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Heinrich Böll Foundation
Kofi Annan answer to open letter from Civil Society. He states that the holding of the Summit in Tunis offers a good opportunity for the Government of Tunisia to address various human rights concerns, including those related to freedom of opinion and expression. October 2005
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World Summit on the Information Society II - November 2005 The second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a global event aimed to improve access by all countries to information, and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote development, will take place in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005.
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) sprang into being as an instance of global decision-making aimed at addressing the challenges posed by the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). According to the political statements of governments, the main purpose of this event is to create and implement common action frameworks for building a new equitable and integrating information society aimed at development.
The third meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom-3) of the second phase of the WSIS took place between September 19-30 in Geneva, Switzerland. This was the last meeting scheduled prior to the second phase of the Summit to be held in Tunis from November 16 to 28, 2005. The discussion on possible modifications to the current model of "Internet governance" was placed among the core issues to be analysed on the agenda, together with the decisions on specific mechanisms aimed at ensuring the implementation and follow-up to agreements reached in the two phases of the WSIS. The main input to discussions were the final report of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), presented in July 2005 (see the report "Internet governance: Everybody's business in the Information Society") and the text issued by the Group of Friends of the Chair (GFC), proposed as a basis for negotiation on WSIS implementation and follow-up.
Regarding the results of PrepCom-3, no one can be really satisfied - except those who would want the WSIS process to come to an end without firm and specific commitments. Although some progress has been made in drawing up Tunis documents, no relevant consensus was reached regarding the core issues under discussion. In the case of Internet governance, for example, a strong divergence of opinion was evidenced between those who aim at a deep reform of the current system - dominated by the ICANN and, therefore, with preeminence of only one government over Internet’s common resources - and those who aim at maintaining this system, with minor modifications.
With respect to the establishment of specific mechanisms to ensure the implementation of the WSIS consensus and their evaluation, no agreement was reached between developed and developing countries. The latter consider it unreasonable to end up such a long and complex negotiation process without clear mandates to UN system organizations, which are essential to ensure the implementation of commitments undertaken by governments.
Upon the impossibility to reach consensus on these issues and, therefore, to close the documents to be signed by Heads of State and Government in Tunis, the PrepCom entered into a pause, with the decision to continue negotiations during the remaining period prior to the Summit. For this purpose, two additional intergovernmental sessions will take place in Geneva between October 24-28 and the PrepCom was called to continue sessions in Tunis between November 13-15.
The procedures established in the first phase of WSIS provided for the participation of multilple stakeholders involved in information, communication and development issues, including not only governments but also the private sector and civil society. However, the process was characterized by the lack of openness in terms of participation of non-governmental stakeholders, which ended up excluding civil society and the private sector from key negotiation instances such as the drafting groups created to solve particularly conflictive issues. Nor the participation of these stakeholders in the WSIS final instances is clear, thus questioning the strength of goodwill statements included throughout the documents with respect to building a information society with broad participation of all relevant actors.
The PrepCom-3 was also characterized by an increased number of proposals about the critical human rights situation evidenced in Tunisia, host country of the second phase of the Summit. Civil society organizations expressed, in an open letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, their "profound concern" about the attacks on the freedom of expression registered in the country.
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International Internet Community for Environment, Human Rights, Development and Peace. APC is a major CSO worldwide network in advocating for and facilitating the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) by civil society.
Civil society organisations expressed that "After 2 weeks of PrepCom the governments have still not reached agreement on Internet governance. The Geneva principles create the opportunity for this impasse to be resolved constructively and creatively by including the perspectives and expertise of all stakeholders. We believe this would have been more effective than the ongoing deadlock that emerged from counter positioning among governments"
Statement prepared by Cultural Diversity Caucus/Indigenous Caucus to PrepCom 3: "The amendments as proposed in this paper by the Cultural Diversity and Indigenous Caucuses should be accepted. Proper care should be taken by all stakeholders to maintain what has been achieved so far in the WSIS-Process with regard to aspects of cultural diversity and to avoid any regressions in that area." PDF format.
Civil Society statement on participation read by Avri Doria, Sep 28th: "The decision to exclude non-governmental stakeholders from the drafting groups is not about rules and procedure – it is a matter of political courage and principle. You have a choice to be inclusive or exclusive, to work in partnership, transparency and openness. Or not. Do not hide behind rules and procedures."
The WSIS Gender Caucus is concerned by the fact that the key principles and values expressed in the first phase of WSIS, and included in the Geneva Declaration of Principles, do not appear to guide the discussions and decision-making processes in the second phase. We therefore ask that the discussions and decision-making processes of the second phase of WSIS be conducted in correspondence with the key principles and values of the Geneva Declaration, most specifically women’s empowerment and gender equality. PDF format.
The uncertainty connected with the speculation about the final decision regarding the presence of civil society members in drafting groups has finally turned into an open confrontation. Civil society representatives read a formal protest statement at the end of the open plenary this morning. The statement contained clear language about the exclusion of "non-governmental stakeholders from meaningful participation in the drafting groups" being "not acceptable as a matter of principle".
