RightsCon Toronto 2018

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report 2016[1] indicates that although average human development, improved significantly across all regions over the last fifteen years, one in three people worldwide still continue to live in low levels of human development. Systemic discrimination against women, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities, among other groups, are the barriers which are leaving them behind.
The ITU Report on ICT Facts and Figures 2016 indicates that the global Internet user gender gap has grown from 11% in 2013 to 12.2% in 2016 and developing nations such as Africa (23%) have a larger access gap than developed nations such as Americas (2%). They had further estimated that by the end of 2016, only one in seven people is expected to be online from Least Developing Nations (LDCs), of which, only 31% of them would be women. Such digital divides arising out of economic, gender disparities, discrimination and inequalities, especially of people living in the developing and least developed countries, have severely impacted the digital divide. The session will focus on digital divide having focus on gender, access to rural communities, places with low connectivity and accessibility for PWDs. The Session is focusing on 'digital access & exclusion'. The session will delve into
broad parameters of digital exclusion such as gender, poverty, disability, geographical barrier, education, age, and restriction by the state and non-state actors. This session will be aiming to discuss how enforcing digital access leads to exclusion by in large. The session will identify stronger focus on those excluded and on actions to dismantle these barriers is urgently needed to ensure that everyone gets equal access online.