment and addressing inequality can empower young people, mitigating their susceptibility to criminal networks and reducing risks of radicalization and violence.

Given the diverse challenges at hand, the active involvement of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) plays a crucial role in fostering justice. By collaborating effectively with governments and other stakeholders, CSOs can bridge the gap between policy and practice, paving the way for sustainable solutions that contribute to a more equitable society.

The Constructive Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh and South Asia

CSOs throughout South Asia have consistently been at the forefront of advancing justice, equality, and accountability. Their invaluable contributions can be categorized into several key areas:

Advocacy and Policy Influence

Bangladeshi CSOs have a commendable history of shaping national policies related to human rights, gender equality, and digital governance. By elevating grassroots concerns to national and global discussions, they ensure that the voices of marginalized groups—particularly women, youth, indigenous communities, and those vulnerable to climate change—are integral to conversations about criminal justice.

Community-Based Prevention

In rural Bangladesh and across neighboring South Asian nations, CSOs have initiated innovative community-based programs to combat crime and violence. Efforts such as community radio stations, youth clubs, and neighborhood watch initiatives foster awareness about issues like trafficking, domestic violence, and digital safety, empowering communities to take proactive steps.

Support Services for the Victims

CSOs offer critical services to victims of crime, including legal aid, psychosocial counseling, shelter, and support for reintegration. For instance, women’s rights organisations in Bangladesh have developed survivor-centred approaches that could serve as models for regional collaboration, enhancing the support available to those affected.

Innovation in Digital Justice

CSOs are harnessing technology to improve access to justice. Through initiatives like mobile legal aid applications in India and digital literacy programs in Bangladesh, civil society is ensuring that the benefits of digital transformation reach even the most disadvantaged and marginalized populations.

Regional Collaboration

Networks such as the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC), along with cross-border CSO coalitions, demonstrate the promise of regional cooperation in crime prevention. These partnerships are particularly effective in addressing critical issues like trafficking and gender-based violence.

Advancing Justice and Equity in Bangladesh and South Asia through Collaborative Civil Society Efforts

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are playing a pivotal role in fostering collaboration and innovation, guiding Bangladesh and South Asia toward a more just and equitable society.

Opportunities at the 2026 UN Crime Congress

The upcoming Fifteenth UN Crime Congress presents an invaluable opportunity for CSOs in Bangladesh and South Asia to make a significant impact:

Showcasing Local Innovations: This event will provide a platform for presenting successful initiatives like community radio, youth mobilization, and the development of digital public goods from Bangladesh, highlighting them as scalable models for others to adopt.

Influencing Global Norms: CSOs have a unique chance to advocate for stronger commitments to addressing critical issues such as trafficking, gender-based violence (TFGBV), cybercrime, and climate-related vulnerabilities.

Forging Partnerships: The Congress provides a platform for establishing alliances with governments, UN agencies, academic institutions, and private sector stakeholders who share a commitment to justice and equality.

Capacity Building: South Asian CSOs can gain insights from global best practices focused on restorative justice, rehabilitation, and victim-centered approaches.

Challenges for CSOs

While CSOs are integral to societal progress, they encounter several challenges that must be addressed:

Shrinking Civic Space: Certain regions in South Asia face restrictive NGO laws that threaten to erode civic space.

Funding Constraints: Limited and short-term funding for justice-related programs restricts the capacity of CSOs to implement long-term solutions.

Digital Divides: Gaps in digital access hinder CSOs' efforts to tackle cybercrime effectively.

Political Sensitivities: Advocating on issues like corruption and state accountability can be complicated by political sensitivities.

To overcome these challenges, there is a pressing need for stronger partnerships between governments and civil society, as well as sustainable financing models to empower CSOs.

Towards a People-Centered Justice Agenda

As Bangladesh approaches its graduation from the LDC status in 2026—coinciding with the UN Crime Congress—CSOs can play a crucial role in ensuring that justice and the rule of law are at the forefront of the country’s transition strategy. Across South Asia, CSOs are uniquely positioned to elevate community voices, advocate for human rights, and contribute to sustainable peace.

The Congress should emphasize that civil society is not marginal but rather an equal partner in shaping inclusive and responsive justice systems that reflect the complexities of the 21st century.

Conclusion

The 2026 Fifteenth UN Congress on Crime represents a landmark opportunity to shape the global justice agenda. For Bangladesh and South Asia, it serves as an invitation to harness the full potential of civil society. By recognizing the essential roles of advocacy, service delivery, and innovation that CSOs provide, governments and international institutions can unlock transformative solutions for crime prevention and justice reform.

Ultimately, the journey to safer, fairer societies involves not only legislative and institutional measures but also the empowerment of communities. CSOs are central to this evolution, bridging global aspirations with local realities and ensuring that justice is genuinely service-oriented for the people.

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AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

Globally, journalism is experiencing a significant funding crisis, and while mainstream newspapers and television stations are facing tough challenges, community-based media, especially community radio stations, are in an even more precarious situation. In Bangladesh and South Asia, community radio serves as an invaluable resource for marginalized communities, offering essential information on agriculture, health, climate adaptation, disaster preparedness, women’s empowerment, and local governance. Despite its crucial role, community radio stations are hindered by unsustainable business models, declining donor support, and a lack of protective policies.

In this digital age, major tech platforms like Meta, Alphabet (Google), and TikTok are reaping immense benefits from the digital advertising ecosystem, while returning very little to local journalism, which is vital for maintaining democratic information flows. The concept of the “polluter pays” principle, widely accepted in environmental governance, suggests that those who profit significantly from disrupting the news and information ecosystem should also contribute to its sustainability. Implementing a digital tax earmarked for community radio journalism in Bangladesh and South Asia could be a groundbreaking initiative to promote media diversity, sustainability, and community empowerment.

