[WSIS CS-Plenary] Final version of CS Declaration
Chris Nicol
cnicol at pangea.org
Fri Dec 12 12:41:09 GMT 2003
Here is the final version of the CS Declaration in English. It's just a rough
convert into text, but the formated version will be available shortly at
http://www.worldsummit2003.org/
Chris
"Shaping Information Societies
for Human Needs"
Civil Society Declaration
to the World Summit on the Information Society
WSIS Civil Society Plenary
Geneva, 8 December 20031
"Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs"
Civil Society Declaration to the World Summit on the Information Society
Unanimously Adopted by the WSIS Civil Society Plenary on 8 December 2003
We, women and men from different continents, cultural backgrounds,
perspectives, experience and expertise, acting as members of different
constituencies of an emerging global civil society, considering civil society
participation as fundamental to the first ever held UN Summit on Information
and Communication issues, the World Summit on the Information Society, have
been working for two years inside the process, devoting our efforts to shaping
people-centred, inclusive and equitable concept of information and
communication societies. 2
Working together both on-line and off-line as civil society entities,
practising an inclusive and participatory use of information and communication
technologies, has allowed us to share views and shape common positions, and to
collectively develop a vision of information and communication societies.
At this step of the process, the first phase of the Summit, Geneva, December
2003, our voices and the general interest we collectively expressed are not
adequately reflected in the Summit documents. We propose this document as part
of the official outcomes of the Summit. Convinced that this vision can become
reality through the actions and lives of women and men, communities and people,
we hereby present our own vision to all, as an invitation to participate in
this ongoing dialogue and to join forces in shaping our common future.
1. A VISIONARY SOCIETY
At the heart of our vision of information and communications societies is the
human being. The dignity and rights of all peoples and each person must be
promoted, respected, protected and affirmed. Redressing the inexcusable gulf
between levels of development and between opulence and extreme poverty must
therefore be our prime concern.
We are committed to building information and communication societies that are
people-centred, inclusive and equitable. Societies in which everyone can
freely create, access, utilise, share and disseminate information and
knowledge, so that individuals, communities and peoples are empowered to
improve their quality of life and to achieve their full potential. Societies
founded on the principles of social, political, and economic justice, and
peoples' full participation and empowerment, and thus societies that truly
address the key development challenges facing the world today. Societies that
pursue the objectives of sustainable development, democracy, and gender
equality, for the attainment of a more peaceful, just, egalitarian and thus
sustainable world, premised on the principles enshrined in the Charter of the
United Nations and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We aspire to build information and communication societies where development is
framed by fundamental human rights and oriented to achieving a more equitable
distribution of resources, leading to the elimination of poverty in a way that
is non-exploitative and environmentally sustainable. To this end we believe
technologies can be engaged as fundamental means, rather than becoming ends in
themselves, thus recognising that bridging the Digital Divide is only one step
on the road to achieving development for all. We recognise the tremendous
potential of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in overcoming
the devastation of famine, natural catastrophes, new pandemics such as
HIV/AIDS, as well as the proliferation of arms.
We reaffirm that communication is a fundamental social process, a basic human
need and a foundation of all social organisation. Everyone, everywhere, at any
time should have the opportunity to participate in communication processes and
no one should be excluded from their benefits. This implies that every person
must have access to the means of communication and must be able to exercise
their right to freedom of opinion and expression, which includes the right to
hold opinions and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers. Similarly, the right to privacy, the right
to access public information and the public domain of knowledge, and many other
universal human rights of specific relevance to information and communication
processes, must also be upheld. Together with access, all these communication
rights and freedoms must be actively guaranteed for all in clearly written
national laws and enforced with adequate technical requirements.
Building such societies implies involving individuals in their capacity as
citizens, as well as their organisations and communities, as participants and
decision-makers in shaping frameworks, policies and governing mechanisms. This
means creating an enabling environment for the engagement and commitment of all
generations, both women and men, and ensuring the involvement of diverse social
and linguistic groups, cultures and peoples, rural and urban populations
without exclusion. In addition, governments should maintain and promote public
services where required by citizens and establish accountability to citizens as
a pillar of public policy, in order to ensure that models of information and
communication societies are open to continuing correction and improvement.
We recognise that no technology is neutral with respect to its social impacts
and, therefore, the possibility of having so-called "technology-neutral"
decision-making processes is a fallacy. It is critical to make careful social
and technical choices concerning the introduction of new technologies from the
inception of their design through to their deployment and operational phases.
Negative social and technical impacts of information and communications systems
that are discovered late in the design process are usually extremely difficult
to correct and, therefore, can cause lasting harm. We envision an information
and communication society in which technologies are designed in a participatory
manner with and by their end-users so as to prevent or minimise their negative
impacts.
We envision societies where human knowledge, creativity, cooperation and
solidarity are considered core elements; where not only individual creativity,
but also collective innovation, based on cooperative work are promoted.
Societies where knowledge, information and communication resources are
recognised and protected as the common heritage of humankind; societies that
guarantee and foster cultural and linguistic diversity and intercultural
dialogue, in environments that are free from discrimination, violence and
hatred.
We are conscious that information, knowledge and the means of communication are
available on a magnitude that humankind has never dreamt of in the past; but we
are also aware that exclusion from access to the means of communication, from
information and from the skills that are needed to participate in the public
sphere, is still a major constraint, especially in developing countries. At the
same time information and knowledge are increasingly being transformed into
private resources which can be controlled, sold and bought, as if they were
simple commodities and not the founding elements of social organisation and
development. Thus, as one of the main challenges of information and
communication societies, we recognise the urgency of seeking solutions to these
contradictions.
We are convinced that with the sufficient political will to mobilise this
wealth of human knowledge and the appropriate resources, humanity could
certainly achieve the goals of the Millennium Declaration, and even surpass
them. As civil society organisations, we accept our part of responsibility in
making this goal and our vision a reality.
"Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs"
Civil Society Declaration to the World Summit on the Information Society
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. A VISIONARY SOCIETY-
2. CORE PRINCIPLES AND CHALLENGES
2.1 Social Justice and People-Centred Sustainable Development
2.1.1 Poverty Eradication
2.1.2 Global Citizenship
2.1.3 Gender Justice
2.1.4 Importance of Youth
2.1.5 Access to Information and the Means of Communication
2.1.6 Access to Health Information
2.1.7 Basic Literacy
2.1.8 Development of Sustainable and Community-based ICT Solutions
2.1.9 Conflict Situations
2.2 Centrality of Human Rights
2.2.1 Freedom of Expression
2.2.2 Right to Privacy
2.2.3 Right to Participate in Public Affairs
2.2.4 Workers? Rights
2.2.5 Rights of Indigenous Peoples
2.2.6 Women?s Rights
2.2.7 Rights of the Child
2.2.8 Rights of Persons with Disabilities
2.2.9 Regulation and the Rule of Law
2.3 Culture, Knowledge and Public Domain
2.3.1 Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
2.3.1.1 Capacity Building and Education
2.3.1.2 Language
2.3.1.3 International Law and Regulation
2.3.2 Media
2.3.2.1 The Role of the Media
2.3.2.2 Community Media
2.3.3 Public Domain of Global Knowledge
2.3.3.1 Indigenous Peoples' Knowledge
2.3.3.2 Copyright, Patents and Trademarks
2.3.3.3 Software
2.3.3.4 Research
2.4 Enabling Environment
2.4.1 Ethical Dimensions
2.4.2 Democratic and Accountable Governance
2.4.3 Infrastructure and Access
2.4.4 Financing and Infrastructure
2.4.5 Human Development ? Education and Training
2.4.6 Information Generation and Knowledge Development
2.4.7 Global Governance of ICT and Communications
3. CONCLUSION
"Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs"
Civil Society Declaration to the World Summit on the Information Society
2. CORE PRINCIPLES AND CHALLENGES
In accordance with this vision, it is essential that the development of
information and communication societies be grounded in core principles that
reflect a full awareness of the challenges to be met and the responsibility of
different stakeholders. This includes the full recognition of the need to
address gender concerns and to make a fundamental commitment to gender
equality, non-discrimination and women's empowerment, and recognise these as
non-negotiable and essential prerequisites to an equitable and people-centred
development within information and communication societies. Such a commitment
means consciously redressing the effects of the intersection of unequal power
relations in the social, economic and political spheres, which manifests in
differential access, choice, opportunity, participation, status and control
over resources between women and men as well as communities in terms of class,
ethnicity, age, religion, race, geographical location and development status.
We have identified the following as key areas of concern. We recognise and
uphold the following principles; and we have identified certain priority areas
for action by the international community.
2.1 Social Justice and People-Centred Sustainable Development
Within a social justice framework, human development implies cultural, social,
economic, political and environmental living conditions that fulfill and
empower individuals and communities. Despite the enormous advancements in
knowledge and technology achieved by humanity, a majority of people continue to
live in appalling conditions.
Social justice in the information and communication societies can only be
pursued by taking into account geo-political and historical injustices along
economic, social, political and cultural lines. Current global dynamics are
characterised by tensions resulting from the inter-linkages of global economic
liberalisation, cultural globalisation, increased militarism, rising
fundamentalisms, racism and the suspension and violation of basic human rights.
The unequal distribution of ICTs and the lack of information access for a large
majority of the world's population, often referred to as the digital divide, is
in fact a mapping of new asymmetries onto the existing grid of social divides.
These include the divide between the North and South, rich and poor, men and
women, urban and rural populations, those with access to information and those
without. Such disparities are found not only between different cultures, but
also within national borders. The international community must exercise its
collective power to ensure action on the part of individual states in order to
bridge domestic digital divides.
Redressing all forms of discrimination, exclusion and isolation that different
marginalised and vulnerable groups and communities experience will require more
than the deployment of technology alone. Their full participation in
information and communication societies requires us to reject at a fundamental
level, the solely profit-motivated and market-propelled promotion of ICTs for
development. Conscious and purposeful actions need to be taken in order to
ensure that new ICTs are not deployed to further perpetuate existing negative
trends of economic globalisation and market monopolisation. Instead, ICT
development and applications should be oriented to advance the social, economic
and cultural progress of the world's peoples and contribute to transforming the
development paradigm.
Technological decisions should be taken with the goal of meeting the life-
critical needs of people, not with goal of enriching companies or enabling
undemocratic control by governments. Therefore, fundamental decisions
concerning the design and use of technologies must be made in cooperation with
Civil Society, including individual end-users, engineers, and scientists. In
particular, where community-based technologies are concerned the study and
practice of community informatics must be applied in order to respond
adequately to the particular characteristics and needs of communities in design
processes.
2.1.1 Poverty Eradication
Poverty Eradication must be a key priority on the WSIS agenda. Without
challenging existing inequalities, no sustainable development embracing the new
ICTs can be achieved. People living in extreme poverty must be enabled to
contribute their experiences and knowledge in a dialogue involving all parties.
Challenging poverty requires more than setting `development agendas'. It
requires a fundamental commitment to examine the current frameworks, to improve
local access to information that is of relevance for the specific context, to
improve training in ICT-related skills, and to allocate significant financial
and other resources. Also, because volunteers are working at the grassroots
level, they play an important role in social inclusion.
Financial resources, linked with social and digital solidarity, need to be
channelled through existing and new financial mechanisms that are managed
transparently and inclusively by all sectors of society. Among the frameworks
that need to be examined in terms of their potentially adverse effects on
equitable development are the current arrangements for recognition and
governance of monopolised knowledge and information, including the work of WIPO
and the functioning of the TRIPS agreement.
2.1.2 Global Citizenship
Information and communication societies have the potential to catalyse and help
release the enormous financial, technical, human and moral resources required
for sustainable development. These resources will only be freed up as the
peoples of the world develop a profound sense of responsibility for the fate of
the planet and the well-being of the entire human family. In this regard,
there is a need for the development in the individual and in communities, as
well as governments, of a global consciousness, and a sense of world
citizenship. Since the body of humankind is one and indivisible, each member of
the human race is born into the world as a trust of the whole and is best
served by ensuring the equal importance of each member through the proactive
exercise and application of international human rights standards.
2.1.3 Gender Justice
Equitable, open and inclusive information and communication societies must be
based on gender justice and be particularly guided by the interpretation of
principles of gender equality, non-discrimination and women's empowerment as
contained in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Fourth World
Conference on Women) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Actions must demonstrate not only a
strong commitment but also a high level of consciousness to an intersectional
approach to redressing discrimination resulting from unequal power relations at
all levels of society. Proactive policies and programmes across all sectors
must be developed for women as active and primary agents of change in owning,
designing, using and adapting ICT. To empower girls and women throughout their
life cycle, as shapers and leaders of society, gender responsive educational
programs and appropriate learning environments need to be promoted. Gender
analysis and the development of both quantitative and qualitative indicators in
measuring gender equality through an extensive and integrated national system
of monitoring and evaluation are "musts."
