[hr-wsis] Fwd: [WSIS CSCG] Urgent: First draft of civil soc doc for Prepcom 2

[Meryem Marzouki <marzouki@ras.eu.org>]

Having received neither answer nor comments from any of you on the draft 
document, here is what I've sent today to the coordination group.
(the attached document is now appended to this message)
Meryem

Début du message réexpédié :

> De : Meryem Marzouki <marzouki@ras.eu.org>
> Date : Lun 02 déc 2002  06:04:20 PM Europe/Paris
> À : wsis-cscg@comunica.org
> Objet : Rép : [WSIS CSCG] Urgent: First draft of civil soc doc for 
> Prepcom 2
>
> Hi Sally and all,
>
> Many thanks to the SCT for the huge work done in a hurry. I've been 
> unable to participate to its work till now, but attached you'll find a 
> (tentative) restructuring of the document (Themes section). Actually, I 
> think that flattening the themes section results in an important loss 
> in the general economy and balance, and strenght, of the previous 
> document.
>
> This version takes into account the editing and comments added by Chris 
> Zielinski. I've also replaced all occurrences of "information society" 
> by "information and communication society", as it was written in our 
> mid-september document.
>
> I still am not satisfied with the attached document, but this is a 
> first try.
>
> Best regards,
> Meryem.


> World Summit on the Information Society
>
> Document [number]
> [date]
> Original: English
>
> Civil Society Statement to Prepcom 2 (DRAFT)
>
> [Title]
>
> Proposed by Civil Society Sub-committee on Content and Themes
> November 26 2002
>
> 1. OUR VISION OF THE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SOCIETY
>
> The undersigned civil society organisations are contributing the 
> following statement to Prepcom-2 on the vision, principles, themes and 
> process for the World Summit on the Information Society
>
> Our vision: an Information and Communication Society based on human 
> rights and human development
>
> Our vision is of an Information and Communication Society based on 
> recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable 
> rights of all human beings as articulated in the Universal Declaration 
> of Human Rights. The goals of such an Information and Communication 
> Society should be based on principles of social, political and economic 
> justice and the pursuit of sustainable human development.
>
> The Information and Communication Society must have a development 
> orientation with a focus on fundamental human needs and clear social 
> and economic goals with priority given to the reduction of poverty in 
> all its dimensions. It should thus expand on the United Nations 
> Millennium Development Goals. In doing so it must explore the full 
> range of tools, strategies and perspectives for achieving sustainable 
> development.
>
> Human knowledge, values, communication and organisation are core 
> elements and processes of the Information and Communication Society. 
> The aim of the WSIS, “to develop a common vision and understanding of 
> the Information Society”, and the methods to achieve such a vision, 
> requires shared communication values including equal access to the 
> means of communication, respect for the freedom of opinion and 
> expression, and a commitment to transparency and accountability.
>
> The Information Society must ensure that it is people-centred and 
> inclusive, taking account of the different stakeholders, recognising 
> the necessity of ensuring gender equality, enabling the engagement of 
> young people and ensuring the involvement of diverse social and 
> linguistic groups and cultures, particularly those most exposed to 
> exclusion, discrimination and disadvantage.
>
> The goals of the Information and Communication Society must determine 
> the most appropriate communication tools and applications including 
> traditional communications media and community-based initiatives as 
> well as new information and communication technologies. Measures in 
> pursuit of the goals must be based on the involvement of all 
> stakeholders as participants and decision makers in shaping Information 
> and Communication Society policies and frameworks.
>
>
> 2 GUIDING PRINCIPLES
>
> The following principles should guide the strategies for developing an 
> information and communication society that responds to this vision.
>
> 2.1 Human rights and human development at the centre
>
> Human rights and human development are the cornerstone of all 
> developments in an information and communication society. The 
> principles of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, and especially 
> those stated in its section V (Human rights, democracy and good 
> governance) constitute the framework for evaluating these developments.
>
> The information and communication society must necessarily have people 
> at its centre. Approaching the information and communication society 
> from a rights perspective implies putting human dignity, human 
> development and our rights as global citizens above technological 
> considerations or the commercial producer-consumer relationship. 
> Therefore, the goal of the WSIS should be achieved in reference to the 
> human rights framework established by the United Nations, as 
> articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 
> International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the 
> International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on 
> the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and other 
> documents adopted by member states.
