Statement of the Civil Society in Response to the WSIS

Draft Declaration Presentation to Sub-Committee 2, September 22nd.

My name is Natasha Primo delegated by the civil society
content and themes group.

We, representatives from civil society, express our grave
concern in response to the Draft Declaration issued on
19th September 2003.

The information society described in the document is
characterized by uniformity, technocracy and bargaining.
It lacks any vision that is people and citizen centered:
there is little or no mention of the poor, workers and
marginalized groups including indigenous people,
refugees, people with disabilities. The emphasis on
diversity of peoples, cultures and ways of living is
still far from sufficient. Our contributions throughout
this process of shaping a common vision of an inclusive,
democratic and sustainable information society, have not
been given serious consideration.

We have two overarching concerns:

· Although the principles of the UDHR and the Millenium
Development Declaration are referred to prominently at
the start of the Declaration, subsequent paragraphs do
not demonstrate genuine commitment to upholding these
principles in the realization of an Information Society.
Existing rights, such as Article 19, should be quoted
fully and affirmed rather than cut up in pieces according
to individual country preferences.

· Some core concerns have been formulated in ways that
fundamentally alter their meaning, whilst others raised
by civil society over the past 18 months have been
removed.

Specifically:

1. Community media as a concept is missing from the
document. This indicates a complete disregard of the
value of such alternative media in promoting public
participation and strengthening cultural and linguistic
diversity.

2. Literacy, education and research - fundamental
components of the information and knowledge society
cannot be confined to one section of capacity building.
Universal education is a key principle for building a
participative society.

3. Capacity Building must include not only skills to use
ICT`s but also include skills for creating, innovating
and enabling active citizenship. It should also recognize
fundamental rights in the workplace and core labour
standards for all who work in the Information Society.

4. The value and benefits of Free and Open Source
Software are not adequately recognized nor promoted in
this document, thus undermining their real potential.
These extend far beyond the concept of affordability.

5. The section on Enabling Environment speaks of a
regulatory and legislative environment that reinforces
the advancement of a market-driven industry at the
expense of the citizenry.

6. The reference to Intellectual Property Rights
manipulates the notion of fair balance. It threatens
innovation, the public domain, and citizens rights and
promotes the further concentration of wealth and power in
the hands of the resource rich. Legal environments and
economic means should be setup for Public libraries,
schools and universities in order to enrich the public
domain and facilitate the free and open circulation of
scientific publications.

7. The role of civil society in relation to Internet
governance, is completely negated whilst increased powers
of control are extended to governments and the private
sector.

8. Discussions in relation to Building Confidence, Trust
and Security have shifted to a highly politicized agenda,
characterized by language referring to the integrity of
the military field and the use of information resources
for criminal and terrorist purposes. This is at the
expense of citizen's rights including freedom of
association, movement, expression, and privacy.

9. References to women still fail to recognize them as
key actors in building an information society. The
Declaration must avoid language that couches women as
'wards' and must focus on the importance of women as
primary change agents.

10. In addition, references to the role of the
Information Society in ensuring the furthering of
commitments made in previous UN conferences are given
little, if any, mention in this document.

The document as it currently stands reinforces the
unequal balance of powers and of development between and
within nations, rather than redressing it. We demand that
governments maintain a strong human development focus and
prevent the growing control of international governance
processes by market-led forces.

This is not a document that Civil society can endorse and
we question the degree of support that will emerge
amongst all stakeholders.

As it stands, the current document will only succeed in
reaching a consensus amongst the elite.

Prepared by the Civil Society Content and Themes group,
mandated by the Civil Society Plenary on 22nd September.