2.1.4 Importance of Youth
We recognise also that young people are the future workforce and leading
creators and earliest adopters of ICTs. They must therefore be empowered as
learners, developers, contributors, entrepreneurs and decision-makers. We must
focus especially on young people who have not yet been able to benefit fully
from the opportunities provided by information and communication societies. In
particular, we must seek to assist and empower youth from disadvantaged
backgrounds, especially young people in developing countries. Equality of
opportunity for girls and young women must be integral to our efforts, and we
must create a greater awareness of their specific needs and potential in the
field of ICT.ÿIssues facing young workers in ICT industries, such as low pay,
poor working conditions, and a lack of job stability and collective
representation, must also be addressed. ÿAs main users of ICTs, young people
are most affected and vulnerable to the health risks exposed by their use.
Therefore we commit to develop and use only those ICTs that ensure the well-
being, protection, and harmonious development of all children.
2.1.5 Access to Information and the Means of Communication
Access to information and the means of communication as a public and global
commons should be participatory, universal, inclusive and democratic.
Inequalities in access must be addressed in terms of the North/South divide as
well as in terms of enduring inequalities within developed and less developed
nations. Barriers that need to be overcome are of an economic, educational,
technical, political, social, ethnic, and age nature, and inequitable gender
relations are embedded into all of these and need to be specifically addressed.
Universal access to information that is essential for human development must be
ensured. Infrastructure and the most appropriate forms of information and
communication technologies must be accessible for all in their different social
context, and the social appropriation of these technologies must be encouraged.
This implies addressing diverse realities experienced by distinct social groups
such as indigenous peoples, diasporas and migrants, and privileging local or
targeted solutions. Traditional media and community-based information and
communication initiatives have a vital role to play in these respects, and so
does the effective use of the new ICTs. The regulatory and legal framework in
all information and communication societies must be strengthened to support
broad-based sharing of technologies, information, and knowledge, and to foster
community control, respectful of human rights and freedoms.
Specific needs and requirements of all stakeholders, including those with
disabilities, must be considered in ICT development. Accessibility and
inclusiveness of ICTs is best done at an early stage of design, development and
production, so that the information and communication society becomes the
society for all, at minimum cost.
The need to access, send and receive information represents a particularly
vital challenge to vulnerable people such as refugees, those displaced by war,
and asylum seekers who often do not know their rights, which are frequently
violated. Access to means of communication for these groups is necessary for
the defence and promotion of their rights, in order to make legitimate claims
in conformity with international law.
2.1.6 Access to Health Information
The delivery of life-critical mental and physical health information can be
facilitated and improved through ICT-based solutions. Lack of access to
information and communication has been identified as a critical factor in the
public mental and physical health crises around the world. Experts have
suggested that providing citizens of developing countries with community level
points of access to mental and physical health information would be a critical
starting point for addressing the mental and physical health care crises.
However, such access points should support more than one-way flows of
information (for example, from expert to community or patient). Communities
must be allowed to participate in the selection and creation of communication
flows that they find useful and necessary to address the prevention, treatment,
and promotion of mental and physical health care for all people. Open access
to medical information is absolutely essential so that all known data are
available to medical doctors and practitioners.
2.1.7 Basic Literacy
Literacy and free universal access to education is a key principle. Knowledge
societies require an informed and educated citizenry. Capacity-building needs
to include skills to use ICTs, media and information literacy, and the skills
needed for active citizenship including the ability to find, appraise, use and
create information and technology. Approaches that are local, horizontal,
gender-responsive and socially driven and mediated should be prioritised. A
combination of traditional and new media as well as open access to knowledge
and information should be encouraged. Libraries ? both real and virtual ? have
an important role to play to ensure access to knowledge and information
available to everyone. At the international and multilateral level, the public
domain of knowledge and culture needs to be protected. People-centred
information technologies can foster eradication of illnesses and epidemics, can
help give everyone food, shelter, freedom and peace.
Literacy, education and research are fundamental components of information,
communication and knowledge societies. Knowledge creation and acquisition
should be nurtured as a participatory and collective process and not considered
a one-way flow or confined to one section of capacity building. Education
(formal, informal, and lifelong) builds democracy both by creating a literate
citizenry and a skilled workforce. But only an informed and educated citizenry
with access to the means and outputs of pluralistic research can fully
participate in and effectively contribute to knowledge societies.
Urgent attention should be paid to the potential positive and negative impacts
of ICTs on the issues of illiteracy in regional, national and international
languages of the great majority of the world?s peoples. Literacy, education,
and research efforts in the information and communication societies must
include a focus on the needs of people who have physical impairments and all
means of transcending those impairments (for example, voice recognition, e-
learning, and open university training) must be promoted.
2.1.8 Development of Sustainable and Community-based ICT Solutions
In order that communities and individuals may fully enjoy the benefits of the
information and communication society, ICTs must be designed and manufactured
according to environmentally sustainable principles. Technological solutions
must also be sustainable in the sense that communities are able to support
their use and evolution.
Equipment recycling must meet environmental standards. The production of
technologies must not consume an unsustainable amount of energy or natural
resources.
It is essential to develop concrete proposals and policies to improve resource
efficiency and develop renewable energy resources. This
involves 'dematerialising' (for example, using less paper) and reducing ICT-
related waste; increasing the useful life of hardware; improving recycling
conditions; ensuring safe disposal of discarded ICT hardware and parts; and
encouraging the development of alternatives to toxic ICT components. This also
implies giving the highest priority to creating and using renewable energy
resources to address the basic needs of populations living in developing
countries. Renewable energy resources should be used for ICT-based
dissemination of information and communications, including radio and
television. Africa can particularly benefit from solar power due to its high
level of exposure to direct solar radiation. By mobilising regional synergies,
complemented by the necessary technical and financial cooperation, Africa could
play a leading role in this strategic domain in the next decade.
Communities must have the ability to participate directly in the development
and maintenance of ICT-based solutions to their own problems. In order that
communities may create and sustain their own solutions using ICTs, they must be
empowered to develop their own productive forces and control the means of
production within information societies. This must include the right to
participate fully in the development and sustenance of ICT-based projects
through democratic processes, including decision making with respect to
economic, cultural, environmental, and other issues. ICTs should be used as an
instrument for the creation of genuine and sustainable sources of work, thus
providing new labour opportunities.
In order that communities and individuals may create economically and
technically sustainable solutions, they must have the right to use Free
Software. This makes software more affordable, and, allows people to
participate in its development and maintenance3. ICT-based innovation should
adhere to the use of international technical standards for hardware, software,
and processes, which are open, freely implementable, publicly documented,
interoperable, non-discriminatory and demand-driven.