The unprecedented cooperation among governments, civil society and the private sector that has characterised the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process for the last three years was undermined by a decision adopted by government representatives.
After intense discussions during the weekend Civil Society was anxiously awaiting the announcement of the PrepCom’s decision on whether or not Civil Society groups will be locked out from drafting groups in the ongoing sessions of the Subcommittees finalizing the text of the Tunis summit declaration.
While the last Preparation Conference to the WSIS has only one day left to produce real results that could be presented at the Tunis Summit in November, an agreement on future mechanisms for the regulation of the Internet is still far from reach. Frontlines are drawn between a status quo position and the establishment of a new UN oversight body for Internet regulations. It is a battle between an isolated, but determined United States government and the developing world, in which the European Union tries to mediate.
This ITU website contains a collection of Internet Governance contributions presented by governments, international organizations, NGOs and civil society entities, ITU sector members and business entities.
Six major international civil society networks working on questions of access and affordability of the internet have emitted a joint statement on 27 September 2005, during the third Preparatory Meeting (PrepCom 3) of the WSIS process. The statement of the Informal Coalition on Financing ICTD goes beyond a document released by the WSIS Chair of a Sub-Committee on Internet Governance and suggests a series of steps to be taken to make the internet a true tool for development.
The Africa civil society caucus presented a statement on internet governance to the Subcommittee A plenary with proposals on follow-up and possible future arrangements. A related statement was also issued previously regarding multilingualism and education.
The first phase of WSIS agreed to pursue the dialogue on Internet governance in the Declaration of Principles and Action Plan adopted on 12 December 2003 in Geneva, with a view to preparing the ground for a decision at the second phase of the WSIS in Tunis in November 2005. In this regard, the first phase of the Summit requested the UN Secretary-General to establish a Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG). The WGIG has been asked to present the result of its work in a report "for consideration and appropriate action for the second phase of the WSIS in Tunis 2005." The WGIG fInal report proposes four possible models for Internet governance. Three of the four models call for the formation of a UN-linked body. Depending on the proposal, the new body would either replace or complement the ICANN.
This document provides information on the current Internet governance transition processes, discussing some of the approaches being submitted to public discussion, and reviews the final report of the WGIG. It also provides brief historical and reference information on the current global governance system specifically created for the Internet. In addition, it presents a review of the perspectives on Internet governance from the point of view of the organized groups of civil society organizations who have been involved in the corresponding discussions both within and outside the WGIG. PDF format.
Civil society organizations interested in Internet governance started a discussion process at the occasion of the second preparatory meeting for WSIS phase one, in February, 2003 that led to the formation of a CS caucus. The IG caucus' initial goals were to help ensure that not only organizations but also individuals participate in the WSIS process; to help set up language communities and let them be connected to the relevant parties for globally available resources and to critically monitor ICANN contracts, processes and activities. Since then, a lot of new ground has been covered by the caucus in a far more sophisticated debate, embracing nearly all themes of WSIS itself.
Sign-on letter representing the position concerning the "Follow-up to WSIS", of at least two of the largest of networks of networks--the Telecentres of the Americas Partnership (representing 10,000 telecentres + throughout the Americas) and the European Union of Telecentre Associations (representing 1000 telecentres/telecottages throughout Central and Eastern Europe). These groups recognize the significance of the outcomes and particularly the "follow-ups" to the WSIS discussions for communities and particularly those in most need, world wide.
The General Assembly at its 57th session established an open-ended ad hoc working group to produce concrete recommendations to ensure an integrated and coordinated follow-up of the United Nations conferences and summits, in the economic, social and related fields.
The PrepCom subcommittee that currently is working on the implementation and follow-up part of the summit documents has dropped the language for serious follow-up to the summit. This means that one of the most important issues of the whole second phase of the world summit is not taken serious by the governments anymore. It is hard to understand how one can have a four-year long process with lengthy negotiations and huge expenses and then ignore the most basic question: How to make sure that there is something coming out of this, that the summit leaves the Geneva UN bubble and has an impact on the real world?
Contributions of the Civil Society Working Group on WSIS Follow-up to Paragraphs 16 to 22 and 40 to 41 of the operational Part of the draft Tunis Declaration. PDF format.
"In November, the Summit itself will be over. Geneva produced valuable Principles and a comprehensive Agenda for Action. Tunis must now produce an innovative and inclusive follow-up framework up to the importance of the challenge. This framework must be both effective and flexible" stated civil society in this declaration. PDF format.
This ITU website contains a collection of contributions on implementing and following-up WSIS commitments, presented by governments, international organizations, NGOs and civil society entities, ITU sector members and business entities.
Joint submission to the 7th meeting of the WSIS GFC (5-6 September 2005, Geneva, Switzerland) by civil society organisations and individuals on the proposed draft text for paragraphs 10, 11 and 29 of the operational part of the Tunis document. CS organisations suggests there that implementation and follow-up mechanisms for WSIS must be based on multi-stakeholder teams around action lines with a well-defined overall co-ordination body.
