World Summit on the Information Society by United Nations 10:24am 5th Dec, 2003   The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will be held from 10 to 12 December in Geneva, with more than 6,000 delegates from government, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, the private sector and the media. The second phase will be held in Tunisia in 2005.    The Summit is being held under the patronage of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and is being organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN's specialized agency for telecommunications.    "The commitment of so many heads to participate in the Summit is very important, as it will be the first opportunity to address in a global forum and at the highest political level the challenges that lie ahead in the Information Society," said ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi. "There have been many benefits in the explosive development of information and communication technologies, especially in terms of creating jobs and wealth, but it is also raising legitimate concerns, such as ensuring access to information and communication technology, while preserving fundamental freedoms and human rights, security and privacy."    "As information and communication technologies become more important in all aspects of our lives, it is important that no one should be left behind," Mr Utsumi added. The draft action plan of the Summit proposes a commitment to connect all of the world's villages with information and communication technologies by 2015, and to connect at least half the world's inhabitants by that date.    "Summit opens with Annan appealing for information technologies to benefit all"    10 December – Opening the first-ever global summit on information, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed to world leaders to share the benefits of powerful information and communications technologies (ICT) with the poorest countries and to shape their use to fight worldwide problems such as illiteracy and poverty.    “From trade to telemedicine, from education to environmental protection, we have in our hands, on our desktops and in the skies above, the ability to improve standards of living for millions upon millions of people,” Mr. Annan told the Heads of State and government in the audience of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva.    But an open, inclusive information society that benefits all people will not emerge without sustained commitment and investment, he added. “We look to you, the leaders assembled here, to produce those acts of political will.”    Over the next three days, nearly 14,000 representatives from government, science, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), industry and media will work to forge a global commitment on ways to harness the power of ICTs towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of measurable and time-bound actions adopted by world leaders in 2000 to combat such global ills as poverty and hunger, inequality in education and diseases such as HIV/AIDS, all by 2015.    Among the goals included in the Summit's Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action is connecting all villages, schools, hospitals and governments by 2015 for half the world's people within reach of ICTs, and for more multilingual content and programming. The roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders, including government and industry, are outlined in the plan, which will be reviewed at a second phase of the Summit in November 2005 in Tunisia.    “We have all of this potential. The challenge before this Summit is what to do with it,” the Secretary-General said.    Speaking earlier Wednesday, Nitin Desai, Mr. Annan's Special Adviser for the conference, and Shashi Tharoor, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, told a press briefing that the event was a “Summit of opportunities.” It also was about democracy and development..” He stressed that the emphasis was on the use of ICTs for development and the media were key actors in the process. Mr. Tharoor noted that ICTs had the potential to improve the lives of people everywhere, but pointed out that the digital divide was actually several gaps - technological, content, gender and commercial - in one.    In his address, Mr. Annan also stressed that while information and communication technologies were “not a panacea or magic formula, they could improve the lives of everyone on this planet.”    “We are going through a historic transformation - everything is changing about the way we live, the way we learn, the way we work, the way we communicate and do business. We must do so not passively, but as makers of our own destiny. Technology has given birth to the information age. Now it is up to all of us to build an information society,” he said.    The global information society is evolving at breakneck speed. The accelerating convergence between telecommunications, broadcasting multimedia and information and communication technologies (ICTs) is driving new products and services, as well as ways of conducting business and commerce. At the same time, commercial, social and professional opportunities are exploding as new markets open to competition and foreign investment and participation. The modern world is undergoing a fundamental transformation as the industrial society that marked the 20th century rapidly gives way to the information society of the 21st century. This dynamic process promises a fundamental change in all aspects of our lives, including knowledge dissemination, social interaction, economic and business practices, political engagement, media, education, health, leisure and entertainment. We are indeed in the midst of a revolution, perhaps the greatest that humanity has ever experienced. To benefit the world community, the successful and continued growth of this new dynamic requires global discussion.    HUMAN RIGHTS MUST BE CENTRAL TO INFORMATION SOCIETY. Rights & Democracy (International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development) Canada.    MONTREAL, December 4, 2003 - As governments, businesses and civil society organisations prepare for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which will take place on December 10-12 in Geneva, Rights & Democracy is adding its voice to those calling to make human rights the central platform of the information society.    Rights & Democracy is also working with the Human Rights Caucus and the Communication Rights in the Information Society Campaign to organize a session on human rights on December 11. With well-known speakers from Tunisian and Chinese human rights organizations, in addition to keynote speaker Aminata Traoré, the session promises to present an excellent overview of some of the most contentious issues of the Summit. The programme can be found on the following website www.communicationrights.org/programme.html.    While the WSIS offered an extraordinary opportunity to develop a common vision and action plan for the Information Society, this opportunity has been scuttled by governments who are more interested in controlling access to information than in giving their citizens voice and access to the technologies that would amplify them. This has meant that even modest language on human rights in the draft declaration and plan of action is still contested. The conflicts are expected to be worked out at a last minute emergency meeting on December 5-6 to be held just before the Summit in Geneva       Why Hold a Forum on Communication Rights Alongside the WSIS?    “…millions of people in the poorest countries are still excluded from the ‘right to communicate’, increasingly seen as a fundamental human right.”    — Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, 17th May 2003    The World Summit on the information Society seems determined to turn a blind eye to many issues central to an information society that puts people first. Who owns information and knowledge? Who controls the production process? Who rules the circulation of knowledge, and in whose interests? Who is able to use it, and for what ends?    Many believe that communication must be at the core of any information society — some call for a communicating society. They believe that securing communication rights should for all be high on all our agendas. Yet the concept of communication rights is new. What do electronic surveillance, concentration of ownership of media, the failure to meaningfully address the Digital Divide, the privatisation of knowledge in the public domain, and the apparent non-existence of the poor in mainstream media have in common?    They all reflect the growing importance of communication to society, culture, politics and the economy, and an attempt by powerful governments and corporations to control them for their own ends. Asserting communication rights not only a practical response to these threats, but also a positive effort to realise the huge potential of old and new communication media and technologies for all.    “The Summit should reinforce the right to communicate and to access information and knowledge..”    — European Commission, 22nd May 2002    The World Forum on Communication Rights will tackle issues that the WSIS dares not. It will connect the dots linking communication with issues such as poverty, social exclusion, militarism, cultural diversity and human rights. It will make sense of the idea of communication rights and why they are important to us all. Visit the related web page
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