It is important to support community-based communications using both
traditional and new media and communication technologies. There is a need for
the development and nurturing of the discipline of community informatics, which
focuses on the particular characteristics and needs of communities, in relation
to design, development, deployment, and operation of ICTs, as well as local
content production.
2.1.9 Conflict Situations
We recognise that the use of media can be both positive and negative in
conflict situations, including post-conflict peace building. We therefore
insist that the rights of journalists and of all people to gather and
communicate information, using any media, be especially respected during
conflicts. These rights should be inviolate at all times but are crucial during
war, violent conflict, and non-violent protest.
We are particularly concerned about the deployment of "information warfare"
technologies and techniques, including the purposeful jamming, blocking, or
destruction of civilian communication systems during conflict situations; the
use of 'embedded' journalists coupled with the targeting of non-embedded
journalists; the use of media and communication systems to promote hatred and
genocide; by military, police, or other security forces, be they governmental,
privately owned, or non-state actors, during conflict situations both
international and domestic.
Information intervention in conflict situations should be bound by
international law, and the WSIS should encourage work on a future convention
against information warfare to address these concerns. At the same time, the
WSIS should not only limit information warfare and the control of media in
conflict situations, but also actively promote media and communications for
peace. To that end, we encourage governments to decrease public subsidy for
military communications technology, and instead spend money directly on
developing peaceful communications tools and applications.
2.2 Centrality of Human Rights
An information and communication society should be based on human rights and
human dignity. With the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights as its foundation, it must embody the universality,
indivisibility, interrelation and interdependence of all human rights ? civil,
political, economic, social and cultural ? including the right to development
and linguistic rights. This implies the full integration, concrete application
and enforcement of all rights and the recognition of their centrality to
democracy and sustainable development. Information and communication societies
must be inclusive, so that all people, without distinction of any kind, can
achieve their full potential. The principles of non-discrimination and
diversity must be mainstreamed in all ICT regulation, policies, and programmes.
2.2.1 Freedom of Expression
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is of fundamental and
specific importance, since it forms an essential condition for human rights-
based information and communication societies. Article 19 requires that
everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas, through any media and
regardless of frontiers. This implies free circulation of ideas, pluralism of
the sources of information and the media, press freedom, and availability of
the tools to access information and share knowledge. Freedom of expression on
the Internet must be protected by the rule of law rather than through self-
regulation and codes of conduct. There must be no prior censorship, arbitrary
control of, or constraints on, participants in the communication process or on
the content, transmission and dissemination of information. Pluralism of the
sources of information and the media must be safeguarded and promoted.
2.2.2 Right to Privacy
The right to privacy, enshrined in Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, is essential for self-determined human development in regard to
civic, political, social, economic and cultural activities. The right to
privacy faces new challenges in information and communication societies, and
must be protected in public spaces, online, offline, at home and in the
workplace. Every person must have the right to decide freely whether and in
what manner he or she wants to receive information and communicate with others.
The possibility of communicating anonymously must be ensured for everyone. The
power of the private sector and of governments over personal data increases the
risk of abuse, including monitoring and surveillance. Such activities must be
kept to a legally legitimised minimum in a democratic society, and must remain
accountable. The collection, retention, processing, use and disclosure of
personal data, no matter by whom, should remain under the control of and
determined by the individual concerned.
2.2.3 Right to Participate in Public Affairs
Good government administration and justice in a democratic society implies
openness, transparency, accountability, participation and compliance with the
rule of law. Respect for these principles is needed to enforce the right to
take part in the conduct of public affairs. Public access to information
produced or maintained by governments should be enforced, ensuring that the
information is timely, complete and accessible in a format and language the
public can understand. This further applies to access to documents of
corporations relating to their activities affecting the public interest,
especially in situations where the government has not made such information
public.
2.2.4 Workers? Rights
ICTs are progressively changing our way of working. The creation of fair,
secure, safe and healthy working conditions, in the manufacture of equipment
and software, and in the utilisation of ICTs in the workplace in general, which
respect international labour standards, for instance through tripartite social
dialogue, is fundamental. ICTs should be used to promote awareness of, respect
for and enforcement of human rights standards and international labour
standards. Human rights, such as privacy, freedom of expression, linguistic
rights, the right for on-line workers to form and join trade unions and the
right of trade unions to function freely, including communicating with
employees, must be respected in the workplace.
2.2.5 Rights of Indigenous Peoples
The evolution of information and communication societies must be founded on the
respect and promotion of the recognition of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
and their distinctiveness as outlined in international conventions. Indigenous
Peoples have fundamental rights to protect, preserve and strengthen their own
language, culture and identity. ICT's should be used to support and promote
diversity and the rights and means of Indigenous Peoples to benefit fully and
with priority from their cultural, intellectual and so-called natural resources.
2.2.6 Women?s Rights
In order to realise women's rights in the information and communication
societies, as spelled out in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action (Fifth World Conference on Women), it is crucial to acknowledge and
address the differences, disparities and disadvantages that women experience.
This means taking into account the ways in which women are different from men,
and how these differences translate into differential levels of access,
opportunity, participation and use of ICTs. It must be ensured that policy or
legal interventions and programmes consciously address these differences. To
ensure effective equality of women, and thereby enabling women's full ability
to claim and exercise their human rights, it is necessary to adopt a
substantive equality approach in the analysis, which informs the content of ICT
policy and programmes. This approach implies that actions to promote women's
rights must transform the unequal power relation between women and men. Women
need not only equality of opportunity, but also equality of access to
opportunities and the ability to fully participate in availing such
opportunities.
2.2.7 Rights of the Child
Information and communication societies must respect and promote the principles
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Every child is entitled to a
happy childhood and to enjoy the rights and freedoms available to all persons
under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All persons, civil society,
private sector and governments should commit to uphold the Rights of the Child
in information and communication societies.
2.2.8 Rights of Persons with Disabilities
In inclusive information and communication societies, the rights of persons
with disabilities to have full and equal access to information and
communications including ICTs, regardless of types and degree of disabilities,
must be ensured by public policies, laws and regulations at all levels. In
order to achieve this goal, a Universal Design principle and the use of
assistive technologies must be seriously promoted and supported throughout the
whole process of building and nurturing information and communication societies
in which persons with disabilities and their organisations must be allowed to
participate fully and on equal terms with non-disabled people.
2.2.9 Regulation and the Rule of Law
National regulation should be in full compliance with international human
rights standards, adhering to the rule of law. Information and communication
societies must not result in any discrimination or deprivation of human rights
resulting from the acts or omission of governments or of non-state actors under
their jurisdictions. Any restriction on the use of ICTs must pursue a
legitimate aim under international law, be prescribed by law, be strictly
proportionate to such an aim, and be necessary in a democratic society.
