VS: HRIC/FIDH WSIS Press Statement - text version

["Rikke Frank Joergensen" <rfj@humanrights.dk>]

Pls find below the text version..  

Rikke


 
20th/09/2005
China / Wsis

China blocks open discussion at WSIS with procedural maneuvering



FIDH/HRIC Open Statement 

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member 
organization, Human Rights in China (HRIC), deplore the decision of the World 
Summit on Information Society (WSIS), a process that claims to include the 
broadest possible participation, to block open discussion on supporting 
independent NGO voices. At the WSIS PrepCom-3 opening Plenary meeting 
yesterday, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was able to block a vote on 
HRIC's accreditation with a procedural maneuver that revealed both the 
politicized nature of the process and China's adverse impact on the WSIS 
principles of building a "people-centered, inclusive, and development-oriented 
Information Society."


The WSIS Executive Secretariat list of recommended entities for accreditation 
to the WSIS was introduced and approved by the PrepCom without any discussion. 
After questions and concerns raised by the U.S. and UK delegations regarding 
why HRIC was not on the list of recommended organizations, the Executive 
Secretariat responded that although HRIC had been fully transparent in the 
application process, its file was incomplete because it had not disclosed 
anonymous donors. HRIC had complied with all requests for supplemental 
information, including providing an independent auditor's letter confirming 
that no direct governmental contributions were received. 

After the U.S. made a motion to accredit HRIC, the PRC moved to raise a 
procedural objection to any discussion concerning organizations not on the 
recommended list. 

Following more than an hour of debate among country delegations, the PRC's 
motion was then brought to a roll-call vote: with 194 accredited countries, 122 
were present at the opening Plenary Meeting in PrepCom-3, and of these 
countries, 35 abstained from voting, 35 voted against not allowing discussion, 
and 52 voted in favor of not allowing discussion. Despite the PRC's claims to 
be simply raising a procedural issue in the interest of facilitating moving on 
to "substantive" issues, its motives were exposed when it attacked HRIC during 
the debate by dismissing "so-called NGOs with dubious governmental links." 

"On the occasion of the First phase of the World Summit on Information Society, 
States adopted a Declaration of Principles which recognized the right to 
freedom of expression contained in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights as 'an essential foundation of the information society (paragraph 
4),' including that '[t]he ability for all to access and contribute 
information, ideas and knowledge is essential in an inclusive information 
society (paragraph 24).' We can only deplore that governments have failed to 
apply these principles to the mere second phase of the Summit. As we can see, 
these principles ironically do not apply to all information-in particular not 
to contributions from Human Rights in China, the group China attempted to 
exclude,' deplores Sidiki Kaba, president of the FIDH. 

"China's actions at the WSIS need to be viewed within the broader context of 
pervasive and systemic human rights violations in China, including censorship 
and information control, and ongoing detentions of journalists and internet 
activists, for example the sentencing of journalist Shi Tao to ten years for 
merely exercising his right to free expression and to criticize the government, 
as protected by China's own constitution," states Sharon Hom, HRIC's executive 
director. "Unfortunately, the international community has witnessed another 
example of China's efforts to repress free and open debate not only 
domestically, but also in the international arena." 

Despite a 16-year record of constructive participation in international 
processes, including WSIS Phase I, UN treaty bodies and the WTO, and the broad 
support of civil society organizations, HRIC's accreditation process was held 
to a far higher degree of discriminatory scrutiny than that of other NGOs. The 
blocking of any substantive discussion of HRIC's accreditation also sends a 
clear message that a single country can exert influence to control which voices 
will be recognized on key policy issues, undermining the WSIS principles of 
democracy, transparency and multi-stakeholder participation. 

Contact Presse : Antoine Madelin : + 32 485 22 22 87 

About Human Rights in China 

Human Rights in China (HRIC) is an international monitoring and advocacy non-
governmental organization based in New York and Hong Kong. Founded in March 
1989 by Chinese scientists and scholars, it conducts research, education and 
outreach programs to promote universally recognized human rights and advance 
the institutional protection of these rights in the People's Republic of China.

 
---------- Debut du message initial -----------

De     : "Rikke Frank Joergensen" <rfj@humanrights.dk>
A      : <amadelin@fidh.org>, "Sharon Hom" <sharon.hom@hrichina.org>
Copies : 
Date   : Wed, 21 Sep 2005 11:02:07 +0200
Sujet  : VS: [hr-wsis] Re: SV:  Re: HRIC/FIDH WSIS Press Statement

do you have a text version ?

rikke
-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: karen banks [mailto:karenb@gn.apc.org]
Sendt: on 21-09-2005 10:59
Til: hr-wsis@iris.sgdg.org; andrewanderson@frontlinedefenders.org; hr-
wsis@iris.sgdg.org
Emne: [hr-wsis] Re: SV:  Re: HRIC/FIDH WSIS Press Statement
 
hi

is there a text version?

we had the disability caucus reps in the Internet governance caucus meeting 
yesterday - sight impaired people cannot read pdf (and they are heavy to 
post around..)

karen

At 08:53 21/09/2005, Rikke Frank Joergensen wrote:
>hi all
>
>the statement from FIDH / HRIC is a press realease but we will also 
>circulate a statement for CS endorsement..
>
>rikke


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Antoine Madelin
Permanent representative to the EU
Coordinator for IGOs
FIDH
Chaussée d'Alsemberg 303
1190 Brussels, Belgium
tel. +32 2 209 62 89
fax. +32 2 209 63 80
amadelin@fidh.org
http://www.fidh.org