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News from the World Summit on the Information Society Prepcom II
Geneva, February 2005

Civil Society groups from around the world are meeting from February 14-25, 2005 at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prepcom II, the second meeting in preparation for the November 2005 Summit. Members of civil society are intervening in the UN Working Group on Internet Governance and the governmental Plenary, urging national governments in the Plenary to improve their implementation plan and to safeguard human rights in Tunisia where the Summit will be held, and working to promote full and effective civil society participation in decisions concerning the information society.

Background
The first phase of the World Summit involved the adoption of a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action. The documents were shaped at preparatory conferences by governments, the private sector and civil society representatives. Civil society was dissatisfied with the direction taken by the government Plan of Action and drafted their own Civil Society Declaration and Civil Society Benchmarks documents. Civil society continues to believe that the governmental implementation plan does not adequately protect free expression, is narrowly focused on Internet policy, does not create enough possibilities for development, and over emphasizes law enforcement interests.

As a result of the first phase and under mandate of the Summit Action Plan, the UN established the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) and the Task Force on Financing Mechanisms. Civil society has been greatly involved in the formation of the WGIG, shaping its membership and its transparent, democratic processes. Civil society representatives now actively participate as members of the WGIG (making up almost 1/3 of the 40 member group). The Task Force on Financing Mechanisms has been relatively closed and undemocratic, though civil society representatives continue to work to shape the report issued by the Task Force and to publicize alternative financing mechanisms.

At the preparatory meeting held in Hammamet, Tunisia in 2004, the WSIS Secretariat established a Group of Friends of the Chair (GFC) to "prepare a document to serve as a basis for negotiations in PrepCom-2, taking into account, as appropriate, the outcomes of relevant thematic, regional and other WSIS-related meetings." The GFC has just issued their report, which includes initial plans for a steering group to continue after the November 2005 Summit. In addition to coordinating plans for participation in the November Summit, civil society now also must concentrate on the work of the GFC and the proposed post-Summit plans.

The February 2005 Prepcom II

WGIG Interventions
Civil society members both on the Working Group on Internet Governance and in civil society Caucuses are shaping the understanding of Internet Governance, the issues that are involved, and the organizations that have significant roles in such governance. The Internet Governance Caucus delivered a statement to the WGIG during the open consultation.

The WGIG recently posted 21 issue papers that they drafted to inform one another on various issues they deemed related to Internet Governance. Members of civil society and some caucuses have submitted comments to the WGIG on the Issue Papers. For example, the Privacy and Security Caucus has commented on the Privacy issue paper, the Network Security Issue paper, and the Cybercrime issue paper. Groups such as the Council of Europe are working to promote aggressive cyber-security measures in Internet Governance which threaten such human rights as privacy and freedom of expression. The Privacy and Security Caucus statement points out inaccuracies in the issue papers drafted by the working group.

The WGIG has just issued its report of preliminary findings (pdf).

Plenary Interventions and Civil Society Panels
Members of civil society have made various interventions on WSIS Implementation during the Plenary sessions of Prepcom II including statements by:

The International Association for Media and Communication Research has also posted their contribution to Prepcom 2 (doc).

During the Governmental Plenary Session focusing on the Working Group on Internet Governance, the following civil society caucuses all presented statements:
* Internet Governance Caucus

* Human Rights Caucus and
* Privacy and Security Caucus

The Civil Society Human Rights Caucus also held a panel discussion to highlight that human rights are seen as central to democracy, the rule of law and sustainable development. This caucus is working to ensure that governments live up to the commitments they made to human rights and development goals, that the human rights principles are actually implemented and enforced.


Webcasting of WGIG Meeting and Prepcom II Plenary

WGIG webcast of February 14-17 Public Consultations »
The ITU webcast of Prepcom II »

Civil Society Meeting Webcasting and Podcasting

February 14 Civil Society Bureau Meeting Audio »

February 15 Civil Society Plenary Meeting Audio »
February 16 Civil Society Panel on Financing Meeting Audio 1 », Audio 2 », Audio 3 »
February 22 Civil Society Briefing »
February 25 Statement of African Caucus »
February 25 Statement of Indigenous Caucus »

Announcements

The WGIG has just issued its report of preliminary findings (pdf). The next meeting of the Working Group on Internet Governance will be held in Geneva on April 18-20, 2005.

The Privacy and Security Caucus statement, Privacy as an Essential Human Right, was presented to the intergovernmental plenary in Arabic.

The WSIS Group of Friends of the Chair (GFC) has issued their report for Prepcom II, which contains plans for post-WSIS follow-up including a proposed "team of stakeholders" to work on implementation.

The UN ICT Task Force has proposed the concept of a Global Alliance for ICT Policy and Development. There was an open consultation on the Global Alliance, on Monday February 21, from 10:00-13:00 in Salle XXI, Palais des Nations, Geneva. Read the CONGO statement on the proposed Global Alliance on Rik Panganiban's blog.

Reporters Without Borders/Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) has issued five recommendations for online freedom of expression. In addition, they have coordinated a group of bloggers and cyberdissidents sharing of their experiences with censorship and imprisonment.

The International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) Tunisia Monitoring Group, a group of 13 national, regional and international freedom of expression organization, has just issued a 60 page report on the state of freedom of expression in Tunisia, having returned from a fact finding mission there last month. The group expressed grave concern about the poor state of freedom of expression in Tunisia, host country for the WSIS which is to be held in Tunis, November 2005. The report is online in both English and French.

The ITU has released a document on the format of the Summit in Tunisia.

The Government of India's Formal Comments (doc) submitted to the WGIG highlight some of the concerns raised about ICANN.

News Stories

WSIS - Paving the Way to Democratic Communication?
, Highway Africa News Agency (Grahamstown), February 24, 2005.

Criticism of Tunisia Not Allowed At UN Meeting
, Highway Africa News Agency (Grahamstown), February 24, 2005

Important Links

Read civil society blogs from WSIS Prepcom II »

Visit the WSIS web site »

Learn more about the WGIG »

WSIS News at worldsummit2005.org »

 

February 2005

 

 
 

 
 
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