2.3 Culture, Knowledge and the Public Domain
Information and communication societies are enriched by their diversity of
cultures and languages, retained and passed on through oral tradition or
recorded and transmitted through a variety of media, and together contributing
to the sum of human knowledge. Human knowledge is the heritage of all humankind
and the reservoir from which all new knowledge is created. The preservation of
cultural and linguistic diversity, the freedom of the media and the defence and
extension of the public domain of global knowledge are as essential, for
information and communication societies, as the diversity of our natural
environment.
2.3.1 Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
Cultural and linguistic diversity is an essential dimension of people-centred
information and communication societies. Every culture has dignity and value
that must be respected and preserved. Cultural and linguistic diversity is
based, among other things, on the freedom of information and expression and the
right of everyone to freely participate in the cultural life of the community,
at local, national and international levels. This participation includes
activities both as users and producers of cultural content. ICTs including
traditional communications media have a particularly important role to play in
sustaining and developing the world's cultures and languages.
2.3.1.1 Capacity Building and Education
Cultural and linguistic diversity should not only be preserved; it needs to be
fostered. This implies capacity to express oneself, in one's own language, at
any time, by any means, including traditional media and new ICTs. In order to
become a contributor and a creator in the information and communication
societies, not only technical skills are needed, but critical and creative
competence. Media education in the sense of the UNESCO Grunwald Declaration
must be given specific attention in education and training programs. Cultural
and linguistic diversity also implies equal access to the means of expression
and of dissemination of cultural goods and services. Priority should be given
to community-driven initiatives.
2.3.1.2 Language
Plurality of languages is at the core of vibrant information and communication
societies. ICTs can be applied to bridge cultural and linguistic divides, given
the right priorities. In the past, ICT development has too often reinforced
inequalities, such as dominance of roman letter based languages (especially
English) and marginalization of local, regional and minority languages.
Priority should be given in ICT research and development to overcoming barriers
and addressing inequalities between languages and cultures.
2.3.1.3 International Law and Regulation
International law and regulation should strengthen cultural, linguistic and
media diversity, in accordance with existing international declarations and
covenants, in particular Article 19 and Article 27 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights; Articles 19 and 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights; Articles 13 and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights; and Articles 5 and 6 of the Universal Declaration
of Cultural Diversity adopted by UNESCO in 2001. International trade agreements
should treat culture, including audio-visual content and services, not simply
as a commodity, but should take account of the need for cultural, linguistic
and media diversity. The establishment of an International Convention on
Cultural Diversity should be accelerated, with a view to achieving an effective
and binding international agreement. Existing international copyright
regulation instruments including TRIPS and WIPO should be reviewed to ensure
that they promote cultural, linguistic and media diversity and contribute to
the development of human knowledge.
2.3.2 Media
2.3.2.1 The Role of the Media
Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Media are central to any conception of
information and communication societies. The media is an integral enabling
mechanism for a global communications vision. Its role in producing, gathering
and distributing diverse content in which all citizens are included and can
actively participate, is vital. Especially for the developing countries,
broadcast radio and television will continue to be the most effective ways to
deliver high-quality information. All forms of media can make crucial
contributions to social cohesion and development in the digital era.
Article 19 is the foundation for five regional declarations on media freedom
and plurality that must continue to frame the role of the media in all its
means of delivery. These texts4 have been unanimously endorsed by the member
states of UNESCO.
Security and other considerations should not be allowed to compromise freedom
of expression and media freedom. Media pluralism and diversity should be
guaranteed through appropriate laws to avoid excessive media concentration.
Editorial independence of media professionals and creators must be protected
and the formulation of professional and ethical standards in journalism and
other media production must be the responsibility of media workers themselves.
Online authors, journalists and editors should have the same contractual rights
and social protections as other media workers.
Public service broadcasting has a specific and crucial role to play in ensuring
the participation of all in the information and communication societies. State-
controlled media should be transformed into editorially independent public
service organisations.
2.3.2.2 Community Media
Community media, that is media which are independent, community-driven and
civil society-based, have a particular role to play in enabling access to and
participation for all in information and communication societies, especially
the poorest and most marginalized communities. Community media can be vital
enablers of information, voice and capacities for dialogue. Legal and
regulatory frameworks that protect and enhance community media are especially
critical for ensuring vulnerable groups access to information and
communication.
Governments should ensure that legal frameworks for community media are non-
discriminatory and provide for equitable allocation of frequencies through
transparent and accountable mechanisms. Targets should be established for the
opening up of broadcast licenses to allow for the operation of community
broadcasting where this is not currently permitted. Spectrum planning and
regulation should ensure sufficient spectrum and channel capacity, and
appropriate technical standards, for community media to develop in both the
analogue and the digital environment.
A Community Media Fund should be established through a donor civil society
partnership to invest in and support community-driven media, information and
communication initiatives using traditional media and new ICTs including
projects that make provision for the poorest communities, for cultural and
linguistic diversity and for the equal participation of women and girls.
Community-based media and communication centres should be encouraged and
assisted to combine traditional media technologies, including radio and
television, with access to new ICTs.
2.3.3 The Public Domain of Global Knowledge
A rich public domain of knowledge available to all is essential to sustainable
information societies, to bridge the digital divide and to provide the grounds
for a positive development of intellectual creativity, technological innovation
and effective use of that technology. In information societies, new digital
forms of storing information mean that this can be copied and transmitted in
innovative ways that challenge existing customs and laws. The increasing
privatisation of knowledge production threatens to restrict the availability of
research results. Attempts have been made to commercially exploit traditional
indigenous knowledge without consulting the communities, who are the owners of
that knowledge.
2.3.3.1 Indigenous Peoples' Knowledge
Indigenous peoples are the guardians of their traditional knowledge and have
the right to protect and control that knowledge. Existing intellectual property
regimes are insufficient for the protection of indigenous people's cultural and
intellectual property rights.
Traditional knowledge should be protected from any attempt at patenting.
Indigenous peoples should freely decide whether their heritage should become
part of the public domain or not. They should decide whether or not it should
be exploited commercially and in what way.
We should give particular attention to measures to maintain knowledge diversity
and to protect the cultural, intellectual and so-called natural resources of
indigenous peoples, especially botanical and agricultural knowledge, from
commercial exploitation and appropriation.