> 2.2 Communication as a universal right
>
> Communication - understood as a participatory and interactive process 
> essential to human coexistence, human formation and citizenship and 
> community building - should be recognized as a universal right in the 
> information and communication society. Technology should be at the 
> service of communication and information needs, not an end in itself.
>
> Communication is a fundamental human need, indispensable for the 
> organization of societies, and therefore must be at the centre of 
> definitions for building an information and communication society. 
> Facilitating active citizenship through increased possibilities for 
> human interaction and the exchange of information should be a priority 
> in this process. The focus should be on people, as citizens, and the 
> services they require, rather than on services and their “users” or 
> “consumers”. Participation and communication and effective use concepts 
> should be affirmed.
>
> 2.3 The global information commons
>
> Securing and extending the public domain, or global commons, is a major 
> way of bridging the digital divide and of ensuring the minimal 
> equitable conditions for the overall development of intellectual 
> creativity, technological innovation, effective technology use and 
> successful participation in the information and communication society. 
> These are the necessary pre-conditions for realizing the values and 
> principles of Freedom, Equality, Solidarity and Shared responsibility 
> adopted in the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
>
> Extending the global information commons is a means of achieving both 
> the reduction of inequalities and the stimulation of intellectual 
> creativity and technological innovation in an Information and 
> Communication society. Furthermore, it should be recognized that the 
> global commons, which has been developed by means of public funding and 
> that derive from our shared physical environment, constitute a public 
> resource, which should not be sold for private profit making.
>
> 2.4 Access to information and the means of communication
>
> Access to information and the means of communication should be 
> participatory, universal, inclusive and democratic.
>
> In order for everyone to be able to participate in the benefits and 
> achievements of the Information and Communication Society, the digital 
> divide issue should be tackled in its broadest sense. This means 
> addressing both the North/South digital divide and the enduring 
> inequities within both developed and less developed nations, and 
> generally speaking the political and social barriers, along with 
> technical, educational, gender and economic ones, that are major causes 
> of marginalization. It means ensuring universal access to information 
> essential for human development as well as access to cyberspace and 
> other infrastructure, and encouraging social appropriation of the 
> technology. Democratic access implies differentiating the needs of 
> different collectivities and seeking appropriate solutions. It also 
> means developing and providing the means for the effective use of ICTs 
> by different groups. This implies addressing diverse realities of 
> social groups such as indigenous people, diasporas and migrants, as 
> well as specific needs of groups such as older persons and the 
> disabled. It also implies giving priority to community initiatives, 
> developed in response to local needs and under community control.
>
> 2.5 Promoting cultural and linguistic diversity
>
> Respect for and promotion of multilingualism and diversity, which are 
> fundamental to human conviviality and peace, must be at the centre of 
> the information and communication society. The information and 
> communication society holds a great potential for promoting cultural 
> and linguistic diversity and exchange, but also for imposing 
> homogeneity. Culture is alive and evolving, therefore linguistic 
> diversity and cultural identity do not only need to be preserved, but 
> also actively fostered.
>
> 2.6 Incorporating a gender perspective
>
> Gender-based analyses and perspectives must be introduced into all 
> proposals, action plans and follow-up programmes, so that gender 
> equality can be guaranteed in the information and communication 
> society, as enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms 
> of Discrimination against Women and the Beijing Platform for Action.
>
> 3. THEMES
>
> We propose the following categories and issues discussed therein as a 
> comprehensive framework for WSIS themes, along with our identified 
> guiding principles.
>
> 3.1 Understanding the Foundations and Building the Framework
>
> In this category, the WSIS would develop a shared definition and 
> understanding of the information and communication society: what is it, 
> who and what purposes it should serve, and on what ethical bases it 
> should function. The primary emphasis here would be on defining the 
> role of human rights in the Information and Communication Society in 
> the context of the United Nations system. Integral to this, the 
> distinct roles of governments, civil society, and the private sector 
> would also be established. The diverse realities of different types of 
> communities in the Information and Communication Society would also be 
> addressed here.