The Importance of Community Radio

Community radio in Bangladesh and South Asia plays a pivotal role in closing the digital divide. Unlike mainstream media, which often targets urban, literate, and middle-class audiences, community radio broadcasts in local dialects and addresses hyper-local issues.

Empowering Marginalized Voices:

Community radio provides a platform for farmers, fisherfolk, women, and youth, ensuring their perspectives and stories are heard.

Effective Disaster Communication:

Throughout crises such as floods, cyclones, and the COVID-19 pandemic, community radio has delivered timely and trusted information that can save lives.

Cultural Preservation:

These stations foster the preservation of indigenous knowledge, folklore, and regional identities, enriching the cultural landscape.

Community radio stations play a vital role in providing their audiences with reliable, local information. However, these valuable platforms often face significant challenges due to unstable funding sources. Limitations in advertising revenue, especially in light of many local businesses operating with tight budgets, and unpredictable donor support can hinder their sustainability. To strengthen community radio and ensure its continued viability, it's essential to develop innovative and sustainable financing solutions. By doing so, we can bolster the vital contributions that community radio makes to our societies.

The intersection of Big Tech and the current journalism funding crisis highlights two critical trends that impact the media landscape. First, the way news is consumed has shifted towards search engines and social media, diminishing traffic to traditional publishers' websites. Secondly, the digital advertising market has become heavily concentrated, with a few platforms capturing a disproportionate share of ad revenue.

In Bangladesh, while digital advertising is on the rise, local media outlets, including community stations, struggle to benefit from this growth. Instead, these platforms monetize local content without adequately compensating the communities contributing to it, creating an unfair dynamic. Additionally, the emergence of AI chatbots, which utilize vast amounts of journalism content to generate responses that don't credit original publishers, threatens the viability of quality journalism, particularly in local languages.

To address these challenges, implementing a digital tax targeting Big Tech could provide a dedicated funding stream for community radio. Such a tax could take various forms, inspired by international examples:

Digital Services Tax (DST):

A charge on the revenues generated by large platforms from digital services and advertising.

Advertising-Focused Tax:

A tax specifically applied to digital advertising transactions, allocating a portion of the proceeds for journalism.

Cultural Levy:

Similar to initiatives in Europe that support arts and culture, funds from this levy could be directed toward community media.

User-Based Tax:

A tax linked to the value generated by user engagement within a particular country.

Successful initiatives, such as Austria’s digital advertising tax and Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code, highlight the potential for governments to create effective incentives for platforms to support journalism. Implementing a dedicated digital tax could ensure vital support for community radio, non-profit, and digital-only outlets, addressing the needs of smaller publishers often overlooked in bilateral agreements. By nurturing innovative approaches, we can protect and enhance the vital role of community media in our societies.

Applying the “Polluter Pays” Principle

In environmental policy, the “polluter pays” principle mandates that those who cause harm should finance their mitigation. Similarly, in the digital information landscape, the dominance of Big Tech has disrupted revenue streams, weakened independent journalism, and contributed to the spread of misinformation and algorithmic bias. To address these challenges:

- Platforms should allocate a portion of their profits toward sustaining journalism.

- Funding must prioritise local and community-based media, extending support beyond just large national outlets.

- We must ensure transparency, accountability, and editorial independence in these initiatives.

This approach would shift Big Tech's role from being extractive to becoming a supportive contributor to democratic resilience.

Designing an Inclusive Funding Mechanism

For Bangladesh and the broader South Asia region, it’s crucial that the distribution of digital tax revenues adheres to several key principles:

Independence:

An autonomous agency should manage funds with input from journalists, community media representatives, and civil society, rather than relying solely on government ministries.

Equity:

Small, independent, rural, women-led, and digital-only media outlets should have equitable access to resources.

Transparency:

Allocation criteria need to be clearly defined, publicly available in advance, and subject to regular audits.

Accountability:

Beneficiaries should report on how funding enhances journalism capacity, promotes content diversity, and has a positive impact on the community.

Non-Interference:

Editorial decisions must remain entirely free from the influence of funders.

Adopting such a model would not only sustain existing community radio but also inspire innovations in podcasts, mobile journalism, and AI-assisted local content creation.

South Asian Solidarity and Global Advocacy

The challenges facing journalism funding are not confined to Bangladesh; neighboring countries like Nepal, India, and Bhutan share similar issues. Forming a regional coalition focused on digital taxation for community media could enhance advocacy efforts, consolidate expertise, and foster coordinated policy frameworks across South Asia. It is essential that global platforms do not exploit jurisdictional gaps to evade their responsibilities.

On the international stage, Bangladesh and South Asian civil society organizations can connect this initiative to broader discussions surrounding the UN’s Global Digital Compact, WSIS+20, IGF+20 review, and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions).

Conclusion

Community radio journalism in Bangladesh and South Asia is at a pivotal moment. Its democratic and developmental significance is clear, yet its financial sustainability remains precarious. By implementing a digital tax based on the polluter pays principle, governments can channel a portion of Big Tech's substantial profits back to the communities that create value.

This tax should be viewed not as a punitive measure, but as a necessary acknowledgement that sustainable journalism is a public good needing collective investment. With transparent and equitable mechanisms in place, this model can help ensure community radio continues to amplify marginalized voices, foster resilience in challenging times, and enhance the democratic fabric of South Asia for years to come.

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AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

This article Digital Tax to Enhance Sustainable Community Radio Broadcasting, " is possible under the Policy Research Fellowship on Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a two-phase United Nations (UN) summit, first introduced by Tunisia to the ITU Plenipotentiary in 1998. The UN General Assembly Resolution 56/183 (21 December 2001) endorsed the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in two phases. The first phase took place in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003 and the second phase took place in Tunis, from 16 to 18 November 2005.

