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Making multilingualism functional through Universal Acceptance
Across its contribution to WSIS, UNESCO placed multilingualism at the center of inclusive and human-centered digital transformation. UNESCO’s session on Multilingualism in the Digital Age: Advancing Cultural and Linguistic Diversity for an Inclusive and Human-Centered Information Society, held on 7 July 2026, focused on how linguistic diversity can be embedded in digital policies, technologies and services. It brought together policy makers, technical and language communities, academia, private sector and international organizations.
Opening the session, Guilherme Canela, UNESCO’s Director for Digital Policies and Digital Transformation, emphasized that an inclusive digital future cannot be built on a monolingual foundation. He highlighted that enabling people to access services, create knowledge, preserve cultural heritage and shape digital transformation in their own languages and scripts are essential to guarantee multilingualism online.
This people-centered approach guides UNESCO’s work—from the 2003 Recommendation and the International Decade of Indigenous Languages to the Global Roadmap for Multilingualism in the Digital Era and our joint UNESCO–ICANN Policy Brief on Universal Acceptance, which together promote language technologies anchored in human rights and ensure languages function across the Internet in every script.
Guilherme Canela
This vision was carried forward through UNESCO’s collaboration with ICANN on Universal Acceptance, which resulted in the publication of the joint policy brief, Advancing Universal Acceptance of All Domain Names and Email Addresses for a Multilingual Internet, which was launched in the dedicated session.
Building on this launch, the discussion moved from awareness to meaningful adoption. UNESCO emphasized that Universal Acceptance is where multilingualism becomes functional. Through its normative mandate, convening role and field presence, UNESCO called for stronger evidence, capacity-building and multistakeholder cooperation to make multilingual digital inclusion a concrete part of policy and practice.
Embedding ethics and human rights in AI and emerging technology
Governance plays a critical role in shaping whether digital and emerging technologies contribute to inclusive societies, respect for human rights and public interests. In the session dedicated to ethics of the information society, UNESCO reaffirmed that ethics must remain a foundational and cross-cutting pillar of digital transformation.
Through the Information for All Programme (IFAP), UNESCO has supported the WSIS Action Line C10 by strengthening capacities and fostering international policy dialogue on the ethical, legal and human rights implications of frontier technologies.
As quantum technologies develop rapidly, quantum-safe transitions are becoming an urgent policy priority for protecting digital trust, security and resilience. This work was further reflected in the session, Advancing Quantum Safe Transitions: Ethical, Legal, Social and Policy Dimensions, where UNESCO brought into the discussion the IFAP issue brief, Human Rights-Centered Global Governance of Quantum Technologies.
The session underscored a shared understanding that safe transitions should go beyond technical preparedness: they should be transparent, inclusive and guided by the public interest, enabling stakeholders and the wider public to understand the risks, benefits and safeguards involved.
Investing in trusted public access institutions
UNESCO’s IFAP also contributed to the session Investing in what already works: Public access institutions as drivers of digital equity, aimed to build a shared understanding of the role of multi-function public access facilities in advancing digital inclusion in the third decade of WSIS. Built on its partnership with International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), UNESCO called for greater recognition of libraries, post offices and other public access institutions, which should continue playing a crucial role in bridging digital divide and fostering inclusive digital transformation.
read more: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-shapes-inclusive-multilingual-and-human-centered-digital-futures-wsis-forum-2026?hub=701
