By Gustavo Capdevila
Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 14 (IPS)— Everyone wants to bridge
the information and telecommunications divide — governments, the
private sector, and civil society — but with less than four weeks
to go before the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), agreement
on how to tackle the issue remains elusive.
The final effort, a special session of the preparatory committee for
the United Nations-sponsored summit, ended in failure this week in Geneva.
Regardless, heads of state are to gather Dec. 10-12 in this Swiss city
to tackle the challenges created by the rapid development and expansion
of information and communications technologies (ICTs). But the documents
they are to discuss and put their signatures to have yet to be finalized.
Dissent afflicts issues that are included throughout the texts of the
declaration of principles and the plan of action that the WSIS is to
adopt, says Mark Furrer, Switzerland’s communications minister.
Among the matters of discord are the creation of a fund for reversing
the digital divide, a demand of developing countries, and the inclusion
of references to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the WSIS
final documents, which some governments oppose.
The differences grow deeper when it comes to the role of the communications
media, Internet governance, limits to intellectual property rights,
copyright, and free software, says Wolfgang Kleinwaechter, an ICT expert
and activist from Denmark’s Aarhus University.
As for human rights, the Chinese delegation objected to the draft of
the summit declaration because it includes binding provisions, beyond
the standards of the United Nations Charter, said an observer of the
sessions who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The WSIS civil society media group issued a statement of regret that
the reaffirmation of freedoms of expression and of the press had not
been included in the drafts of the declaration and action plan.
Nor did the delegates on the preparatory committee agree on including
mention of the communications media as acknowledged actors of the information
society.
Failure to include the media would be like convening a conference on
agriculture without farmers, says Tracey Naughton, head of the communications
media group.
The drafts of the proposals referring to the media included a call to
promote pluralism of information and diversity in ownership.
Such a policy would prevent the concentration of the news media in the
hands of the few, according to Karen Banks, a coordinator of the civil
society “content and themes group” in the WSIS process.
Civil society wants governmental information services to be able to
communicate their messages, but the state-controlled media should be
transformed into organizations in the public interest with editorial
independence, or they should be privatized, said Banks.
Activists say they are frustrated by the difficulties that the governments
in the WSIS preparatory process are having in hammering out agreements.
There are some that lack political will, commented Kleinwaechter.
But the failures of the summit preparatory committee have not cooled
the enthusiasm of the civil society representatives involved. For the
first time in U.N. history, non-governmental organizations are participating
alongside governments and private sector delegates in preparations for
a meeting of this type.
“We remain totally committed” to the objectives of the summit,
Renate Bloem, president of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations
(CONGO) that hold consultative status with the United Nations, told
IPS.
Kleinwaechter says that civil society has adopted a two-pronged strategy.
The activists will remain involved in the WSIS, but if the governments
are not committed to the process, “we are willing to take on the
responsibility” with other sectors, he said.
A special session of high-level officials from the participating countries
will be needed in order to resolve the pending issues, said Pierre Gagne,
executive director of the WSIS secretariat, designated by the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is sponsoring the summit in representation
of the UN.
The meeting is slated for Dec. 7-8, just prior to the summit, he announced.
Meanwhile, the Swiss government, as host of the international event,
will promote bilateral meetings between the parties that continue to
hold opposing views in a bid to reach some agreement, said Adolfo Ogi,
former president of Switzerland, designated by Bern as facilitator for
the WSIS.
Ogi agreed with the activists in identifying human rights, the communications
media and Internet governance as being the issues that have triggered
greatest disagreement.
Another critical matter is financing for ICT infrastructure in developing
countries.
A proposal from Senegal, calling for creating a fund for that purpose,
has the backing of delegations from the developing world. But the United
States, European Union, Canada, and Japan challenged the initiative.