We urge the United Nations to establish specific legal frameworks, in
accordance with Article 26.4 of the Agenda 21 of the Earth Summit, to recognise
indigenous peoples' rights to self-determination and ancestral territories, as
a necessary prerequisite to ensure the protection, preservation and development
of their traditional knowledge in information and communication societies.
2.3.3.2 Copyright, Patents and Trademarks
Limited intellectual monopolies, also known as intellectual property rights,
are granted only for the benefit of society, most notably to encourage
creativity and innovation. The benchmark against which they must be reviewed
and adjusted regularly is how well they fulfill this purpose. Today, the vast
majority of humankind has no access to the public domain of global knowledge, a
situation that is contributing to the growth of inequality and exploitation of
the poorest peoples and communities. Yet instead of extending and strengthening
the global domain, recent developments are restricting information more and
more to private hands. Patents are being extended to software (and even to
ideas), with the consequent effect of limiting innovation and reinforcing
monopolies. Drugs that could save millions of lives are denied to disease
sufferers because pharmaceutical companies that hold the patents resist making
them available to those countries that can not pay high prices. Copyright
periods have been extended again and again, making them practically indefinite
and defeating their original purpose.
2.3.3.3 Software
Software provides the medium and regulatory framework for digital information,
and access to software determines who may participate. Equal access to software
is fundamental for inclusive and empowering digital information and
communication societies, and a diversity of platforms is essential to this.
We must recognise the political and regulatory impact of software on digital
societies and build, through public policy and specific programs, awareness of
the effects and benefits of different software models. In particular, Free
Software, with its freedoms of use for any purpose, study, modification and
redistribution should be promoted for its unique social, educational,
scientific, political and economic benefits and opportunities. Its special
advantages for developing countries, such as low cost, empowerment and the
stimulation of sustainable local and regional economies, easier adaptation to
local cultures and creation of local language versions, greater security,
capacity building, etc, need to be recognised, publicised and taken advantage
of. Governments should promote the use of Free Software in schools and higher
education and in public administration.
The UN should carry out a fundamental review of the impact on poverty and human
rights of current arrangements for recognition and governance of monopolised
knowledge and information, including the work of WIPO and the functioning of
the TRIPS agreement. Efforts should be made to ensure that limited intellectual
monopolies stimulate innovation and reward initiative, rather than keeping
knowledge in private hands until it is of little use to society.
2.3.3.4 Research
Increasing private sector participation in scientific research is leading to
patents and scientific knowledge being held in private hands instead of being
available in the public domain, and increasing competition among scientists and
scientific teams sometimes results in poor scientific practices, secrecy and
the patenting of discoveries that would previously have been available to all.
Research should continue to be based on cooperation, openness and transparency.
Public bodies such as libraries, scientific research centres, universities,
should be able to contribute to enrich the common good of culture and
knowledge, by putting into the public domain the results of their publicly
funded activities. The public domain of global knowledge should be defended and
extended through public policy, awareness-building and investments in
programmes. These should ensure that any work funded by public or philanthropic
bodies enters the public domain and should increase accessibility of
information in online and offline media by means of Free Documentation, public
libraries and other initiatives to disseminate information, such as Open Access
journals and Open Archives giving access to scientific and other public domain
information. All scientific data, such as genomes of living beings, should be
freely accessible to all in Open Access databases.
2.4 Enabling Environment
2.4.1 Ethical Dimensions
Information and communication societies are about how our societies create,
share and utilise the information, cultural production and knowledge, which in
turn shape the evolution of those societies. The value-base of the information
society must be founded on the principles contained in the ensemble of
internationally agreed-upon conventions, declarations, and charters.
More specifically, equal, fair and open access to knowledge and information
resources, ? whatever the technical means used to store and transmit them ?
must be established as fundamental principles of such societies.
Technological, financial and regulatory considerations must conform to these
principles.
Transparent and accountable governance, ethical business and accounting
practices in communications sector firms and ethical media practice are of
particular relevance in this context. Codes of ethics and standards should be
adopted in these cases and mechanisms should be established to monitor their
application as well as appropriate sanctions for their violation. Formulation
of ethics and standards in journalism and other media production should be the
responsibility of media workers themselves.
Respect for diversity must be a central criterion in establishing the
principles and mechanisms for resolving conflicts that arise in information
societies. Such societies, if they are built on values
such as cooperation, equity, honesty, integrity, respect and solidarity, can
have a significant impact on the quality of interaction between cultures and
the promotion of meaningful dialogue among civilisations, and thus contribute
to bringing about world peace.
2.4.2 Democratic and Accountable Governance
National and international regulations for information and communication
societies should be in full compliance with international human rights
standards. Openness, transparency, accountability and the rule of law should be
the guiding principles for the democratic governance of societies at all
levels, from the local to the national and international. Inclusive,
participatory and peaceful information and communication societies rest on the
responsiveness of governing bodies as well as on the commitment of all actors
involved in governance, both of governmental and non governmental nature, to
progressively implement greater political, social and economic equity.
A democratic perspective on information and communication societies, in which
information is crucial for citizens, is necessary in order to make choices
grounded on the awareness of alternatives and opportunities. Information and
communication are the foundation for transparency, debate and decision-making.
They can contribute to a culture and a practice of cooperation, basis for a
renewal of democracy. Information and communication technologies offer
potential benefits to the world?s communities that will only be exploited if
there is a political will to do so.
In this spirit, the aim of WSIS ?to develop a common vision and understanding
of the Information Society?, and the methods to achieve such a vision, requires
shared communication values and mechanisms including the right to communicate,
respect for freedom of opinion and expression in all of its dimensions, and a
commitment to transparency, accountability, and democracy.
2.4.3 Infrastructure and Access
The dramatic lack of a reliable infrastructure is the main physical obstacle
for ICT-based services to be offered to populations living in Africa. Here, the
fragmented and incomplete structure and the unreliability of the existing
infrastructure and access networks constitute the underlying structure of the
so-called Digital Divide.
(Tele) communications infrastructure is essential for disseminating ICT-based
services and is central in achieving the goal of universal, sustainable,
ubiquitous and affordable access to and usage of these technologies and
services by all. Furthermore, energy is a prerequisite for infrastructure and
access.
Most voice, data and Internet traffic between African countries is currently
routed outside of the continent because of the lack of an efficient African
backbone network, increasing the cost of this traffic. Increased cost always
limits access. Existing efforts to build an African network infrastructure
must be supported and expanded (e.g. Internet exchange points).
