De: <lissjeffrey@sympatico.ca>
Date: Jeu 12 mai 2005 00:29:02 Europe/Paris
À: plenary@wsis-cs.org
Cc: ecadmin@ecommons.net, wsis-smsi@ecommons.net
Objet: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Should Canada go to Wsis 2 in Tunis?
Répondre à: plenary@wsis-cs.org
hello all:
The C2C Canadian civil society public web space is raising questions
about Canada's role in Wsis 2, given the escalating recent reports on
human rights violations.
< http://wsis.ecommons.ca/ >
I am posting these concerns to this list, because this seems to me a
matter that we are going to need to confront sooner rather than later.
Under what conditions are we as civil society members willing to
overlook the human rights violations in Tunis that are being called to
our attention by various journalist and human rights organizations?
When will we become more vocal regarding the problematic condition of
human rights and freedom of expression and of the press in Tunisia? Am
I missing something that you are all up on? Is this the time to hold
our noses and take advantage of what can be gained in such an arena?
When will we decide -- or rather, start again on the discussion, as I
am not suggesting this has not come up before -- that the time has
come to warn our own national governments that the situation is
unacceptable, and does not appear to be improving, and that the
question of the legitimacy of participation in Wsis 2 in Tunis must be
on the agenda, now on the ground as we make our preparations, now at
the national level, and now at the UN and international agency level?
We have started this discussion for Canada, on the basis of reports
from others who are specialized in human rights. We see this as a
fundamental question that must be faced by all who are concerned with
the Wsis process and substance.
More on my take:
< http://wsis.ecommons.ca/node/view/558 >
There is too much business as usual about this Wsis 2 phase it seems
to me, and we are finding it difficut to ignore some of the glaring
contradictions between the rhetoric on democracy, rights and freedoms,
and the reported situation in Tunisia. Sure, this is true elsewhere
also, no country is perfect, but then Wsis 2 is happening in a
specific place. It is a meeting about how the plans of action are
working, and that means among other things how are the principles
working in those plans of action? Right? I am surely not missing
something here.
We want Canada to be very careful about what it is endorsing by
overlooking the violataions of human rights, press freedoms, and
freedom of expression and association on the Internet, as reported in
Tunisia. Should we go if nothing changes?
I have not seen much about this issue on here, so I shall refer anyone
who is also a public interest civil society generalist (we who are not
single issue human rights and press freedom experts) to our own arena,
and there are doubtless many others.
These issues are open for discussion on our civil society resource
site, C2C launched in Geneva in December, 2003. The site also has info
on Wsis 1 and 2, from Canada and elsewhere You do not need to be
Canadian to visit, to register, and to take part, and yes, oui, on
parle francais aussi.
http://wsis.ecommons.ca
The eCommons/agora does not want to see the road to Tunis paved with
human rights and press freedom violations.
That would defeat the spirit and the purpose of Wsis!
Liss Jeffrey
director, eComons/agora
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