4TH UNITED NATIONS WORLD DATA FORUM IN CHINA’S HANGZHOU – Calls For Enhancing Data Management
The four-day 4th United Nations World Data Forum closed on Thursday in Hangzhou City of east China’s Zhejiang Province, releasing the Hangzhou Declaration which calls for strengthening data management to achieve sustainable development goals.
Critics argue that China’s population is already vastly monitored, its citizens have no control over how data is used or shared with internal security forces and its human rights violations are being questioned across the world.
The 4th UN World Data Forum was held from April 24 to 27.
Themed “Towards Data that Empowers Our World”, the forum was sponsored by the United Nations and co-hosted by China’s National Bureau of Statistics and the provincial government of Zhejiang.
More than 1,000 representatives from over 100 countries and regions attended the forum, which consisted of six plenary meetings and 72 parallel sessions.
The Hangzhou Declaration highlights the importance of “data governance” in promoting the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
High-quality, timely, open and inclusive data are a key component of accelerating the achievement of sustainable development goals and responding to multiple crises, the declaration noted