Madam Espinosa advocates for rapidly-changing communications platforms

Madam María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly has advocated for rapidly-changing communications platforms.

She said communications platforms could offer great potential in areas from delivery of services to citizen empowerment – as well as challenges in terms for example of privacy, disinformation and hate speech.

“Digitisation, automation and artificial intelligence also offer benefits – in terms of productivity, job creation and innovation. But they too come with risks. For instance, as many as two-thirds of jobs in developing countries could be lost to robots in the coming years. We must have policies in place to ensure these developments yield a net gain.”

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Ghana, public lecture series in Accra, Madam Espinosa said between now and 2030 – the deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals – half of the global population would be under 30, of which 42 per cent of these young people would be Africans.

Madam Espinosa said by 2050, however, people over 60 would overtake the youth, with Africa seeing the largest growth in this demographic.

‘We need to start preparing our social system for these changes. We also need to plan for the continuing shift towards urban centers, which currently by the way account for 70 per cent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions,’ she said.

‘As we grapple with the current displacement crisis of nearly 70 million people across the world – we must plan to support even greater numbers uprooted by climate change and instability. We must also plan to manage – and harness the benefits of – increasing human mobility.’

She suggested that nations of the world must weather transitions in the global political landscape.

She said power was mutating, which now encompasses factors such as energy security, cyber capability, information and innovation – alongside traditional military and economic levers.

She noted that power was shifting horizontally and vertically – between states and regions – and to stakeholders such as cities, companies, and, to a lesser extent, civil society; stating that the world was not only becoming more multipolar, but also more polarised.

Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, Chancellor of the University of Ghana, who chaired the function, mentioned that the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a benchmark for the protection of fundamental human rights, the promotion of peace and security across the world, the adoption and promotion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were all enviable accomplishments by the UN General Assembly.

"Our world today is, however, at the crossroad; and continues to face common and pressing challenges which require joint action by all nations for resolution.”

Mr Daniel K. Osei, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, Ghana, said there was the need to adequately prepare the youth for the future.