>
> 3.1.1 Contributions of the information and communication society to the 
> opportunities for human and social development
>
> As a basis for building a better understanding of the potential and 
> risks of the information and communication society, the WSIS would 
> examine the particular roles and responsibilities the information and 
> communication society has to play in contributing to development and 
> would evaluate its social impact. The WSIS would also identify the 
> means to ensure the broadest distribution of opportunities for human 
> and social development and effective technology use within an 
> information and communication society and the emerging technology 
> environment on which it is based.
> Themes would include: the creation of economic opportunities; the role 
> of ICTs in health, agriculture, and other life-critical sectors; the 
> role of ICT-based communication for development; training workers for 
> the Information and Communication Society; the realities and dangers of 
> labour exploitation in ICT-based sectors; the roles and impacts of 
> investment and speculation in ICT-based development; and the role and 
> limits of E-commerce in development; the impact of ICTs on employment 
> and migration.
>
> 3.1.2 Bridging Divides to the Information and Communication Society
>
> In this category, the WSIS would address barriers to citizens and 
> countries in accessing the Information and Communication Society. Here, 
> the WSIS would explicitly recognize a complex of different types of 
> barriers, not the proverbial, monolithic “digital divide.” Major 
> emphasis would be placed on addressing barriers facing the least 
> developed countries (LDCs). Other themes addressed here would include: 
> social, economic, and educational barriers; political and social 
> barriers; requirements for achieving universal and equitable access; 
> information as a public good, with due consideration for intellectual 
> property; freedom of expression and of the media; supporting cultural 
> and linguistic diversity in circumventing barriers; and the distinct 
> roles of governments, civil society, and the private sector in bridging 
> barriers to the Information and Communication Society.
>
> 3.1.3 Knowledge Society
>
> In this category, the WSIS would address themes that recognize the 
> creation and management of knowledge as the key benefit to humankind of 
> the Information and Communication Society.
> Such themes would include: educational goals, distance learning, 
> facilitating both formal and life-long learning, the development of 
> information literacy, access to knowledge, support for cultural and 
> linguistic diversity, and the needs of young people in the knowledge 
> society. Capacity building in academia to support the knowledge society 
> would also be addressed as well as local, indigenous, and diverse 
> knowledge systems.
>
> 3.1.4 People, Communities, and Rights
>
> In this category, the WSIS would address themes specific to citizens 
> and communities that are not addressed by commercial perspectives on 
> the Information and Communication Society. The main emphasis here is, 
> on the one hand, to articulate support for people’s empowerment and for 
> their full participation in their countries and communities; and on the 
> other hand, to promote community-driven and community-based enabling 
> initiatives including traditional and innovative uses of communication 
> and information management and processing tools at the community level.
>
> Major thematic subcategories here include: the creation of an 
> electronic commons which would guarantee universal access to 
> information essential to human development, free public spaces and 
> technical resources that can be used to meet human needs; community 
> control of ICT infrastructures; continuing support for open source 
> technologies; capacity building; and the multiplicity of dimensions of 
> diversity.
> Specific themes here would include: the empowerment of communities 
> through ICTs; promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity; support 
> for oral information and cultures; support for independent, community 
> controlled media and other forms of communication; the needs of people 
> with disabilities; needs of the elderly; support for cross-cultural 
> communications; stemming the technological “brain drain” from 
> developing countries; content dumping, and geographic-specific themes.
>
> 3.1.5 Gender Perspectives
>
> In accordance with the Millennium Declaration and other instruments 
> adopted by the UN, the WSIS must address gender perspectives within the 
> information and communication society as a cross-cutting issue in all 
> aspects of the agenda. In this category, the WSIS would focus on the 
> broad themes of reducing gender discrimination and improving 
> participation of women in the Information and Communication Society, 
> capacity building and training for women, and the use of ICTs to 
> improve the lives and livelihoods of women worldwide.
> Specific themes would include: supporting wide participation by women 
> ICT specialists in policy and decision making at all levels in the ICT 
> sector; supporting women’s greater access and control over resources 
> necessary for their empowerment; encouraging women to explore the 
> convergence and between cultural and traditional forms of communication 
> with the technologies currently available; enhancing the possibilities 
> of women at all levels utilizing ICT tools to transform gender 
> hierarchies in society and to challenge stereotyped roles that they are 
> expected to fulfill; using new and alternative forms of ICTs to counter 
> the negative portrayal of women in the media, examining and addressing 
> old and new forms of exploitation and violence against women in the 
> information and communication society.
