Caucus document to be sent to ITU

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

Hi,

Here is the document to be sent to ITU today as the Hr caucus 
contribution. Please make PRECISE corrections
BEFORE TODAY, 23:00 European time (i.e. within the 3 next hours).
NB. I haven't written anything regarding the right to minors to be 
protected. What do you think ? Should this be added?
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


Introduction
This document contains the comments and contributions of the members of 
the Human Rights in the Information Society (HRIS) Caucus, formed by 
the end of WSIS PrepCom1 by civil society organizations. It is intended 
as providing first recommendations as inputs to the intersessional 
meeting of July 15-18 in Paris, France.
The HRIS caucus pursues its work towards a consistent interpretation 
and translation of relevant rights guaranteed by both the International 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant 
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as outlined in this document.

Guidelines for a Human Rights Approach
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 right to privacy.
- Stressing commitment to build better democracy based on a higher 
degree of transparency, enhanced participation and good governance at 
national, regional and global levels.
- Promoting the development of an enabling environment where national 
ICT policy and legislation are implemented with due respect for human 
rights principles.

Need for a consistent articulation of rights
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.

Recognition of information and communications as public common goods
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.

Democratic governance and human rights enforcement
Finally, the HRIS caucus reaffirms that an information and 
communication society good governance 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 principles of 
democracy, legality and sovereignty.

Relevant rights from the UN International CCPR and CESCR
To these ends, the HRIS caucus recommends that the international human 
rights, adopted in both the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights (CCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, 
Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) should be precisely translated 
within the specific framework of information and communication, into 
precise guarantees defined in the WSIS Declaration of principles and 
Action plan, following three main axes: the need for a consistent 
articulation of rights, the recognition of information and 
communication as public common goods, and the development of mechanisms 
ensuring democratic governance human rights enforcement in concert.

Of particular relevance to the development of an information and 
communication society are the consistent translation of the following 
rights:

- Right to a fair trial, to the presumption of innocence and to be 
equal before the law (CCPR Articles 14 and 26)
- Rights to privacy, specially against interference with private 
correspondence (CCPR Article 17)
- Right to freedom of expression, to hold opinions without 
interference, and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of 
all kinds, regardless of frontiers, through any media (CCPR Article 19)
- Right to be protected against any form of discrimination or hate 
incitement (CCPR Article 20)
- Right of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, 
including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of 
his interests (CCPR Articles 21 and 22)
- Right to take part in the conduct of public affairs (CCPR Article 25)
- Right for minorities to enjoy their own culture and to use their own 
language (CCPR Article 27)
- Right for peoples to self-determination, in particular to freely 
determine and pursue their economic, social and cultural development 
(CESCR Article 1)
- Right for men and women to equally enjoy all economic, social and 
cultural rights (CESCR Article 3)
- Right to form and join trade unions, right of trade union to function 
freely, and right to strike (CESCR Article 8)
- Right to education and knowledge (CESCR Article 13)
- Right to participate in the cultural life, to enjoy the benefits of 
scientific progress and its applications, to benefit from the 
protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any 
scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author, 
to benefit from the development and the diffusion of science and 
culture, to benefit from the respect of the freedom and international 
cooperation indispensable for scientific research and creative activity 
(CESCR Article 15)

Example of consistent translation of rights in the WSIS context
Right to education and knowledge implies:
- 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.



  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/