The Chair of Committee of Convention 108, Ms Beatriz de Anchorena, received the Global Privacy Assembly (GPA) Giovanni Buttarelli Award on the 17^th of September at the Open Session of the 47^th Assembly meeting in Seoul, Korea.

The Chair of the Committee, Ms Beatriz de Anchorena was selected for this year’s award by GPA members due to her leadership and collaboration efforts at both regional and international levels in the field of data protection and privacy. During her inaugural speech upon the receiving the award, Ms de Anchorena expressed gratitude to the GPA members and highlighted the need to build “inclusive information societies, where everyone, regardless of origin, socio-economic status, or geographic location, can fully enjoy access to better lives based on fundamental rights, it is what will turn digital transformation into a driving force for equality and dignity”. Emphasizing the momentum for advancing Giovanni Buttarelli’s vision for a fairer digital future for all, she also invited everyone “to empower Convention 108+, as the only legally binding instrument in the field, open to all regions, and able to offer legal certainty and political legitimacy in a changing world.”

The Award was created in 2021 in memory of Giovanni Buttarelli, former European Data Protection Supervisor and GPA Executive Committee member to promote further his idea that “privacy is not only about compliance, but about the very essence of democracy, strong institutions and human dignity”.

The 47^th GPA was attended by the members and observers of Committee of Convention 108, who, alongside the Chair, contributed to the discussions held in the Open and Closed sessions of the Assembly meeting.  They also participated in the adoption of the GPA Resolutions addressing emerging topics, such as digital education, privacy and data protection for responsible inclusive digital citizenship; collection, use and disclosure of personal data to pre-train, train and fine-tune AI models; and the meaningful human oversight of automated decisions involving AI systems.

• Speech of Ms Beatriz de Anchorena
• Link to the webpage of the 47^th Global Privacy Assembly