[ox] Regional NGO meeting for the 2nd preparatory conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
- From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
- Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2003 22:14:38 +0100
Hi lists!
On Saturday the meeting named in the Subject will take place in
Berlin. I forwarded an invitation to the German list some weeks ago. I
decided to participate in that meeting - mainly because I'm curious
what they will be talking about and how something like that might look
like.
Today I thought it would be better to be at least a bit prepared and
to at least know what they are talking about ;-) . So I clicked around
a little on
http://www.itu.int/wsis/
(the summit taking place in December), on
http://www.itu.int/wsis/preparatory/preparatory.html
(the preparatory process conference in February), and finally got to
http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/im_sep2002.html
(an informal meeting on content and themes). There I found the
attached document which has been assembled for review in preparation
of the preparatory conference (thousands of levels - sigh...).
Well, it's interesting insofar there is not a single word about
copyright or Digital Right Management and so on. Instead it's very
much focused on III. World issues. Well, after all it's the UN doing
teh conference.
So I thought it might be an opportunity to say something intelligent
on the meeting in Berlin. I mean the natural answer to most of the
points listed below is Free Software and other Free information goods.
However, the word "stakeholder" scared me a bit. Am I understanding
correct, that they are talking about business people here? Or has the
term a broader meaning in this context?
Anyway. I thought it would be a good idea to ask the wisdom of the
lists. Do you have good ideas on what to reasonably bring into a
meeting (which really is far, far away from the World Summit ;-) )
like the one I'm going to attend? Any tip can be helpful.
Thanx
Stefan
--- 8< --- 8< --- 8< --- 8< --- 8< --- 8< --- 8< --- 8< --- 8< --- 8< ---
8 September 2002 - Final version
Outcome of the informal meeting of sub-committee 2 of
PrepCom I of the WSIS
Based on the document adopted in the First Preparatory Committee on
Principles guiding the Preparatory work and the WSIS, as well as the
proposal from the Chair of Sub-Committee 2 on themes for the WSIS,
informal consultations of Sub-Committee 2 were held from 16 to 18
September 2002. The meeting agreed to submit the following as an
informal input to the Regional Preparatory Meetings and to the Second
Preparatory Committee of the WSIS.
In this regard, the following general set of principles was identified
in a preliminary manner to guide the preparatory work and the Summit.
* The Preparatory Committee and the Summit should be aimed at
extending the benefits of the Information Society to all and should
be development-oriented, overcoming the digital divides
* The need to find a shared understanding of and to raise awareness
of:
- The information society; and
- How the challenges of the digital divides can be met
* The Summit should consider both infrastructure and content issues
* Preservation of linguistic diversity and cultural identity should be
a priority
* Relevant ethical dimensions of ICT should be considered
* A spirit of international co-operation should prevail
* ICTs are a tool for achieving economic and social goals, such as
those stated in the UN Millennium Declaration, and not an end in
itself
* The importance of universal and inclusive access to the Information
Society
* [There is a need for broad-based partnerships among
stakeholders][The importance of a wide spectrum of partnerships
among stakeholders]
* The importance of communities and of utilising ICTs for the benefit
of disadvantaged groups (e.g., women, youth, children, the disabled,
indigenous peoples, migrants)
* [The importance of the issue of information network security]
In the same preliminary manner the following set of themes was
identified as an initial basis for further work.
* Information and communication infrastructure: financing and
investment, affordability, development, and sustainability.
- Wide spectrum of partnerships for investments
* Identifying and overcoming barriers to the achievement of the
information society with a human perspective
* [Universal and equitable] access to information and communication
sciences and technologies [including technology transfer] and access
to and creation of information and knowledge based on cultural and
linguistic diversity
* The role of governments, relevant UN organs and agencies, relevant
international, regional and national organisations including
financial and development institutions, business sector, civil
society/NGOs, academic institutions, media and other relevant actors
in the development of an information society including promotion of
ICTs for development
* Capacity building: human resources development, education, and
training
* Options
- [Information network security]
- [Global ICT governance, including information security and network
security, data protection, consumer security and user privacy]
- [Information security and network security]
- [Information security]
* [[Enabling [a national and international] environment notably]
[policies and regulatory frameworks][and establishing codes of
conduct for business and enterprises]]
* Promotion of development oriented ICT applications for all (e.g.
education, health, culture, poverty eradication, e-government,
employment, business, e-commerce, local content, environment,
prevention and early warning systems, vocal and tactile
applications)
- Encouraging the participation of SMEs especially from developing
countries in the ICT field
* [Follow up and assessment]
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