statement by the Western group

Hi all

Here is the statement Canada read in the last govn. plenary of prepcom3, on behalf of the western group – addressing Tunisia.

Rikke

WSIS Preparatory committee 3

Second phase, Tunis

Geneva, 19-30 September 2005

Statement

Delivered by Canada

Mr. Chairman,

I take the floor on behalf of the 25 member States of the European Union as well as Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, Monaco, Australia, the United States of America and Canada in order to emphasize that our Governments are dedicated to achieving a successful World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), as demonstrated by our active involvement in the first phase and our continued engagement in the preparations for the second phase in Tunis.

We believe that the subject matter of the Summit is key to development for all members of the United Nations, whether developing or developed. Therefore, we wish to work closely with Tunisia, as host of the Summit in November, to ensure a successful outcome.

We find it necessary to make this statement because of several incidents which occurred during this Preparatory Committee, raising concerns about the participatory nature of the Summit.

Our Governments expect the Governments, Institutions and non-State actors taking part in the WSIS process to respect fully the Declaration of Principles agreed in Geneva on 10 to 12 December 2003.

The Geneva Declaration reaffirms the right to freedom of opinion and _expression_, including the right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers. These rights must be upheld in all countries in order to promote the building of the global information society and ensure a successful second phase of the World Summit. We expect Tunisia, as host of this UN Summit, to demonstrate that it strongly upholds and promotes these rights.

As the Government of Tunisia will know, the Summit envisages an important and inclusive role for the private sector, civil society, international organizations, institutions of knowledge production and of editorially independent media both for the preparations and in the final Summit itself. We expect Tunisia, as host country, to do all it can to eliminate any grounds for concern and to ensure that arrangements for the Summit take account of and guarantee the unhindered participation of Non Governmental Organisations and their members.

This is the only way to make sure that this will be a Summit in Tunisia, not a Summit on Tunisia.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman