November 4, 2025 — The Asia Pacific Youth Internet Governance Forum (yIGF) 2025 has officially published its Declaration on Meaningful Youth Participation, marking a major milestone in regional youth advocacy for inclusive and accountable digital governance.

The Declaration is the outcome of months of youth collaboration across the Asia-Pacific region to influence the WSIS+20 Review process and culminated in a Live Discussion & Editing Session held during the Asia Pacific yIGF 2025. Youth leaders worked collectively to shape this statement to reflect their shared vision and priorities of young leaders across the region and advocate for meaningful roles for youth in Internet governance.

The Declaration sets out a vision for the youth community in the global Internet governance ecosystem and guides future youth-led initiatives to strengthen the role of young people in digital governance, emphasizing that youth participation must be structural, resourced, and respected — not symbolic.

Below is the complete text of the declaration:

Asia Pacific Youth IGF 2025:
Declaration on Meaningful Youth Participation

We are the generation that will live the longest with the consequences of today’s digital governance decisions. Yet, we have been treated as beneficiaries, observers, or “future leaders,” despite the fact that we are already building the systems, norms, and cultures that define the Internet.

As digital natives, innovators, and advocates, we want governance to be responsive and accountable to a broad range of public interests, and to the future. Decision-making closed off to young people preserves and reproduces only outdated interests.  To make multistakeholder governance meaningful, youth participation must be structural, resourced, and respected, not symbolic.

We, the youth of the Asia-Pacific, united through the WSIS+20 Review process and the Asia-Pacific Youth IGF 2025, declare that meaningful youth participation is not optional but essential for a sustainable, equitable, inclusive, and accountable digital future.

This Declaration presents our collective vision, and calls to actions for embedding youth inclusion at every level of digital governance. It is both a statement of principles, and a roadmap for transformation toward a world where youth are recognized as equal partners in shaping the digital age.

Our vision for meaningful youth participation is anchored in shared principles:

• Digital inclusion and linguistic justice
• Gender equality and intersectionality
• Climate-conscious and sustainable digital infrastructure
• Accountability and transparency in all governance systems

Pillars of Meaningful Youth Participation

1. Youth as Structural Partners in Digital Governance

We call for formal mechanisms that place young people in decision-making roles within Internet governance, WSIS, and related institutions. Youth participation must go beyond symbolic or tokenistic inclusion. Existing youth efforts must be recognised, future efforts supported, and youth participation formally integrated into governance structures and systems. 

• Establish Youth Advisory Councils to work alongside WSIS Action Line facilitators, the IGF, and other digital governance bodies.
• Institutionalize youth delegate roles in national, regional, and global delegations.
• Provide sustainable funding for Youth IGFs, regional initiatives, and youth-led research to ensure our contributions are continuous, not one-off.
• Introduce grants and stipends for youth-led submissions, innovation, and governance participation.

2. Innovation with Equity and Trust

We call for technology that is equitable, accountable, and rooted in human rights. Technology and digital systems are essential elements of  our economies, governance, societies, and daily lives. Innovation must serve people and the planet, not the other way around. The dominance of big techs’ profit-driven interests has eroded public trust in digital governance. Youth must be engaged as co-creators to reflect diverse realities of our region, democratize innovation and restore that trust. 

• Establish Youth Technology Policy Labs and Regional Innovation Hubs that empower young people to co-design, test, and govern technology and digital systems — ensuring innovation is participatory, ethical, and inclusive.
• Support open-source and culturally grounded AI models that reflect local languages, Indigenous knowledge, and diverse cultural realities, enabling technology that serves all communities.
• Embed accountability, safety, and transparency across the entire technology lifecycle — from data collection and algorithm design to deployment and oversight.
• Include mandatory algorithmic transparency in public digital services to safeguard fairness, explainability, and human dignity.
• Integrate cyber hygiene and digital rights education into schools and community programs, supported by nationwide awareness campaigns that build everyday cybersecurity and digital literacy skills.
• Institutionalize youth-led audits, advisory panels to strengthen trust, transparency, and local capacity — especially for youth in rural and marginalized areas.
• Embed human rights, sustainability, and social justice in all digital innovation, ensuring technology serves people and the planet.

3. Meaningful and Equitable Connectivity and Digital Empowerment

Connectivity must translate into capability, opportunity, and dignity. True inclusion requires not just access, but the skills, networks, and fair structures that empower youth to shape the digital world.

• Recognize global connectivity as a fundamental right that should not be disrupted  even in times of crisis.
• Establish independent monitoring of connectivity standards, costs, and shutdowns using user-centered metrics.
• Enable community-led and multilingual reporting mechanisms to ensure no youth or community is left offline.
• Bridge the digital skills gap by aligning education with the evolving needs of digital economy, supported by investment in digital literacy, entrepreneurial training, and multilingual education.
• Promote gender equity, linguistic diversity, and accessibility in digital employment and learning environments.
• Adopt inclusive policies ensuring equitable access for women, rural youth, and all other marginalized groups.
• Ensure transparency and fairness in digital labor markets and address exploitative practices.
• Support youth entrepreneurship and social innovation through inclusive digital finance and fair economic structures.

Our Collective Call to Action

We call upon governments, private sector, civil society, and international organizations to move beyond consultation toward co-governance with youth.

• Institutionalized youth representation and participation in all Internet governance structures and systems..
• Sustained investment in youth-led research, policy development, and capacity building.
• Intergenerational collaboration that treats youth not as the “next generation” but as partners of today.

When youth are meaningfully included, governance becomes more innovative, more equitable, and more resilient. Our generation is ready, not just to participate, but to lead, co-create, and sustain the digital future for all.

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About the Asia Pacific yIGF

The Asia Pacific Youth Internet Governance Forum (yIGF) is a regional initiative that empowers young people to engage in Internet governance discussions and policy processes. It serves as a platform for youth to collaborate, voice perspectives, and shape the future of the digital world through meaningful participation. Visit http://yigf.asia for more