WSIS envisioned a "people-centered, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society," where everyone can create, access, utilize, and share information and knowledge, all anchored in the principles of sustainable development and human rights.

Since the Summit, we have witnessed remarkable advancements in ICTs. Technologies that were once emerging have transitioned into mainstream solutions, while new innovations continue to rise. Mobile telephony has achieved widespread accessibility, and the internet, along with online social networks, has become an essential part of everyday life for many individuals around the world.

Digitalization is reshaping economies, public services, and governance in profound ways. With the arrival of new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), we are presented with exciting opportunities that also challenge us to adapt as both expectations and realities of the Information Society evolve.

While the pace of technological progress and its impacts on the economy, society, culture, and governance continue to accelerate, it is essential to recognize that these benefits are not yet evenly distributed. The digital divides highlighted at WSIS, which exist both between and within countries, present hurdles that must be addressed to unlock the full potential of ICTs for all individuals and communities.

The international community’s goal of achieving universal connectivity remains an inspiring challenge ahead. By addressing disparities in digital access and use, we can foster greater equality and ultimately enhance economic and social development for everyone. This journey requires collaborative efforts and innovative solutions to ensure that the advantages of the digital age are accessible to all.

Digitalization presents both opportunities and challenges for governance, development, and human rights, particularly regarding cybersecurity, data governance, and environmental sustainability. These advancements are part of a larger context; the international community's adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 launched a transformative phase in global commitments focused on achieving economic, social, and environmental goals.

In recent years, the world has navigated two significant global crises: the economic recession from 2007 to 2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022. While these events have posed setbacks to progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), they also highlight our resilience and the urgent need for collaborative solutions. Issues like poverty, hunger, and inequality remain pressing, and new conflicts in various regions demand our attention and action.

The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly clear, emphasizing the importance of immediate action. Although international development funding saw an increase until 2023, we now face the challenge of sustaining that momentum. This underscores the necessity for renewed international cooperation, an endeavor embodied in the United Nations’ Pact for the Future, adopted by the General Assembly in 2024. By working together, we can address these challenges and advance toward a more equitable and sustainable future for all.

Two decades later, the WSIS+20 process represents a critical milestone to reflect on the achievements, shortcomings, and future directions of building a people-centered, inclusive, and development-oriented information society. Central to this journey is the role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), whose engagement has been pivotal in shaping the principles of openness, equity, and rights-based digital governance.

As the digital landscape evolves with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things, the WSIS+20 process offers a renewed opportunity for CSOs to strengthen their advocacy for a resilient, inclusive, and rights-respecting internet.

The Importance of Civil Society in WSIS+20

Civil society has always been recognized as a cornerstone of multistakeholder engagement in the WSIS process. Unlike governments and the private sector, CSOs represent diverse groups—grassroots communities, NGOs, academia, youth, women, and marginalized populations. Their role is to amplify voices that are often overlooked in high-level policymaking and to ensure that digital governance frameworks reflect human rights principles and sustainable development priorities.

In the WSIS+20 context, CSOs are not just observers but active contributors. They provide critical expertise on issues such as freedom of expression, digital inclusion, gender equality, data protection, and cyber rights. Their involvement ensures that internet governance frameworks remain accountable to people, not only to institutions.

Shaping a Resilient Internet

A resilient internet is one that is secure, inclusive, interoperable, and adaptable in the face of technological, political, and environmental challenges. Civil society organization (CSOs) engagement in WSIS+20 is essential in addressing three dimensions of resilience:

1. Resilience against inequality – The digital divide persists between and within countries. CSOs highlight the needs of rural communities, women, youth, and persons with disabilities, advocating for affordable access, localized content, and meaningful connectivity.

2. Resilience against threats – Cybersecurity, disinformation, and surveillance pose significant risks. CSOs play a watchdog role, demanding safeguards for human rights and calling for transparency in the deployment of technologies like AI-driven surveillance and lawful interception systems.

3. Resilience for sustainability – As digital technologies consume increasing resources, CSOs promote green digital transformation and the integration of digital policies with climate goals, ensuring that internet development contributes to environmental sustainability.

4. The Internet is affordable for all - CSOs working to make the Internet affordable for all in line with the intersectionality and inclusion manner.

5. Social Obligatory Fund (SOF) - SOF projects should be co-designed with the underserved people and communities they aim to serve.

Civil Society Contributions to WSIS+20

CSOs have contributed to the WSIS+20 process in multiple ways:

• Policy Advocacy: They advocate for digital rights charters, ethical frameworks for artificial intelligence, and stronger accountability mechanisms for both governments and corporations.

• Capacity Building: Through training programs and community networks, CSOs empower local communities with digital literacy, enabling meaningful participation in the digital economy.

• Monitoring and Accountability: CSOs track national and global commitments to WSIS outcomes, publishing reports and shadow reviews to ensure progress is transparent.

• Partnership and Innovation: Many CSOs work with governments and the private sector to co-create solutions, such as community networks that expand connectivity in underserved regions.

· The Internet is affordable for all - CSOs develop a campaign to make the Internet affordable for all in line with the intersectionality and inclusion manner.

Challenges Facing Civil Society in WSIS+20

Despite their contributions, CSOs face several challenges:

• Shrinking Civic Space: In many countries, restrictions on freedom of association, speech, and press limit civil society participation.

• Digital Authoritarianism: Growing state control over the internet threatens open, free, and interoperable digital spaces.

• Resource Constraints: Many CSOs lack sustainable funding to participate meaningfully in global digital policy forums.

• Tokenistic Participation: In some multistakeholder settings, CSOs are invited but not given equal weight in decision-making compared to governments and businesses.

• Digital Development: Most of the CSOs are not aligning their intervention with Digital Development in line with the digital transformation, digital inclusion, digital responsibility, and digital sustainability.

