Today, digital technology needs to be seen as a key priority in the development agenda after 2015. Skillful use of the Internet and digital technologies can become an important driving force for economic growth and development. For all countries of the world to enter the digital age, a strong state policy and an exchange of best practices are needed. The UN makes all the needed steps to get ready for the digital age.
One of the most important indicators of the activities of international organizations is the activation of their participation in the development, transfer, and diffusion of the most modern technologies for progress. In this process, the UN agency system plays a significant role in the latest developments in the field of alternative energy, biotechnology, space and information and communication technologies (ICT). Owing to the activity of the United Nations and its main bodies, an array of international law emerged that consolidated the international legal obligations of states, international organizations in the international scientific and technological cooperation sphere (United Nations General Assembly, 2013).
One of the high technologies that transformed the modern world is ICT. Information technologies and means of delivery spur revolutionary changes in international relations. New opportunities are opened by the use of ICT for the development of states, regions, the world as a whole. This circumstance is at the center of the attention of the UN, pursuing a global policy to facilitate the benefits of using ICT across the planet.
The means of achieving this goal is the creation of favorable conditions for cooperation at the global level for the transmission of ICT. Information and communication technologies can provide new solutions to problems In particular in the context of globalization and can contribute to accelerating economic growth, increasing competitiveness, increasing access to information and knowledge, eradicating poverty and ensuring social cohesion. ICT can be considered as one of the main generators of increasing the income of states by increasing labor productivity and reducing costs. All this creates conditions for the integration of all countries, including developing countries, into the world economy (United Nations General Assembly, 2013).
One of the main objectives of the work of the UN agencies in the field of ICT is to overcome the digital divide. The digital divide is a practical problem requiring immediate resolution. The overall gap in the level of use of digital technologies between developed and developing countries is just one of the aspects of this problem. There are other aspects of the gap in the access and use of ICT – between urban and rural areas in developing states, between men and women.
The universal access policy is the way to solve the problem of endogenous discontinuities. The prospects for solving the poverty reduction problem on a global scale become quite real if the poor themselves have at their disposal and use such a development tool as ICT. For the states of the developing world, the most relevant at present is the gender perspective in the use of ICT. This means the acquisition of additional content by gender. The gender gap is an integral part of the digital divide. Overcoming it involves the need for efforts to ensure the full participation of women in the information society, access to new ICT.
The United Nations encourages progress in the field of ICT and the diffusion of these technologies, following its main objective – promoting development on a global scale. All countries need to master knowledge and technology. These efforts correlate with the struggle for the establishment of a fair character of the information, economic and technological order in the modern world. This objective is achieved through the provision of technical, advisory and financial assistance, as well as through the development of modern international law and the effectiveness of its instruments. As a result, it can be confidently asserted that the UN is not only ready for the digital age but also actively takes various actions to promote new digital technologies.
Reference
United Nations General Assembly. (2013). A life of dignity for all: Accelerating process towards the millennium development goals and advancing the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015 (GSR Publication No. A/68/202). Web.