Re: [hr-wsis] draft for submission

[Bill McIver <mciver@albany.edu>]

Meryem,

Thanks for your hard work.
I like the document.

The risk with Option 1 is that people will be concerned that we are 
redefining existing rights,
even if this is not the case.

I am in favor of Option 2. We should say in effect that we already have 
these rights
(in treaty form), let's map them onto parts of our vision of a/the 
informations society,
AND let's call for their enforcement.

In terms of enforcement, will we not address that as well?
We should call for imlementation of an enforcement mechanism
in the Plan of Action.


WJM

Meryem Marzouki wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Here is a proposal of a reworked document, taking into account 
> comments made on the list. Please read the two options proposed (in 
> capitalized letters) after the general introduction, and comment on 
> which we should take.
> Meryem
> ========
> TOWARDS AN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SOCIETY
> RESPECTFUL OF CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS,
> AS WELL AS  ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS OF CITIZENS
>
> Human Rights in the Information Society (HRIS) Caucus
> May 31, 2003
>
> Input Document to the intersessional meeting of July 15-18, 2003, 
> Paris, France
>
>
> The development of an information and communication society has to 
> build on a core set of principles that are fundamental for democratic 
> societies. International human rights (HR) standards represent such 
> principles and should serve as the international framework guiding 
> regional and national policies and actions.
>
> A human rights approach would imply:
>
> - Reference to the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
> Rights, as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and 
> Cultural Rights, in the WSIS Declaration.
> - Underlining the importance of HR standards as the core set of 
> principles guiding the development of the information society.
> - Taking human dignity and human needs as the starting point of 
> reference rather than technological considerations.
> - Using the improvement of HR standards such as human and social 
> development, democracy and participation as focus points for setting 
> goals and measures for progress.
> - Ensuring basic human rights principles such as equality and 
> anti-discrimination on all levels of policy and action plans. This 
> implies stressing access, empowerment and integrity not least for 
> vulnerable and marginalized groups.
> - Recognizing that respect for, and strengthening of, the right to 
> freedom of expression and access to information is crucial for 
> creating a democratic information society.
> - Stressing the right to education as essential for the eradication of 
> poverty and for strengthening local capacity.
> - Recognizing that security measures should always be consistent with 
> the individuals right to privacy.
> - Stressing a commitment to build better democracy based on a higher 
> degree of transparency, enhanced participation and good governance at 
> national, regional and global level.
> - Promoting the development of an enabling environment where national 
> ICT policy and legislation are implemented with due respect for human 
> rights principles.
>
> The HRIS caucus believes that it is not sufficient to assert that “the 
> essential requirements for the development of an equitable Information 
> Society” should be “in accordance” with Article 19 of the United 
> Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Instead, the document should 
> declare once and for all that Article 19 must be enforced. In 
> addition, the principles of a better balanced flow of information, 
> free circulation of ideas, press freedom, participation in the 
> communication process, and knowledge sharing will become truly 
> meaningful only when they are viewed as being supported by a 
> consistent articulation of rights, not just Article 19.
>
> Moreover, the HRIS caucus considers that an information and 
> communication society should be developed in order to guarantee 
> democratic and equitable access and participation. This implies to 
> acknowledge and declare information and its means of production, 
> management and circulation as common goods towards which each social 
> actor have rights and responsibilities, in order to ensure 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.
>
> Finally, the HRIS caucus reaffirms that good governance of an 
> information and communication society must be based on the values of 
> participation, transparency, accountability and the rule of law. This 
> implies in particular the democratic management of international 
> bodies dealing with ICTs. Given the borderless characteristics of 
> ICTs, an appropriate framework for establishing the competence of 
> jurisdictions should also be elaborated, so as to ensure the respect 
> of both principles of legality and sovereignty.
>
> To these ends, the HRIS caucus recommends that the following 
> international human rights should be precisely translated within the 
> specific framework of information and communication, into precise 
> guarantees to be enforced in concert:
>
>
> HERE, WE HAVE TWO OPTIONS:
> - OPTIONS 1: WORK ON THE PRECISE DEFINITIONS OF THESE RIGHTS, LIKE FOR 
> THE EXAMPLE OF THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION AND KNWOLEDGE BELOW
> - OPTION 2: SIMPLY LIST THE RELEVANT RIGHTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL 
> COVENANTS.