• Digital Ecosystem: Many CSOs often approach digital development from a technical perspective. However, it’s important for them to shift their understanding and see it as an integral part of a broader framework that includes social, political, cultural, economic, and environmental considerations. Embracing this holistic view can enhance their effectiveness in addressing challenges and leveraging opportunities in the digital landscape.

Addressing these challenges requires a reaffirmation of multistakeholderism as a guiding principle of WSIS+20, ensuring that CSOs have both the space and resources to influence outcomes.

Constructive Priorities for Future Progress

In our journey towards achieving WSIS outcomes, several constructive priorities have emerged from the consultation process:

Bridging Digital Divides:

Must focus on closing digital divides, including the gender digital divide, by investing in robust infrastructure. By enhancing network utilization and implementing targeted initiatives, we can improve access and affordability for marginalized communities, while also fostering their digital literacy and capabilities.

Creating a Safe Digital Environment:

It is vital to foster a secure digital environment. By prioritizing improved cybersecurity measures and building trust in digital resources, we can enhance confidence among users and stakeholders.

Establishing Robust Regulatory Frameworks:

Developing comprehensive regulatory frameworks is crucial to address data governance, privacy concerns, and AI ethics. We should ensure that the responsibilities and accountabilities of digital stakeholders are clear, particularly in relation to information integrity, technological inequalities, environmental sustainability, and human rights.

Accelerating Technology Deployment for SDGs

Promote the deployment of innovative technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI), to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our focus should include the digital economy, financial inclusion, healthcare, education, environmental protection, and disaster preparedness.

Enhancing Policy Coherence:

It is essential to foster greater coherence in policies at the national level. By developing holistic strategies that unify digital and non-digital stakeholders, we can advance WSIS objectives and SDGs while promoting digital public infrastructure and digital public goods.

Strengthening International Collaboration:

To emphasize stronger international collaboration, ensuring that developing countries play an active role in decision-making processes. This collaboration will involve monitoring trends, sharing best practices, and addressing regulatory harmonization and financial investment needs.

Initiate an Aligned UN Resident Coordinator (RC) at the country level.

There is a pressing opportunity to enhance the WSIS Forum and IGF process to better address both longstanding and emerging challenges. Such an improvement would facilitate the exploration of potential solutions and support localization efforts, while also fostering active engagement with the UN Resident Coordinator (RC) at the country level.

Currently, a notable gap appears to exist between the UN Resident Coordinator's office and the issues concerning WSIS and the IGF at the country level. Strengthening this link could foster greater collaboration and enhance the effectiveness of our initiatives.

Urgently needed is a permanent, reinforced, and even stronger WSIS and IGF Secretariat, with sustainable funding at both the Secretariat and country levels through three areas.

Develop a localized action plan that aligns global WSIS commitments with national priorities and Capacity Building and Awareness (Promote ICT education and digital skills.

Encourage the use of ICTs for inclusive development & run awareness campaigns on the benefits of an information & knowledge society and create a multi-stakeholder engagement platform that facilitates regular consultations, shares progress updates, and fosters innovation and collaboration.

By focusing on these constructive priorities, we can work together towards a more inclusive, secure, and sustainable digital future for all.

The Way Forward: Civil Society’s Role Beyond WSIS+20

Looking ahead, CSOs must continue to anchor their engagement in principles of inclusion, accountability, and rights. This can be achieved by:

1. Strengthening Regional Voices – Building regional coalitions, such as in South Asia and Africa, to amplify perspectives from the Global South.

2. Advancing Digital Public Goods – Promoting open-source software, community networks, and inclusive platforms to reduce dependency on corporate monopolies.

3. Championing Human Rights Online – Advocating for binding commitments on privacy, freedom of expression, and protection from digital violence.

4. Mainstreaming Digital in Development – Linking WSIS+20 discussions with the SDGs, climate action, and just transition to ensure digital transformation is socially and environmentally responsible.

Conclusion

The WSIS+20 process is not only a retrospective exercise but a forward-looking commitment to building an internet that serves humanity. Civil Society Organizations, by virtue of their independence, diversity, and people-centered approach, are indispensable in shaping this future.

Their engagement ensures that the internet evolves not merely as a tool of economic growth or state control but as a resilient, inclusive, and democratic space where human dignity and rights are protected.

By championing transparency, inclusivity, and sustainability, CSOs in the WSIS+20 process reaffirm the original vision of WSIS: a global information society where no one is left behind.

The resilience of the internet depends not only on technology and infrastructure but also on the strength of civil society’s voice in shaping its future.

AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

Introduction

As we prepare for the Signing Ceremony of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, to be held at the National Conference Center in Hanoi, Viet Nam, on 25 and 26 October 2025. This milestone event will convene global experts and practitioners to celebrate our shared commitment to countering the misuse of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes.

The Government of Vietnam, in partnership with UNODC, will organize the Signing Ceremony of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime at the National Conference Center in Hanoi, Vietnam. This milestone will unite global experts and practitioners in a collective celebration of our commitment to combating the misuse of information and communications technologies for criminal activities.

The rapid growth of digital technologies in South Asia has brought both tremendous socio-economic advantages and new challenges. Cybercrime, encompassing issues such as financial fraud, data breaches, and cyber-enabled human trafficking, poses a substantial cross-border threat. The United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime (UNCC) offers a vital framework for addressing these challenges through enhanced international cooperation, aligned legal standards, and secure mechanisms for the exchange of electronic evidence in serious crimes.

In this dynamic environment, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Bangladesh and across South Asia hold a pivotal role in influencing national strategies, closing knowledge gaps, and ensuring that the implementation of the UNCC embodies principles of human rights, inclusivity, and accountability.

