This document* is the result of an extensive process of
collaboration and is endorsed by a broad range of civil
society organisations. We consider that the World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) offers a unique framework at
the international level, where not only different visions can
be shared among a variety of stakeholders and cultures, but
also basic agreements on the shape of future policies could
emerge. We therefore welcome the broadened range of issues
covered by the present draft documents for the Summit.

We are concerned, nonetheless, that certain key areas are
still missing, need strengthening or are inadequately
addressed. In the Civil Society Priorities Document we have
set out five core principles and four further priorities for
attention and improvement:

First is the principle of universal human rights (refs DD 1,
7, 8, 10, 21, 26)

An information and communication society that has people and
human needs at its centre requires human rights standards as
the core set of principles guiding its development. We
therefore particularly support the primacy given to human
rights in the Draft Declaration. Communication is a
fundamental participative and interactive process and is the
foundation of all societal organization. In order to ensure
freedom of expression and the right to information, the WSIS
Declaration should therefore not only reaffirm Article 19 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), but also
commit to its active enforcement. In addition, the principles
of a better-balanced flow of information, free circulation of
ideas, press freedom, participation in the communication
process, and knowledge require consistent articulation of
human rights. We therefore also endorse the specific
references in the Draft Declaration to communication rights
and the free flow of information.

Second is the principle of sustainable democratic development
(refs DD 3, 9, 11, 13)

An equitable Information Society must be based on sustainable
economic and social development and on democratic principles.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have great
potential for developing more democratic, transparent and
participative processes of governance. But technologies can
also lead to the perpetuation and expansion of existing,
undemocratic power relations and inequalities between peoples
and nations. We therefore welcome the references to
sustainable development, including the Millennium Development
Goals but we caution against overstating the case for the
positive impact of information and communication technologies
as, for example in paragraph 9 of the Draft Declaration which
directly links information ubiquity with the alleviation of
hunger. Information and communication technologies should be
used as an instrument for the creation of genuine and
sustainable sources of work, above all for those who have been
excluded from the formal employment system, as well as those
affected by labor discrimination. Sustainable democratic
development of the information society can not be left solely
to market forces; in order to balance commercial objectives
with the public interest, recognition should be given to the
need for appropriate regulation and development of public
services. The Action Plan should also address proposals to
support community-based communications using both traditional
and new communication technologies. Information and
communication technologies can contribute to sustainability,
but their use is also creating new environmental hazards. The
Action Plan should include concrete proposals to: develop
renewable energy resources, particularly for remote
communities; improve resource efficiency and ensure safe
disposal or recycling of used information and communication
technologies hardware.

Third is the principle of the global knowledge commons (refs
DD 22-25, 30-32)

The Declaration should include, the maintenance and growth of
the commonwealth of human knowledge as a means of reducing
global inequality and of providing the conditions for
intellectual creativity, sustainable development and respect
for human rights. We therefore welcome the section on "access
to information and knowledge" in the Draft Declaration (paras
22-25).

The privatisation of knowledge and information through
copyright, patents and trademarks is ceasing to be an
effective means of rewarding creative endeavour or encouraging
innovation and can contribute to the growth of inequality and
the exploitation of the poor.

The Action Plan must defend and extend the global knowledge
commons, through public policy and investment in open source
and open content, as well as through access to public
communication platforms for knowledge sharing.

The Action Plan should commit to review the impact on poverty
and human rights of current arrangements for recognition and
governance of privately held knowledge and information
including the work of World Intellectual Property Organisation
and the functioning of the TRIPS agreement.

Urgent attention should be paid to the potential positive and
negative impacts of information and communication technologies
on the issue of literacy. This should build on and extend the
section on capacity building in the Draft Declaration (paras
30-32).

The Action Plan should devote attention to the resources that
are needed to enable basic skills, including information and
communication technology skills and to promote lifelong
learning.

Governments should invest in nation-wide "backbones" providing
access to scientific, cultural and educational information to
support learning and information literacy.

Literacy, education, and research efforts must include a focus
on the needs of people with disability.

Gender sensitive educational programmes and appropriate
learning environments including e-learning must be developed
to increase women's access to education and employment.

Fourth is the principle of cultural and linguistic diversity
(refs DD 10, 48-51)

The Declaration should adopt as a statement of principle the
need to respect cultural and linguistic diversity and to
support a plurality of means of information and communication.

The Action Plan should promote legislative, regulatory,
technological and financial measures to support communications
media and information pluralism; and should allow for specific
safeguards against concentration of media ownership in either
corporate or government hands.

The Action Plan should reinforce rights of access to the media
and the means of information and expression for all peoples,
including indigenous peoples and other discriminated groups as
well as other linguistic and cultural minorities.

