Sanctions Complicate Campaign to Become ITU Secretary-General, Russian Candidate Says

It will be difficult to solicit votes for the position of Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) abroad under the sanctions, but this does not mean the elections will be unfair, the Russian candidate, Rashid Ismailov, said.

"I think it will be difficult [to present my candidate programme]. However, I cannot back down. I think that things will eventually get better. And by September, when the elections take place, the situation will have changed," Ismailov said at an Association of Accredited Correspondents press conference at the UN's Geneva headquarters.

According to him, sanctions and restrictions imposed on Russia are mainly why it will be problematic to enter a Russian candidate for the post. In particular, Ismailov does not have the freedom, unlike the other candidates, of being able to move around European. Besides, financial opportunities for travel are limited because of the ban on the work of VISA and Mastercard cards issued in Russia as well as sanctions against Russian banks. There also may be problems with obtaining a travelling visa.

Ismailov also spoke respectfully of his rival for the post of ITU Secretary-General, US candidate Doreen Bogdan-Martin. He said she is a professional with high moral standards, who at present has more advantages than him, although he hastened to add this does not imply anything fraudulent about the election.

"I can't say it's not fair. She just has more advantages. We have a certain situation in which we are going to work," he added.

The election of the ITU's Secretary-General will take place in Bucharest in September.

The title of Ismailov's campaign pitch reads 'Five Steps to the Humanisation of ICT'. In particular, Ismailov suggests that the ITU develop common standards for ‘the internet of things’ to restore confidence in digital technology. It is also necessary to ensure that people all over the world are provided with broadband Internet access by 2030.

According to Ismailov, information technology is necessary to prevent and fight the consequences of pandemics, create unified international rules for the operation of unmanned vehicles, autonomous physical and virtual systems applying AI technologies both at the level of technical regulations and ethical codes. Furthermore, there is a need to develop recommendations for updating national legislation and international codes.

When it comes to personal data, Ismailov proposed expanding the use of anonymised data to balance security and privacy protection. In addition, he proposed the creation of universal and universally recognised human rights to digital identity.

The International Telecommunication Union is a UN agency which specialises in telecommunications. In particular, ITU oversees the distribution of radio frequencies, satellite orbits and worldwide numbering capacity. It also approves communication network standards, including 5G.

The new Secretary-General will take office in January 2023 and the term is three years. The US representative has already headed the ITU once, whereas Russia has never had a representative at the head of this organisation despite the fact that Russia is one of the founding countries of the ITU.