Understanding the UNCC in the South Asian Context

South Asia, characterized by its rapidly expanding digital user base, faces distinct cybercrime challenges, including limited digital literacy, inadequate cybersecurity infrastructure, fragmented legal frameworks, and insufficient cross-border cooperation. The UNCC is strategically designed to address these gaps by:

- Facilitating stronger international cooperation among law enforcement agencies.

- Harmonizing laws concerning cybercrime and electronic evidence.

- Enhancing the capacity for secure exchanges of digital evidence.

- Balancing the imperative for security with the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

For Bangladesh and its South Asian neighbors, joining and effectively implementing the UNCC is not merely a legal obligation but a critical strategy for ensuring digital security, fostering economic stability, and protecting democratic processes. Embracing this framework will pave the way for a safer and more resilient digital future.

Constructive Roles of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Bangladesh and South Asia

Advocacy and Policy Influence

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) play a vital role in shaping inclusive and rights-respecting cybercrime legislation. In Bangladesh, these organizations focus on digital rights, internet governance, and human rights, contributing effectively to policy discussions. They actively submit recommendations to parliamentary committees and engage with ministries responsible for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and justice, fostering a collaborative approach to improving legislation.

At the regional level, CSOs in South Asia unite through platforms such as the Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) and the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum. Together, they advocate for harmonized cybercrime laws that adhere to international standards, ensuring a cohesive legal framework across the region.

Capacity Building and Public Awareness

Recognizing the challenges posed by complex cybercrime laws and the intricacies of handling digital evidence, CSOs in Bangladesh, Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka engage in impactful initiatives to empower communities. They conduct public awareness campaigns, training workshops, and simulations aimed at:

Enhancing cyber hygiene and digital literacy among citizens.

Equipping community leaders and legal practitioners with the skills to report cybercrime and manage evidence effectively.

Developing the capacity of journalists to investigate and report on cybercrime responsibly, while safeguarding evidence and protecting victims.

Through these efforts, CSOs contribute to a more informed and resilient society, better prepared to navigate the digital landscape safely and securely.

Human Rights Safeguards

A critical focus in addressing cybercrime laws is the need to prevent the misuse of surveillance powers and overly broad interpretations of “cybercrime” that could hinder free expression. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) play a vital role as monitors, ensuring that legislation and law enforcement practices adhere to constitutional protections, international human rights standards, and the UN Convention on Cybercrime (UNCC) principles of proportionality and necessity.

Cross-Border Networking and Regional Solidarity

Recognizing the transnational nature of cybercrime, South Asian CSOs have formed collaborative alliances aimed at sharing knowledge, coordinating advocacy efforts, and establishing best practices. These networks help organize regional workshops on mutual legal assistance (MLA), submit joint recommendations to UN processes, and advocate collectively for interoperable evidence-sharing systems that honor both privacy rights and national sovereignty.

Opportunities for CSOs in Engaging with UNCC Implementation

Enhancing Access to Decision-Making Forums:

Many South Asian countries would benefit from expanding discussions on cybercrime policy to include CSOs, thereby creating a more inclusive decision-making environment.

Securing Resource Support:

To strengthen their impact, CSOs would greatly benefit from increased funding and technical support to better engage with complex international legal frameworks.

Fostering Regional Collaboration:

Addressing political tensions can open up avenues for cross-border cooperation among CSOs, facilitating a more united front against common cyber threats.

Building Awareness and Capacity:

Educating grassroots organizations about the UNCC and its implications is essential for effectively mobilizing local communities and enhancing their engagement.

Recommended Strategies for Strengthening CSO Engagement

Establishing Multi-Stakeholder Mechanisms:

Governments should consider creating formal advisory councils that include CSOs, academic experts, and private sector representatives to guide reforms related to the UNCC.

Offering Capacity-Building Grants:

Targeted funding from international donors and UN agencies can significantly enhance CSO capabilities in cyber law, digital forensics, and human rights advocacy.

Creating Regional Knowledge Platforms:

Forming a coalition of South Asian CSOs focused on cybercrime can foster collaboration, resource sharing, and joint advocacy efforts in relevant UN forums.

Encouraging Public-Private-CSO Partnerships:

Collaborations with the tech industry can expand resources for educational campaigns and improve protocols for handling evidence.

Promoting Rights-Based Implementation:

Ensuring that cooperation under the UNCC is firmly anchored in principles of necessity, proportionality, and judicial oversight will help prevent abuse of power.

Conclusion

The United Nations Convention against Cybercrime represents an important milestone in creating a coherent, effective, and rights-respecting global strategy to tackle cyber threats. For Bangladesh and the wider South Asian region, realizing the full potential of this convention hinges on both robust government commitment and the active engagement of CSOs.

The proactive involvement of civil society in advocacy, watchdog activities, and community outreach is essential to ensuring that cybercrime prevention and prosecution honor human rights and foster regional cooperation. By focusing on inclusive participation, enhancing capacity, and building cross-border alliances, South Asia can effectively combat cybercrime while upholding democratic principles in the digital landscape.

AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

BNNRC has been accredited by the UN Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) on the security of and use of ICT of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA).

This pivotal event, organized by the ITU at the International Conference Center Geneva (CICG), aims to cultivate innovative solutions for sustainable practices in space.

The forum will bring together esteemed leaders and experts from governments, the satellite and space industries, space agencies, and other key stakeholders who are dedicated to promoting the sustainable use of space. Given the rapid advancements in space exploration and our growing reliance on space-based applications, fostering collaboration is more crucial than ever.

This forum will serve as a dynamic platform for presenting the latest developments in the space sector, sharing insights, exchanging best practices, and exploring forward-thinking solutions. It also aims to inform attendees about the progress made by various space stakeholders in addressing the challenges identified during the inaugural ITU Space Sustainability Forum in 2024.

Key discussion topics will include managing prominent satellite constellations, enhancing space situational awareness, safeguarding systems from threats, increasing resilience, ensuring sustainability, and venturing into new frontiers in space exploration—specifically focusing on the Moon and beyond. Together.

