Information and communications technologies for sustainable development A/RES/74/197 the report of the Working Group on Education of the Broadband Commission entitled “Digital skills for life and work”, Recognizing that realizing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will make a crucial contribution to progress across all of the Sustainable Development Goals, and emphasizing the need to target science, technology and innovation strategies to address the empower ment of women and girls and to reduce inequalities, including the gender digital divide, Noting with great concern the fact that a gender digital divide persists in women’s access to and use of information and communications technologies, including in education, employment and other areas of economic and social development, and in this regard welcoming the many initiatives that focus on access, skills and leadership to promote the equal participation of women and girls in the digital age, such as the International Girls in ICT Day of the International Telecommunication Union and the Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age, known as the Equals Partnership, Recognizing the need to focus on capacity development policies and sustainable support to further enhance the impact of activities and initiatives at the national and local levels aimed at providing advice, services and support, with a view to building an inclusive, people-centred and development-oriented information society, Noting that a range of topics continues to emerge on issues related to the access to and use and applications of information and communications technologies and their effects on economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, Reaffirming that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, and emphasizing that progress towards the vision of the World Summit on the Information Society should be considered not only as a function of economic development and the spreading of information and communications technologies but also as a function of progress with respect to the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Reaffirming also that Internet governance, including the process towards enhanced cooperation and the convening of the Internet Governance Forum, should continue to follow the provisions set forth in the outcomes of the summits held in Geneva and Tunis, Recalling the efforts undertaken by the host countries in organizing the meetings of the Internet Governance Forum, held in Athens in 2006, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2007, in Hyderabad, India, in 2008, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2009, in Vilnius in 2010, in Nairobi in 2011, in Baku in 2012, in Bali, Indonesia, in 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2014, in João Pessoa, Brazil, in 2015, in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016, in Geneva in 2017, in Paris in 2018 and in Berlin in 2019, Recalling also the convening of the Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation, based on the proposal by the Chair of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development regarding the structure and composition of the Working Group, as requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 70/125 of 16 December 2015 and endorsed by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 2017/21, and taking note of its work, Noting that information and communications technologies can help to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, and noting also that, inter alia, the International Telecommunication Union has an important role in supporting Member States in the implementation of the Goals, 19-22407 5/12