RE: [hr-wsis] Please sign-on - Letter to OHCHR

["INFO" <info@virtualactivism.net>]

Definitely sign me in.
Thanks.

-----Original Message-----
From: Meryem Marzouki [mailto:marzouki@ras.eu.org]
Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 11:50 Õ
To: hr-wsis@iris.sgdg.org
Cc: Rik Panganiban
Subject: [hr-wsis] Please sign-on - Letter to OHCHR


Please sign-on the letter to the OHCHR, now that we all agreed that:
1/ The letter would be sent to Deputy High Commission
2/ The sentence "Like all scientific innovations, information
communications technologies in themselves are value-neutral" would be
removed
3/ The reference to repression would be added, following the remark by
Christine (OMCT) which nobody seemed to disagree with

In case we gathered enough signatures from the Hr caucus members, I
propose that this letter be presented as a common initiative from the
WFM and the HR caucus.

Members of the HR caucus who already signed:
- CMIC
- Danish Institute for Human Rights
- Digital Rights Denmark
- IRIS
- OMCT

Please other members tell us if your organization would sign, and
please gather other organizations signatures by, let's say, June 12.
I'll circulate the text of this letter to the WSIS plenary list, and to
other organizations. Please also try to get other signatures with name
of the org, web site if any, contact person name and email.

Final text of the letter:
June 2003

Bertrand Ramcharan
Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
Geneva, Switzerland

RE: Human Rights and the World Summit on the Information Society


Your Excellency Mr. Bertrand Ramchara:

The under-signed civil society organizations strongly encourage your
active participation in the preparatory committee and summit meeting of
the World Summit on the Information Society, taking place in September
and December 2003, respectively.  Human rights are an essential
requirement of the Information Society, as elaborated in the draft
declaration of the WSIS (WSIS/PCIP/DT/1-E):

10. The essential requirements for the development of an equitable
Information Society include: The respect for all internationally
recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms. Notably the right to
freedom of opinion and expression, including the right to hold opinions
without interference and seek to, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers in accordance with
article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to
unhindered access by individuals to communication media and information
sources…

As the United Nations highest human rights official, your good offices
are needed to ensure that human rights language in the WSIS process is
comprehensive, strong and consistent with resolutions and decisions
adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and build upon human rights
language developed through the various UN world summits and conferences.

Civil society organizations view ICTs as having both tremendous
applications that enhance human rights, such as through the rapid
dissemination of action alerts and instant access to human rights
information, and disturbing capacities to greatly diminish human
rights, such as by providing governments with means enabling intrusive
surveillance and monitoring and therefore, repression.

Only through the active participation of governments, civil society,
and international human rights institutions such as your Office can
these ICTs be best harnessed to maximize the protection of human rights
worldwide.

We thank you for your consideration of this request and look forward to
seeing you in September.

Sincerely,


[under-signed NGOs]


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