Re: [hr-wsis] HR caucus involvment in 2 UN WG

[Rik Panganiban <rikp@bluewin.ch>]

Dear colleagues,

Human Rights is of course important to be included in both the discussions on the Governance of ICTs and on Financing issues.  So in this general sense, the Caucus and its members should be following closely and participating in the work of both Working Groups, as much as is possible.

On the other hand, I worry about the Caucus getting stretched too thin.   

That said, on Financing issues, there are a few human rights issues that could be raised:

*	In the evaluation of existing and future funding mechanisms, we need to be clear that financing ICT development of government's that use those technologies to diminish and violate human rights is contrary to the spirit of the Information Society.

*	Benchmarks for the evaluation of financing mechanisms should include how those mechanisms empower people and communities, particularly vulnerable and disenfranchised communities like indigenous peoples, rural populations and ethnic minorities.  

*	We can anticipate that there will be much emphasis on corporate investment to stimulate ICT growth, and public-private financing mechanisms.  For the HR caucus, we should highlight the basic principles of corporate accountability, not only to their shareholders but also to affected communities.  There also may be important HR questions surrounding the dominance of multinationals ownership of ICT resources in developing countries.

My understanding is that the Financing WG is likely to come under the leadership of the UN Development Programme, which has both good and bad aspects.  As I have said before, the lack of news on the financing working group is worrying.

Regards,

Rik Panganiban
WFM

On 23 févr. 04, at 08:51, Meryem Marzouki wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> As you know, the Plan of Action resulting from WSIS first phase asks the UN Secretary General to set up two working groups, to deal with Internet governance (Action Plan Para 13) on the one hand and with financing (Action Plan, section D) on the other hand.
> The CS Internet governance caucus has already sent a letter to Mr Kofi Annan to express its willing to participate in the Internet governance WG. From a thematic point of view, this caucus is obviously directly concerned.
> However, it is not the only concerned caucus, and, as a matter of fact, the more CS caucuses are involved in these follow-up activities, the better we can hope they will be dealt with.
>
> Since Internet governance, as well as financing, issues involves Human Rights in many aspects (not only civil and political rights), Rikke and myself have thought that the HR caucus should also ask for its involvment in these discussions, and should work on these issues.
>
> Could you please comment on this idea, so that after some days Rikke and I could start drafting letters to the UN Secretary General ?
>
> Best regards,
> Meryem
>
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Rik Panganiban             email: rikp@earthlink.net
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