The Action Plan should support diversity through public
service broadcast media including community media.

Fifth is the principle of gender equality

Evidence of governments' commitment to gender equality and
women's empowerment remain largely absent from the World
Summit Agenda. The Declaration must adopt as a statement of
principle a fundamental commitment to gender equality, non-
discrimination and women's empowerment, and recognize these as
non-negotiable and essential prerequisites to an equitable and
people-centred development within the Information Society.

The Action Plan must commit to redress the effects of the
intersection of unequal power relations in the social,
economic and political spheres between women and men, as well
those of class, ethnicity, religion, race, geographical
location and development status.

The Action Plan should endorse the development of governance
and policy frameworks, the setting of quantitative and
qualitative targets and a system of monitoring and evaluation
which would redress shortcomings of current gender
mainstreaming approaches.

We also have continuing concerns in four other areas:

First we are deeply concerned with the question of information
security (refs DD 34-37)

The Draft Declaration is not well balanced on this issue
notably the section on "building confidence and security"
(paras 34-37). Existing policies on information security often
impinge unnecessarily upon the rights of individuals, and may
be technologically and economically problematic. The
Declaration should contain, as a statement of principle, that
the involvement of all stakeholders is essential to the
development of any such policy at the local, national, and
international levels.

The Action Plan must support education and open discourse in
information security including inventories of recommended best
practices and impact assessments of potential policies.

The Action Plan should include a call for developing means
through which local and international stakeholders can ensure
equitable and just protection of rights as international legal
solutions are devised.

The World Summit should recognize that one of the greatest
threats to "information security" lies in the militarization
of information space, including the development and deployment
of "infowar" technologies and techniques; the deployment of
military software or hardware against civilian communications
systems; the domination of satellite orbits for military
purposes; and the purposeful destruction of civilian
communication systems during conflicts, in violqtion of
international law. The World Summit should encourage the
foundations for a future Convention against Information
Warfare to address these concerns.

Second we are concerned with issues of access and
infrastructure (refs para 17-20)

Global universal access to communication and information
should be a target of the WSIS Action Plan. The expansion of
the information infrastructure should be based on recognition
of a universal right to communicate and principles of equality
and partnership and guided by regulation at both national and
international levels. The existing references in the Draft
Declaration and Action Plan are largely to be welcomed but are
not sufficient.

The evolution of policy should be coordinated internationally
but enable a diversity of appropriate solutions based on
national and regional input and international sharing of
information and resources. This should be people-centered and
process-orientated, rather than technologically determined and
expert dominated.

International bandwidth costs and allocation of radio spectrum
and geo-stationary positions should be democratic and
equitable and the current burdens of cost unfairly weighted to
under-developed contexts must be eliminated. National access
and infrastructure plans must address the divide between
socio-economic groups and between urban and rural areas.

Specific reference should be made in the Declaration and
Action Plan to the needs of people with disability including
in the design and development of information and communication
technologies and access to appropriate equipment and services.

Governments should be encouraged to adopt free/open source
software, since their use of proprietary software is both
economically unsustainable and compromising in terms of
transparency and security.

Third we are concerned with global information and
communication technology governance (refs DD para 38, 39, 44)

We welcome the references to good governance in the Draft
Declaration. In an information and communication society, good
governance must be based on the values of participation,
inclusiveness, transparency and accountability. This implies
the democratic management of international bodies dealing with
information and communication technologies.

In particular, the management of the core resources of the
Internet, that are the Internet protocols, standards and
identifiers such as domain names and IP addresses, must serve
the public interest at the global, national and local levels.
Furthermore, any decision made on protocols and standards
should be compatible with international human rights standards
and specially the rights to freedom of expression, to privacy,
and to non-discrimination.

And finally, we wish to draw the attention to a major risk
with respect to other related regional and international
processes (refs para DD 53)

Essential decisions are already being taken, in other regional
and international political arenas that may not be consistent
with the vision and values elaborated at this Summit.

Work in progress of supra-national organisations all have huge
potential consequences for knowledge, education, culture and
communication.

There is especially a need to redress the current trend of
exporting to the global level, international legal frameworks
which have been developed by and for Western countries, and to
empower effective participation of developing countries in
decision making processes.

We therefore recommend that the WSIS participants establish a
multi-stakeholders observatory committee that would be
responsible for: mapping decision-making in other political
arenas that impacts or intersects with the WSIS agenda;
establishing a monitoring system to ensure decisions taken in
other political arenas are consistent with the general
framework established by the WSIS process; and reporting to
all stakeholders of the WSIS on a regular basis until December
2005.

* Summary version for presentation to the Plenary session.
The full version is available at: www.movimientos.org/foro_comunicacion/