>
> 3.2 Developing the Framework
>
> In this category, the WSIS would establish a shared understanding of 
> how the information and communication society should function, be 
> regulated, and evolve.
>
> 3.2.1 Regulatory  Framework
>
> Themes would include areas such as: freedom of expression; data 
> protection; privacy and network security; privacy in the workplace; 
> consumer protection, specially with regards to spamming and profiling; 
> intellectual property rights, universal access to information essential 
> to human development, as well as public domain issues and fair use, 
> public services, the establishment of appropriate policy and market 
> structures and regulating media ownership and concentration; and 
> extending rights of workers and their trade-unions to the use of the 
> internet and intranets of companies for purpose of communications and 
> solidarity: defining on-line rights for on-line workers is a necessity 
> which includes provisions to protect workers in very intrusive 
> workplaces and unprecedented monitoring and surveillance conditions. 
> Finally, given the borderless characteristics of ICTs, an appropriate 
> framework for establishing the competence of jurisdictions should also 
> be elaborated.
>
> 3.2.2 Public Policies
>
> Themes addressing the development of the information and communication 
> society would include: policies for autonomous development of national 
> and regional information societies; securing and extending the global 
> information commons as a major way of bridging the digital divide; 
> sustainable and environmentally responsible development of ICTs as well 
> as the use of ICTs to enable sustainable and environmentally 
> responsible development and conservation efforts worldwide; development 
> of alternative and community-based technologies; determining the 
> appropriate use of new and traditional ICTs; capacity building in 
> governments, civil society, and the private sector; financing and 
> deployment of technology; and examination of social and regulatory 
> impacts of this framework. Recognizing participatory design as an 
> indispensable tool for ICT development, this category should also 
> establish as an integral part of this framework a continuing process 
> for the implementation and review of summit themes and principles, and 
> mechanisms for the implementation, monitoring and enforcement of rights 
> recognized in the information and communication society by the WSIS.
>
> 3.2.3 Rights and Governance
>
> In this category, the WSIS would address the rights of citizens and 
> communities in the information and communication society as well as the 
> particulars of governing the Information and Communication Society.
> Themes would include: democratic management of international bodies 
> dealing with ICTs, including Internet governance, with emphasis on 
> developing and securing the global information commons and a right of 
> universal access; information and communication rights; privacy; the 
> role of the media; the use of ICTs for government and decentralization; 
> and media ownership and concentration. The main emphasis here is to 
> articulate support for the empowerment of citizens and the reform and 
> strengthening of democracy through the use of ICTs. Orthogonal to all 
> themes in this category would be consideration of their social impacts.
>
> 3.2.4 Building the Infrastructure
>
> In this category, the WSIS would focus on the technical aspects of 
> evolving the Information and Communication Society from its present 
> state. The objective is that each community and each village in the 
> world should have an access to the Internet.
> Themes would include: the extension of Internet connectivity, wireless 
> technologies, and other advanced ICTs to meet outstanding human needs 
> in all societies; infrastructure needed extend participation of the 
> developing world in the Information and Communication Society; 
> continuing support for open source technologies; better balanced and 
> lower cost international route and hub repartition; building bridges 
> between different types of media, including radio, television, print 
> and the Internet; addressing the needs of rural communities; ICTs need 
> to address emergency situations, as articulated in the Tampere 
> Convention; and supporting the deployment of community radio and 
> television broadcasting sectors.
>
> 3.2.5 Tools, Services and Applications
>
> In this category, the WSIS would examine tools, services, and 
> applications in the Information and Communication Society that should 
> be pursued in addressing human needs. Major thematic subcategories here 
> would include technologies that facilitate active citizenship and 
> improved government; support universal access to knowledge and global 
> communication and cooperation; and the improvement the standard of 
> living adequate to the health and well-being of all citizens. Specific 
> themes include: the building of bridges between the media: radio, 
> television, press and Internet; ICTs for E-government, including 
> citizen input into political processes; support for disaster mitigation 
> and relief operations; support for long-term data retention and 
> archiving for cultural preservation; and tools to facilitate 
> cross-sector co-operation.
>
> 4. AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION IN THE WSIS 
> PROCESS
>
> [This section will be sent separately by the working group on civil 
> society participation].
>