I am exploring the valuable role that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Bangladesh can play in fostering collaboration among the government, industry, international organizations, academia, and other civil society groups for the benefit of the people.

By working together, we can develop and promote innovative ideas and actions that ensure the secure, sustainable, and peaceful utilization of outer space, ultimately benefiting our planet and all its inhabitants.

As our engagement with outer space continues to grow—from satellite communications and climate monitoring to navigation systems and scientific exploration—the urgency for secure, sustainable, and peaceful applications of space technology increases.

While governments and corporations often spearhead many space initiatives, civil society organizations (CSOs) in Bangladesh are poised to play a vital role in ensuring that the benefits of space are shared with the public.

By actively promoting responsible policies and empowering communities with knowledge and resources, Bangladeshi civil society organizations (CSOs) can enhance their understanding of space and its significant benefits for people's daily lives. This approach will pave the way for a future in which outer space is recognized as a valuable ally to Earth and its inhabitants, fostering collaboration and innovation for the betterment of society.

Advocating Peaceful and Responsible Use of Space

CSOs are uniquely positioned to drive positive changes in public policy and enhance international collaboration. In Bangladesh, they can:

Champion national space strategies that emphasize peaceful and civilian applications, aligning them with global frameworks such as the Outer Space Treaty (1967).

Promote the vision of space as a global common shared resource that should remain free from militarization and the monopoly of a few powerful nations.

Advocate for increased awareness of the risks associated with space weaponization, encouraging regional cooperation in South Asia to protect the integrity of outer space.

Furthermore, CSOs can adopt a watchdog role, monitoring the utilization of Bangladesh’s space assets—such as the Bangladesh satellite—ensuring transparency and accountability in public and private sector activities.

Building Public Awareness and Engagement

Many communities in developing countries have a limited understanding of the importance of space science and its practical applications. CSOs in Bangladesh can effectively bridge this knowledge gap by:

Launching public education campaigns that illustrate how space technology enhances daily life—through improvements in weather forecasting, crop monitoring, disaster management, education, and telecommunications.

Organizing events such as Space Awareness Week, exhibitions, and community dialogues to engage youth, women, and rural populations.

Creating accessible content in local languages to foster inclusive discussions regarding the significance of space for development and peace.

By actively engaging the public and promoting awareness, CSOs can mobilize a collective demand for ethical and inclusive governance of outer space, ensuring that its benefits are realized for all.

Promoting STEM Education and Research

To pave the way for the peaceful and sustainable use of space, Bangladesh is poised to nurture a new generation of scientists, engineers, and policy experts. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can play a vital role by:

Collaborating with schools, colleges, and universities to elevate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, particularly in the context of space exploration and technology.

Empowering underrepresented groups, especially girls and rural youth, to pursue exciting careers in space science and related fields.

Organizing engaging workshops, coding boot camps, and internships that provide students with hands-on experience with remote sensing, satellite data, and entrepreneurial opportunities in space.

These proactive initiatives will not only enhance skills and knowledge but also align seamlessly with Bangladesh’s Vision 2041, which aims for digital transformation and innovation.

Strengthening Climate Resilience through Space-Based Solutions

Considering Bangladesh’s vulnerability to climate change, leveraging space technologies can significantly bolster resilience. CSOs can contribute by:

Partnering with government agencies and international stakeholders to harness satellite data for effective early warning systems during emergencies like floods, cyclones, and landslides.

Utilizing remote sensing to monitor critical issues such as deforestation, coastal erosion, crop health, and urban expansion.

Advocating open access to space-based data to strengthen climate justice and empower communities in their local decision-making processes.

Through these efforts, CSOs will help translate advanced space technologies into actionable tools that promote sustainable development and enhance community resilience.

Facilitating International Cooperation and Global Dialogue

CSOs in Bangladesh can amplify the perspectives of the Global South in international forums, such as the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). They can:

Participate in global networks that address critical issues such as space ethics, debris mitigation, and equitable access to space resources.

Foster South-South cooperation to exchange best practices for the peaceful use of space, particularly with neighboring nations in Asia and Africa.

Advocate for the meaningful representation of Bangladesh’s civil society in shaping fair international governance frameworks for space.

By actively participating in these dialogues, CSOs will strengthen Bangladesh's influence on the global stage, promoting democratic and equitable governance of outer space.

Encouraging Innovation and Ethical Use of Technology

CSOs serve as excellent incubators for fostering ethical innovation in the space sector. They can:

Support the development of open-source tools and platforms that make space data readily accessible to local NGOs, researchers, and startups.

Promote ethical guidelines for the use of satellite data, emphasizing the importance of privacy, surveillance sensitivity, and human rights considerations.

Collaborate with technology communities to create low-cost space technology solutions, such as weather balloons or community-driven GIS mapping. By intertwining ethics with innovation, CSOs ensure that technology serves not only as a tool for efficiency but also to promote equity and responsibility.

In Conclusion

Outer space presents a realm of immense potential and challenges. As Bangladesh increasingly embraces space technology for development, this journey must remain peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable. Civil Society Organizations can play a crucial role in realizing this vision.

Through their dedicated efforts in advocacy, education, capacity-building, climate action, international collaboration, and ethical innovation, CSOs will help ensure that the benefits of outer space are equitably shared, uplifting everyone on Earth as we collectively reach for the stars.

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AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

As we prepare for the second edition of the Space Sustainability Forum, scheduled to take place on October 7–8, 2025, in Geneva, Switzerland, we are excited about the opportunities for constructive dialogue and collaboration.

This pivotal event, organized by the ITU at the International Conference Center Geneva (CICG), aims to cultivate innovative solutions for sustainable practices in space.

