GENEVA / ITU GLOBAL PRIORITIES

According to the International Telecommunication Union, only 30 percent of women globally have access to the Internet. UNTV CH

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:39
• Production Date: 7 March 2024
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: DOREEN BOGDAN-MARTIN
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION - ITU
• Subject Topical: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE; TECHNOLOGY
• MAMS Id: 3181557
• Parent Id: 3181557
• Alternate Title: unifeed240307g

Description

STORY: GENEVA / ITU GLOBAL PRIORITIES
TRT: 02:39
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGAUGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 07 MARCH 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Shotlist

1. Med shot, exterior, UN flag alley
2. Wide shot, speakers, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU):
“I've seen women who can't afford a smartphone, women in countries where entry level handsets can exceed 70 percent, 70 percent of average household monthly incomes.”
4. Wide shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU):
“Women still account for a disproportionate and growing share of the global offline population, outnumbering men by some 20 percent. In the least developed countries, only 30 percent of women have access to the Internet.”
6. Wide shot, speaker, photographer
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU):
“I've experienced in my time as ITU Secretary-General two worlds: I would say one in high-income countries where almost 90 percent of the population is covered by a 5G network and a much bigger and also poorer world where service is nearly absent and when available, it's not affordable.”
8. Med shot, speaker at the podium, filmed from behind
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU):
“There are incredible opportunities that we can leverage from AI in general, from generative AI. But there are risks and we need to be able to manage and mitigate the risks. It's a challenge to find how to balance between regulating and stifling innovation. And that's the current debate that we're seeing, not just here in Geneva, but I think globally.”
10. Med shot, speaker, photographer
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU):
“My biggest fear and what keeps me up at night is the 2.6 billion people that are not connected and I say that because if you're not part of the digital world, then you're not part of the AI world. And I do think we have to close that gap and in parallel find ways to make AI safer.”
12. Various shots, journalists, camera operators, photographers, speakers

Storyline

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), only 30 percent of women globally have access to the Internet.

Women still account for a disproportionate and growing share of the global offline population – with only 30 percent having access to the internet in the least developed countries.

This is according to the first female ITU Secretary-General, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, who addressed reporters today (7 Mar) in Geneva on the eve of International Women’s Day.

“I've seen women who can't afford a smartphone, women in countries where entry-level handsets can exceed 70 percent of average household monthly incomes,” said Bogdan-Martin during a briefing at the United Nations in Geneva on ITU’s global priorities for 2024 - which include narrowing this gender gap in internet access.

“Women still account for a disproportionate and growing share of the global offline population, outnumbering men by some 20 percent in the least developed countries. Only 30 percent of women have access to the Internet,” she said.

For 2024, ITU Member States have set two clear strategic goals for the Union going forward: universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation.

After 14 months at the helm of ITU, Bogdan-Martin said that she had " experienced in my time as ITU Secretary-General two worlds, … one in high-income countries where almost 90 percent of the population is covered by a 5G network and a much bigger and also poorer world where service is nearly absent and when available, it's not affordable.”

Turning to the fight against climate change, ITU’s Secretary-General stressed that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can mitigate 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Digital solutions such as AI can help to boost progress on climate change, education, and poverty, she said.

“There are incredible opportunities that we can leverage from AI in general, from generative AI,” she said. “But there are risks and we need to be able to manage and mitigate the risks. It's a challenge to find how to balance between regulating and stifling innovation. And that's the current debate that we're seeing, not just here in Geneva, but I think globally.”

According to ITU, 2.6 billion people today are not connected, and they have never been connected to the Internet.

For Bogdan-Martin, “This is really one of the biggest challenges of our generation.”

“My biggest fear and what keeps me up at night is the 2.6 billion people that are not connected and I say that because if you're not part of the digital world, then you're not part of the AI world. And I do think we have to close that gap and in parallel find ways to make AI safer.”