The implementation and roll-out of (tele)communications infrastructure and
access in DCs will require financial investments consistent with the huge needs
in this area. In order to reduce the amount of financial resources needed,
investments should be optimised by consolidating projects nationally or (sub)
regionally, and by technological (re-) designing and updating. Furthermore,
synergy between different sectors should be systematically exploited from the
project phase, particular attention being paid to the energy and transport
sectors that show very close links. Finally, the particularly strong synergy
and technological similarity between ICT and Radio-TV networks should lead
governments and planning authorities to deploy and use a common infrastructure
for both their services to be transported and disseminated.
Community telecentres (public access centres) have become spaces for the
effective access and strategic use of information and communication
technologies with emphasis on the democratisation of communications.
Governments should guarantee policies for the development of telecentres, among
others, to provide equitable and affordable access to infrastructure and ICTs;
to encourage digital inclusion policies for the population, independently of
gender, ethnic aspects, language, culture and geographical situation. This
would promote the discussion and active participation of communities in public
policy processes related to the implementation and role of telecentres for
local development.
Orbital satellite paths should be recognised as a public resource and should be
allocated to benefit the public interest through transparent and accountable
frameworks. Moreover, spectrum planning and regulation should ensure equitable
access among a plurality of media including sufficient satellite capacity
reserved for community media. A fixed percentage of orbital resources,
satellite capacity and radio frequency spectrum should be reserved for
educational, humanitarian, community and other non-commercial use.
The expansion of the global information infrastructure should be based on
principles of equality and partnership and guided by rules of fair competition
and regulation at both national and international levels.
The integration of access, infrastructure and training of the citizenry and the
generation of local content, in a framework of social networks and clear public
or private policies, is a key basis for the development of egalitarian and
inclusive information societies.
2.4.4 Financing and Infrastructure
Existing and new financing measures should be envisaged and appraised. The ?
Digital Solidarity Fund? has been proposed by Africa. Such a fund could be a
real hope for African peoples if it clearly states its goals, is transparently
managed, and aims to foster primarily public services, especially for
populations living in underserved and isolated areas. In addition, we stress
the significant role that diaspora populations from all the world?s regions can
play in financing ICT programmes and projects.
In order to optimise scarce financial resources, appropriate cost-effective
technological options should be used, while avoiding duplication of
infrastructure. Additionally, synergies between different sectors and networks
can be exploited to this end, with particular attention to the energy and
transport sectors, given their close links with the telecommunications sector.
A Community Media Fund should be established through a donor civil society
partnership to invest in and support community-driven and community-based
media, and information and communication initiatives using both traditional
media and new ITC?s. Effort should be made to eliminate the duplication of
infrastructures and to consolidate projects in a national or regional frame to
encourage investment funding. Where possible, ICT and radio/TV networks should
use common infrastructure for dissemination.
2.4.5 Human Development ? Education and Training
Literacy, education and research are fundamental and interrelated components of
the information exchanges necessary to build knowledge societies. Knowledge
creation and acquisition should be nurtured as a participatory and collective
process; it should not be considered a one-way flow or confined to one section
of capacity building. Education, in its different components - formal,
informal, and lifelong - is fundamental to building democratic societies both
by creating a literate citizenry and a skilled workforce.
To utilise the full potential of e-learning and long-distance education, they
must be complemented by traditional educational resources and methods, in a
local context of media pluralism and linguistic diversity.
Only informed and educated citizens with access to empowering education, a
plurality of means of information, and the outputs of research efforts can
fully participate in and effectively contribute to knowledge societies.
Therefore it is also essential to recognise the right to education as stated
both in the Declaration on the Right to Development and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
Capacity building initiatives designed to empower individuals and communities
in the information society must include, in addition to basic literacy and ICT
skills, media and information literacy, the ability to find, appraise, use and
create information and technology. In particular, educators, students and
researchers must be able to use and develop Free Software, which allows the
unfettered ability to study, change, copy, distribute, and run software.
Finally, capacity building initiatives should be designed to stimulate the
desire for general learning and respond to specific as well as special needs:
those of young and elderly people, of women, of people with impairments, of
indigenous peoples, of migrant communities, of refugees and returnees in post-
conflict situations, in a life-long perspective. Volunteers can help transmit
knowledge and enhance capacity, in particular of marginalized groups not
reached by government training institutions.
Capacity building in the information and communication societies requires
people who are competent in teaching media and communication literacy.
Therefore training of trainers and training of educators in every level is
equal important in order to reach out to people at the limits of the
information society.
Libraries are an important tool to fight digital divide and to ensure
continuous, out-of-market-ruled access to information, by freeing the results
of research funded by public support, by sharing content and educational
materials to promote literacy, build capacities and bring autonomy to learners
of all kinds, world wide. This also entails convincing content producers to be
active participants in the open access paradigm of knowledge.
Global barriers to knowledge and education must be transparently evaluated by
looking beyond technological obstacles at legal and institutional gridlocks
(like Intellectual Property Laws and International standards) and promoting a
new balance of intellectual properties as a common ground for creators to
protect their works and for civil society to benefit from their contributions.
Civil society sees the need for alternative models for the production and
exchange of knowledge and information. To secure and finance the global
knowledge commons, civil society actors support new open and self-organised
publishing models in science and software production and community-based
communications, with in-built maintenance programs and upgrading capacities.
2.4.6 Information Generation and Knowledge Development
Research must be promoted in all fields related to the information and
communication societies, and its development must be sensitive to the social
uses of ICTs. In particular, research on community informatics must be
supported5. This would include the development of a research agenda among
practitioners, scholars, and communities; the cataloguing of community
informatics projects and identification of both factors for failure and
success; and support for research projects and systems trials. Fundamental
research should be strengthened by expanding open access to primary scientific
data and publications. Public bodies such as libraries, scientific research
centres, universities should foster independent investigation, build a
pluralistic body of knowledge and promote the results of activities which have
been funded by public money. This body of knowledge should be made available in
all public spaces, or spaces with public access (community centres,
universities, schools, museums, libraries, media centres, and other dedicated
entities), through appropriate and plural modes of access, avoiding the risk of
high dependency on digital technology alone.
2.4.7 Global Governance of ICT and Communications
International "rules of the game" play an increasingly central role in the
global information economy. In recent years, governments have liberalised
traditional international regulatory regimes for telecommunications, radio
frequency spectrum, and satellite services, and have created new multilateral
arrangements for international trade in services, intellectual
property, "information security," and electronic commerce. At the same time,
business groups have established a variety of "self-regulatory" arrangements
concerning Internet identifiers (names and numbers), infrastructure, and
content.