The forum will bring together esteemed leaders and experts from governments, the satellite and space industries, space agencies, and other key stakeholders who are dedicated to promoting the sustainable use of space. Given the rapid advancements in space exploration and our growing reliance on space-based applications, fostering collaboration is more crucial than ever.

This forum will serve as a dynamic platform for presenting the latest developments in the space sector, sharing insights, exchanging best practices, and exploring forward-thinking solutions. It also aims to inform attendees about the progress made by various space stakeholders in addressing the challenges identified during the inaugural ITU Space Sustainability Forum in 2024.

Key discussion topics will include managing prominent satellite constellations, enhancing space situational awareness, safeguarding systems from threats, increasing resilience, ensuring sustainability, and venturing into new frontiers in space exploration—specifically focusing on the Moon and beyond. Together.

I am exploring the valuable role that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Bangladesh can play in fostering collaboration among the government, industry, international organizations, academia, and other civil society groups for the benefit of the people.

By working together, we can develop and promote innovative ideas and actions that ensure the secure, sustainable, and peaceful utilization of outer space, ultimately benefiting our planet and all its inhabitants.

As our engagement with outer space continues to grow—from satellite communications and climate monitoring to navigation systems and scientific exploration—the urgency for secure, sustainable, and peaceful applications of space technology increases.

While governments and corporations often spearhead many space initiatives, civil society organizations (CSOs) in Bangladesh are poised to play a vital role in ensuring that the benefits of space are shared with the public.

By actively promoting responsible policies and empowering communities with knowledge and resources, Bangladeshi civil society organizations (CSOs) can enhance their understanding of space and its significant benefits for people's daily lives. This approach will pave the way for a future in which outer space is recognized as a valuable ally to Earth and its inhabitants, fostering collaboration and innovation for the betterment of society.

Advocating Peaceful and Responsible Use of Space

CSOs are uniquely positioned to drive positive changes in public policy and enhance international collaboration. In Bangladesh, they can:

Champion national space strategies that emphasize peaceful and civilian applications, aligning them with global frameworks such as the Outer Space Treaty (1967).

Promote the vision of space as a global common shared resource that should remain free from militarization and the monopoly of a few powerful nations.

Advocate for increased awareness of the risks associated with space weaponization, encouraging regional cooperation in South Asia to protect the integrity of outer space.

Furthermore, CSOs can adopt a watchdog role, monitoring the utilization of Bangladesh’s space assets—such as the Bangladesh satellite—ensuring transparency and accountability in public and private sector activities.

Building Public Awareness and Engagement

Many communities in developing countries have a limited understanding of the importance of space science and its practical applications. CSOs in Bangladesh can effectively bridge this knowledge gap by:

Launching public education campaigns that illustrate how space technology enhances daily life—through improvements in weather forecasting, crop monitoring, disaster management, education, and telecommunications.

Organizing events such as Space Awareness Week, exhibitions, and community dialogues to engage youth, women, and rural populations.

Creating accessible content in local languages to foster inclusive discussions regarding the significance of space for development and peace.

By actively engaging the public and promoting awareness, CSOs can mobilize a collective demand for ethical and inclusive governance of outer space, ensuring that its benefits are realized for all.

Promoting STEM Education and Research

To pave the way for the peaceful and sustainable use of space, Bangladesh is poised to nurture a new generation of scientists, engineers, and policy experts. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can play a vital role by:

Collaborating with schools, colleges, and universities to elevate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, particularly in the context of space exploration and technology.

Empowering underrepresented groups, especially girls and rural youth, to pursue exciting careers in space science and related fields.

Organizing engaging workshops, coding boot camps, and internships that provide students with hands-on experience with remote sensing, satellite data, and entrepreneurial opportunities in space.

These proactive initiatives will not only enhance skills and knowledge but also align seamlessly with Bangladesh’s Vision 2041, which aims for digital transformation and innovation.

Strengthening Climate Resilience through Space-Based Solutions

Considering Bangladesh’s vulnerability to climate change, leveraging space technologies can significantly bolster resilience. CSOs can contribute by:

Partnering with government agencies and international stakeholders to harness satellite data for effective early warning systems during emergencies like floods, cyclones, and landslides.

Utilizing remote sensing to monitor critical issues such as deforestation, coastal erosion, crop health, and urban expansion.

Advocating open access to space-based data to strengthen climate justice and empower communities in their local decision-making processes.

Through these efforts, CSOs will help translate advanced space technologies into actionable tools that promote sustainable development and enhance community resilience.

Facilitating International Cooperation and Global Dialogue

CSOs in Bangladesh can amplify the perspectives of the Global South in international forums, such as the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). They can:

Participate in global networks that address critical issues such as space ethics, debris mitigation, and equitable access to space resources.

Foster South-South cooperation to exchange best practices for the peaceful use of space, particularly with neighboring nations in Asia and Africa.

Advocate for the meaningful representation of Bangladesh’s civil society in shaping fair international governance frameworks for space.

By actively participating in these dialogues, CSOs will strengthen Bangladesh's influence on the global stage, promoting democratic and equitable governance of outer space.

Encouraging Innovation and Ethical Use of Technology

CSOs serve as excellent incubators for fostering ethical innovation in the space sector. They can:

Support the development of open-source tools and platforms that make space data readily accessible to local NGOs, researchers, and startups.

Promote ethical guidelines for the use of satellite data, emphasizing the importance of privacy, surveillance sensitivity, and human rights considerations.

Collaborate with technology communities to create low-cost space technology solutions, such as weather balloons or community-driven GIS mapping. By intertwining ethics with innovation, CSOs ensure that technology serves not only as a tool for efficiency but also to promote equity and responsibility.

In Conclusion

Outer space presents a realm of immense potential and challenges. As Bangladesh increasingly embraces space technology for development, this journey must remain peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable. Civil Society Organizations can play a crucial role in realizing this vision.

