Update of Human Rights in CS priorities documents

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

Hi all,

Civil society organizations agreed in Paris that the whole CS draft 
priorities document may be updated by caucuses, since the draft has 
been made in a hurry. The deadline to do that is August 1st.
The three HR caucus representatives in Paris - Diana Bronson, Rikke 
Frank Jorgensen and myself - agreed that the current text on Human 
Rights (see at the end of this message) was not strong enough with 
respect to our objectives. We thus propose the following update, made 
up of a mix of the HR caucus written contribution and the statements 
made in Paris.
Since Diana and Rikke are already on holyday, and since I'm leaving 
myself tomorrow, I'll have to provide the Content and Theme group with 
the updated version of the HR section tomorrow Friday morning.
Could you then please make any comment you would have on this proposal 
before that time.

Important notice : as HR caucus, it would be better to only keep HR 
terminology in this paragraph. However, if asked to by CRIS people, we 
could add provision on communication rights, so that this wording is 
also present in this paragraph on rights. This can be excerpted, e.g., 
from the statement on communication rights presented in Paris.

Best regards,
Meryem

========
Input to CS Priorities Document, 20 July 2003

Human rights

[UPDATED PARAGRAPH]
An information and communication society that has people and human 
needs at its centre should be based on human rights and human dignity. 
As stated by more than 170 governments at the World Conference on Human
Rights in 1993 in Vienna, human rights are universal, indivisible, 
interrelated and interdependent, and their protection is the first 
responsibility of governments. Since the advent of information and 
communication technologies offers both opportunities and threats for 
those rights, governments should reaffirm and fulfill their commitment 
in this new context where many human rights enshrined in international
law encounter specific challenges.

The WSIS should recognize the centrality of all human rights – civil, 
political, economic, social and cultural – to democracy, the rule of 
law, and sustainable development. Therefore, human rights should figure 
prominently throughout both the Declaration of Principles and the Plan 
of Action, and WSIS should concentrate its efforts on devising concrete 
strategies to see that the rights recognized in international law are 
effectively implemented.

The WSIS should promote the development of an enabling environment 
where national and international ICT policy and legislation are 
implemented with due respect for human rights principles. Similarly, 
the WSIS should refer to improvement of human rights standards, such as 
human and social development, democracy, participation in the 
communication process and access to information, as focus points for 
setting goals and measures for progress.
======

[CURRENT PARAGRAPH, TO BE MODIFIED]

An information and communication society that has people and human 
needs at its centre implies underlining the importance of human rights 
standards as the core set of principles guiding its development.  
Communication is a fundamental participative and interactive process 
and is the foundation of all societal organization.  In order to ensure 
freedom of expression and the right to information, the WSIS 
Declaration should therefore not only reaffirm Article 19 of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), but also commit to its 
active enforcement. 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 
only become meaningful inasmuch as they are supported by a consistent 
articulation of rights.  This would include the reference to the 
relevant articles from the UDHR, the International Covenant on Civil 
and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social 
and Cultural Rights, relating, among other things, to: privacy, freedom 
of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of peaceful association, 
right to education and to participation in cultural life of the 
community, protection from discrimination or hate incitement, among 
others. We particularly welcome the references to communication as a 
right.

Similarly, the WSIS should refer to improvement of human rights 
standards, such as human and social development, democracy and 
participation, as focus points for setting goals and measures for 
progress.