It is not acceptable for these and related global governance frameworks to be
designed by and for small groups of powerful governments and companies and then
exported to the world as faits accomplis. Instead, they must reflect the
diverse views and interests of the international community as a whole. This
overarching principle has both procedural and substantive dimensions.
Procedurally, decision-making processes must be based on such values as
inclusive participation, transparency, and democratic accountability. In
particular, institutional reforms are needed to facilitate the full and
effective participation of marginalized stakeholders like developing and
transitional countries, global civil society organisations, small and medium-
sized enterprises, and individual users.
Substantively, global governance frameworks must promote a more equitable
distribution of benefits across nations and social groups. To do so, they must
strike a better balance between commercial considerations and other legitimate
social objectives. For example, existing international arrangements should be
reformed to promote: efficient management of network interconnections and
traffic revenue distribution, subject to the mutual agreement of corresponding
operators; equitable allocations of radio frequency spectrum and satellite
orbital slots that fully support developmental and non-commercial applications;
fair trade in electronic goods and services, taking into account the developing
countries' need for special and differential treatment; an open public domain
of information resources and ideas; and the protection of human rights,
consumer safety, and personal privacy. In parallel, new diverse international
arrangements are needed to promote: financial support for sustainable e-
development, especially but not only in less affluent nations; linguistic,
cultural, and informational diversity; and the curtailment of concentrated
market power in ICT and mass media industries.
In light of the relevant controversies in the WSIS process, special attention
must be given to improving the global coordination of the Internet's underlying
resources. It must be remembered that the Internet is not a singular
communications "platform" akin to a public telephone network; it is instead a
highly distributed set of protocols, processes, and voluntarily self-
associating networks. Accordingly, the Internet cannot be governed effectively
by any one organisation or set of interests. An exclusionary
intergovernmental model would be especially ill suited to its unique
characteristics; only a truly open, multistakeholder, and flexible approach can
ensure the Internet's continued growth and transition into a multilingual
medium. In parallel, when the conditions for system stability and sound
management can be guaranteed, authority over inherently global resources like
the root servers should be transferred to a global, multistakeholder entity.
The international community must have full and easy access to knowledge and
information about ICT global governance decision making. This is a baseline
prerequisite for implementation of the principles mentioned above, and indeed
for the success of the WSIS process itself. We need public-interest oriented
monitoring and analysis of the relevant activities of both intergovernmental
and "self-governance" bodies including, inter alia, the International
Telecommunication Union, the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual
Property Organization, the United Nations Conference on International Trade
Law, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Hague
Conference on International Private Law, the of Europe, the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and Wassenaar Arrangement.
As a viable first step in this direction, we recommend the establishment of an
independent and truly multistakeholder observatory committee to: (1) map and
track the most pressing current developments in ICT global governance decision-
making; (2) assess and solicit stakeholder input on the conformity of such
decision-making with the stated objectives of the WSIS agenda; and (3) report
to all stakeholders in the WSIS process on a periodic basis until 2005, at
which time a decision could be made on whether to continue or terminate the
activity.
3. CONCLUSION
It is people who primarily form and shape societies, and information and
communication societies are no exception. Civil society actors have been key
innovators and shapers of the technology, culture and content of information
and communication societies, and will continue to be in the future.
Human rights stand at the centre of our vision of the information and
communication society6. From this standpoint, action plans, implementation,
financing mechanisms and governance must all be shaped by and evaluated on the
basis of their ability to meet life-critical human needs.
Host countries and institutions contributing to and participating in the post-
Geneva WSIS process should fully respect the principles enunciated in the
Declaration adopted at the Geneva Summit, including those relating to human
rights that are fundamental to the information and communications society.
These include, but are not limited to the freedoms of expression, association
and information.
Toward this end, and in preparation for the second phase of WSIS, an
independent commission should be established to review national and
international ICT regulations and practices and their compliance with
international human rights standards. This commission should also address the
potential applications of ICTs to the realization of human rights, such as the
right to development, the right to education and the right to a standard of
living adequate for the mental and physical health and well-being of the
individual and his or her family, including food, housing and medical care.
The full realisation of a just information society requires the full
participation of civil society in its conception, implementation, and
operation. To this end, we call on all governments involved in the preparatory
processes of WSIS to work in good faith with non-governmental and civil society
organisations and fully honour the recommendations of Resolution 56/183 of the
United Nations General Assembly. In particular, participating governments must
honour civil society's right to participate fully in the remaining
intergovernmental preparatory processes leading to the second phase of WSIS.
We commit ourselves ? independent of the modalities of participation granted to
us by governments ? to pursuing by all just and honourable means necessary the
realization of the vision of the information society presented herein. To this
end, civil society organisations will continue to cooperate with one another to
develop a Plan of Action for the second phase of WSIS. We call upon the world's
leaders to urgently assume the heavy responsibilities they face, in partnership
with civil society, to make this vision a reality.
Endorsements of this declaration are being compiled at ct-endorse at wsis-cs.org
and archived on http://www.wsis-cs.org.
Footnotes>
1 Version with corrections: 12-12-2003
2 There is no single information, communication or knowledge society: there
are, at the local, national and global levels, possible future societies;
moreover, considering communication is a critical aspect of any information
society, we use in this document the phrase ?information and communication
societies.? For consistency with previous WSIS language, we retain the use of
the phrase ?Information Society? when directly referencing WSIS.
3 In this document, we use the term "Free Software" to refer to the specific
concept defined by the Free Software Foundation. Free Software is software that
is licensed in such a way that people have the freedom to run, copy,
distribute, study, change and improve it. Free Software implies access to
source code as does "open source software"; however, open source software as
the term is popularly used is not necessarily Free Software in our definition.
Some organisations release open source software without permitting all of these
actions. See http://www.fsf.org and http://www.fsfeurope.org for in-depth
discussions of this concept.
4 The Windhoek Declaration on the Promotion of Free and Pluralistic African
Press, 1991; the Declaration of Alma Ata on Promoting Independent and
Pluralistic Asian Media, 1992; the Declaration of Sana?a on Promoting
Independent and Pluralistic Media, 1994; the Sofia Declaration on Promoting
European Pluralistic and Independent Media, 1997 (adopted in 95 and 97)
5 Community informatics refers here to the interdisciplinary study and practice
of the design, implementation, and management of information and communication
technologies developed by communities to solve their own problems. This field
takes into account social science research about the social impacts of ICTs --
also known as social informatics -- as well as information and communication
systems analysis and design techniques.
6 Nothing in this declaration may be interpreted as implying that civil society
wishes to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction
of any of the rights and freedoms set forth in the International Bill of Rights
and other human rights treaties.
18
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