Through their dedicated efforts in advocacy, education, capacity-building, climate action, international collaboration, and ethical innovation, CSOs will help ensure that the benefits of outer space are equitably shared, uplifting everyone on Earth as we collectively reach for the stars.

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AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net | +8801711881647

In Bangladesh, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are playing an essential role in promoting the implementation of Grand Bargain 3.0. Their efforts are particularly vital in fostering quality funding, localization, accountability to affected populations, and ensuring aid transparency.

Understanding Grand Bargain 3.0

Since its launch in 2016 during the World Humanitarian Summit, the Grand Bargain has sought to improve humanitarian financing and response. The latest version—Grand Bargain 3.0—shifts the focus toward strategic leadership and political commitment, emphasizing outcomes that prioritize local involvement, accountability, and transparency in aid efforts. It strengthens promises to bridge the humanitarian-development divide, empower local actors, and place affected communities at the center of humanitarian actions.

Bangladesh: A Key Context for Humanitarian Innovation

Bangladesh offers a unique and multifaceted humanitarian landscape. The country grapples with various challenges, including natural disasters, climate-induced displacements, and the ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis. Civil society in Bangladesh has consistently demonstrated resilience, community engagement, and the capability to respond to crises effectively at both grassroots and national levels.

The successful implementation of Grand Bargain 3.0 in Bangladesh depends on how well CSOs are integrated into decision-making processes, program execution, and policy reforms.

Quality Funding: Enabling Sustainable Local Responses

A key element of Grand Bargain 3.0 is the commitment to provide multi-year, flexible, and predictable funding. Currently, CSOs in Bangladesh often operate under fragmented and short-term funding structures, which can hinder their ability to plan and carry out sustainable long-term humanitarian efforts.

To foster positive change, CSOs advocate for:

Core funding that promotes institutional capacity building.

Consortium-based funding mechanisms that allow local and national actors to take the lead in program design.

Direct financing from donors streamlines the funding process by minimizing intermediary layers.

By prioritizing these approaches, we can strengthen the humanitarian response in Bangladesh and ensure that local organizations have the support they need to drive meaningful change.

By aligning funding practices with local realities, donors and international partners can enhance the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance and ensure continuity during prolonged crises.

Localization: Empowering Local Actors for Greater Impact

Localization is more than a commitment outlined in the Grand Bargain; it is a fundamental necessity in Bangladesh, where Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have established profound connections with communities. From enhancing cyclone preparedness in coastal regions to supporting displaced Rohingya populations, Bangladeshi CSOs have consistently showcased their strengths in crisis response.

To effectively accelerate localization, we can:

Treat CSOs as equal partners in humanitarian action, respecting their role beyond mere implementation.

Actively engage CSOs in needs assessments, program design, and decision-making processes.

Invest in capacity-sharing initiatives that leverage and respect local expertise, alongside traditional capacity-building efforts.

Moreover, embracing the localization agenda can complement Bangladesh’s broader development goals, fostering a more self-reliant and community-driven humanitarian ecosystem.

Accountability to Affected Populations: Valuing Community Voices

Placing affected communities at the heart of humanitarian action is a core principle of Grand Bargain 3.0. CSOs in Bangladesh are uniquely positioned to enhance two-way communication, establish feedback mechanisms, and facilitate community-led monitoring, ensuring that the voices that matter are heard.

Their contributions include:

Organizing community consultations and feedback sessions accessible in local languages.

Creating grievance redress systems that uphold safety, confidentiality, and accessibility.

Advocating for the inclusion of marginalized groups—such as women, people with disabilities, and ethnic minorities—within humanitarian planning.

By fostering trust and promoting accountability, CSOs can help ensure that humanitarian responses are inclusive and genuinely reflect the needs of the communities they serve.

Aid Transparency: Building Trust Through Open Data and Practices

Transparency is not just an issue of governance; it is an ethical responsibility in humanitarian work. CSOs in Bangladesh are increasingly championing practices like transparent budgeting, open reporting, and community oversight of aid flows.

To promote greater transparency, we can:

Encourage CSOs to publish real-time information on aid received and expenditures using open data platforms.

Promote participatory auditing processes that engage local community members.

Invest in developing digital monitoring tools to effectively track aid delivery and evaluate performance metrics.

These transparent practices not only enhance donor confidence but also reduce corruption and cultivate public trust in humanitarian efforts.

Way Forward: Cultivating Partnerships for Transformative Change

For Grand Bargain 3.0 to thrive in Bangladesh, it is essential for the international community to view CSOs as vital change agents rather than peripheral participants. This transformation requires action over rhetoric:

Collaboratively develop national roadmaps that localize Grand Bargain commitments.

Foster multi-stakeholder platforms for dialogue among CSOs, UN agencies, donors, and government entities.

Ensure that local knowledge, lived experiences, and community resilience inform national humanitarian policies and programs.

At the same time, CSOs must proactively evolve by enhancing governance, embracing innovation, and creating cross-sectoral alliances that strengthen their credibility and broaden their impact.

Conclusion

Grand Bargain 3.0 offers a transformative vision for humanitarian action, rooted in local leadership, flexible funding, and inclusive accountability. In Bangladesh, where the humanitarian landscape is increasingly complex, Civil Society Organizations play an indispensable role in translating global commitments into meaningful local action.

By investing in CSOs, aligning with their expertise, and addressing structural barriers, we can accelerate a future where humanitarian aid is not only effective but also equitable, transparent, and centered around the needs of the people.

AHM. Bazlur Rahman | Specialist in Advancing Digital Democracy, MSS in Government & Politics, Bachelor of Laws (LL. B), Chief Executive Officer, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) & Ambassador for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI) for Bangladesh and Policy Research Fellow, Shaping the Future of Media, Information Integrity & Society in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He can be reached at: ceo@bnnrc.net