2 September 2005. Civil society groups active in the WSIS have voiced their protest against a serious development related to the Tunis summit outcomes. The latest draft for the summit document on implementation and follow-up are lacking a meaningful commitment to implementation, and they also are a serious setback for the multi-stakeholder approach.
As there is no definitive structure of implementing the information society Plan of Action (PoA) in place, IT for Change has started advocating for creating an implementing mechanism in PrepCom III.
This document provides background information of the discussions on implemantation and follow up prior to the PrepCom-3. It stated the danger of this substantial issue being lost due to the dominance of financing and Internet governance negotiations in the second phase of WSIS.
The WSIS Stocktaking is intended to fulfill the dual purpose of providing an inventory of activities undertaken by governments and all stakeholders in implementing the Geneva decisions and taking stock of the progress made in building the Information Society. The stocktaking was launched in October 2004 and continues to be updated as a dynamic portal to this rich source of information, open to all.
Steve Buckley, from the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), received a letter from UN secretary general Kofi Annan in response both to an IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group letter of 2 September and to the WSIS civil society letter of 1 October which had over 100 signatories. Annan makes clear that many of the serious concerns of civil society, which the Tunisian government continues to describe as unfounded, are shared at the highest level of the UN. October 2005.
Tunisian civil society organizations, along with those in media and human rights groups, are hoping to use the World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis, 16-18 November 2005) as an opportunity to demand their foremost right: to exist. So far Tunisian authorities deny this right and continue their harassment of such forces. As the summit will be held in Tunisia, the international community must at least use that opportunity to apply its recommendations both to faraway countries and to the host country itself. October 2005.
The Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Ambeyi Ligabo, called on the Tunisian Government to take effective measures for the promotion of a real pluralism, including action related to the increase of media freedom in the country and to guarantee full access to information for media professionals as well as for the ordinary citizen, in order to expand transparency and public awareness. October 2005.
The civil society organizations participating at the Prepcom 3 of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva (17 - 30 September 2005) express their deep concern about the conditions in which the WSIS is about to take place in Tunis from 16 - 18 November 2005, specially about the violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Tunisian authorities.
Civil society organizations active in the WSIS process strongly condemn the continuous blocking of Human Rights in China (HRIC) accreditation to the WSIS process. At the WSIS PrepCom-3 opening Plenary, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was able to block a vote on HRIC’s accreditation with a procedural maneuver that revealed both the politicized nature of the process and the adverse impact on the WSIS principles of building a "people-centered, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society".
"Tunisia is not a suitable place to hold a United Nations World Summit" according to the latest report of the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) released two months before the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), scheduled to take place in Tunis, 16-18 November 2005.
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) managed to avoid a scandal over the exclusion of a group of Chinese activists, but controversy will be difficult to defuse when discussion turns to human rights violations in Tunisia, the host country of the Summit's second phase.
International and Tunisian non-governmental organisations express their outrage at the rapid deterioration of the human rights situation in Tunisia just two months prior to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to be held in Tunis, November 15-18, 2005. After prohibiting the founding congress of the Tunisian Journalists' Union (SJT) on September 7, authorities prevented the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) from holding its 6th Congress.
Attendees at the recent phase of WSIS couldn’t fail to notice the prolific presence of Tunisian delegates. From civil society plenaries through gatherings over coffee to the government sessions, they had their say in preparation for the November summit. But can a country whose government censors journalists, curtails web access and imprisons internet users without trial, be a fit host for the UN’s World Summit on the Information Society?.
Three international Human rights NGOs release a joint report on the information society in Tunisia and on the operational conditions for the preparation of the World Summit on Information society to be held in Tunis in November 2005. The document is available for download in PDF format.
As mandated by PrepCom-3 of the Tunis phase of WSIS, the PrepCom Bureau has decided the dates of the intersessional negotiation work ahead of the Tunis phase as well as on the dates, venue and modalities of the resumed PrepCom-3 back to back to the Tunis Summit.
With just six weeks to go before the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, a number of key issues remain unresolved, including the highly debated questions of Internet governance and civil society participation.
The last preparatory conference, less than 60 days before the Tunis summit, ended without an agreement. The open questions will have to be dealt with in the time before Tunis – and basically without civil society participation.
The third Preparatory Committee (PrepCom-3) of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) closed its doors after a gruelling two weeks of day and night sessions that saw agreement on large sections of the Summit text, some major developments in the international community’s approach to Internet governance, but ultimately disappointing progress on a raft of contentious issues.
Who should manage the internet? How to coordinate the bridging of the "Digital Divide" across the United Nations system and beyond? Will the extraordinary multi-stakeholder model set by the World Summit on the Information Society continue beyond Tunis in November? These were some of the key questions that governments and other stakeholders were to address during the final preparatory committee of the World Summit on the Information Society, held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 19-30 September.