> WHAT DO YOU THINK ??
>
> OPTION 1 EXAMPLE:
> Right to education and knowledge:
>
> - Everyone must be able to acquire basic information and electronic 
> education, in order to be able to master social transformations in all 
> their practical and civic aspects;
> - The respect of intellectual property should not prevail on the right 
> to education and knowledge. This right must indeed be exercised 
> through the concept of fair use, i.e. use for non-commercial purposes, 
> education, and research;
> - Intellectual work and ideas, including programming methods and 
> algorithms, should not be patentable. The production and use of free 
> and open software and content must thus be encouraged and covered by 
> public policy;
> - Access to public data without charge is a necessary condition so 
> that everyone has the means to exercise his citizenship;
> - Access to infrastructure under acceptable economic conditions must 
> be guaranteed, by supporting the possibility of being a provider as 
> well as a consumer of information. This guarantee implies the 
> negotiation of agreements for the contractual connections between the 
> areas of the world and the States of these areas, whose cost must 
> equitably be shared. This also implies the existence and the 
> sustainability of local telecommunication operators.
>
> - Freedom of expression:
>
> - Freedom of communication:
>
> - Freedom of information:
>
> - Right to privacy and personal data protection:
>
> - Right to human dignity:
>
> - Right to education and knowledge:
>
> - Right to decent working conditions:
>
> - ...
> OPTION 2 EXAMPLE:
>
> Article 12 -- Privacy;
> Article 18 -- Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion;
> Article 19 -- Freedom of expression and the right to seek, receive, 
> and impart
>                      information through any media;
> Article 20 -- Freedom of peaceful assembly;
> Article 26 -- The right to education; and,
> Article 27 -- The right to participate in the cultural life of the 
> community as well as
>                      intellectual property rights.
> Article 10 -- right to a fair trial
> Article 11 -- presumption of innocence (both as arguments against ISP 
> liability used as a mean of privatized censorship)
>
> ========
>
> About the Human Rights in the Information Society Caucus
>
> The Human Rights in the Information Society (HRIS) Caucus has been 
> formed by the end of PrepCom1 by civil society organizations in order 
> to ensure that human rights are duly taken into account in the WSIS 
> process by governments as well as by NGOs.
>
> Its objectives are:
> 1. Putting human rights on the agenda of the WSIS. Human rights are 
> intended, as defined in the UNDH, the International Covenant on Civil 
> and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, 
> Social and Cultural Rights, as civil and political rights of citizens, 
> as well as their economic, cultural and social rights.
> 2. Developing detailed inputs and contributions on how Human rights, 
> as broadly defined, can be precisely translated within the specific 
> framework of information and communication, in order to build a common 
> vision of this society.
> 3. Raising awareness of NGOs and the public on the importance of 
> addressing human rights in the information society, having noted that 
> major organization dedicated to promoting Human Rights in the 
> Information Society are not yet part of the WSIS process. This is also 
> the case of general-purpose human rights organization, as well as 
> trade unions.
>
> Current members of the HRIS caucus are:
> - American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU). www.aclu.org
> - Article19. www.article19.org
> - Association for Progressive Communications (APC). www.apc.org
> - Carrefour Mondial de l'Internet Citoyen (CMIC). www.globalcn.org
> - Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR). www.cpsr.org
> - Consumer Project on Technology (CPTech). www.cptech.org
> - Cyber-Rights and Cyber-Liberties (CR&CL UK). www.cyber-rights.org
> - Danish Institute for Human Rights. www.humanrights.dk
> - Danish United Nations Association (UNA-DK). www.una.dk
> - Digital Rights Denmark. www.digitalrights.dk
> - Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). www.epic.org
> - Int. Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (ICHRDD). 
> www.ichrdd.ca
> - Imaginons un Réseau Internet Solidaire (IRIS). www.iris.sgdg.org
> - Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT). www.omct.org
> - Panos London. www.panos.org.uk
> - PromoCulture/Centre Africain d'Echange Culturel
> - U.S. National Comm. on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS). 
> www.nclis.gov
> - Vancouver Community Net (VCN). www.vcn.bc.ca
> - VIBE!AT. www.vibe.at
>
> Coordinators of the HRIS caucus are:
> - Meryem Marzouki, IRIS, France (Meryem.Marzouki@iris.sgdg.org)
> - Rikke Frank Jorgensen, Danish Institute for Human Rights, Denmark 
> (rfj@humanrights.dk)
>
> Web site and mailing list of the HRIS caucus: 
> www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/hr-wsis/
>
>
> -- 
> Putting the "Human Rights in the Information Society" issue on the 
> WSIS Agenda
> Working list of NGOs
> To post a message to the list, send an email to: hr-wsis@iris.sgdg.org
> To subscribe/unsubscribe, send an email to: Meryem.Marzouki@iris.sgdg.org
>

-- 

Bill McIver
Assistant Professor
School of Information Science and Policy
University at Albany, State University of New York
Albany, New York 12222
USA

e-mail: mciver@albany.edu
URL: http://www.albany.edu/~mciver