[WSIS CS-Plenary] WSIS Civil Society Priorities Document

[Fullsack Jean-Louis]

Dear Sally and Bill

CSDPTT cannot endorse the document entitled "Civil society priorities
Document" even under its last issue (07.12.03) for several obvious
presentation and content reasons. It's a pity for that good and intensive
job done (mainly by yourself and Sally I suppose), which I recognise and
therefore thank both of you. Nevertheless, I'm sure we could reach an
agreement if our main contribution is taken in account for a further final
issue of that kind of document. Unfortunately neither of you will attend the
Paris Meeting, and as for me, I can't be present at the first day. But I'll
continue as usually my job in the CS CT working group during the three days
left in order to re-integrate into the Action Plan these goals CSDPTT
considers as its main ones, namely for bridging the N/S communication
divide.
As far as your document upon SC priorities is concerned, I personnally
regret that it doesn't reflect our (hard but rather complete) work done
during the last night at PrepCom-2, e.g. the priorities highlighted on the
1st page of the draft CS contribution on content & themes dated 27 or 28th
february.

Hereafter my main critics to the proposed document.
A - Presentation
The document misses the shortlist of (main) priorities mentioned in our PC-2
document. I stress the point that these prioritized goals must be adressed
in a fixed timeframe (as far as possible during the WSIS timeframe) and the
necessary financing resources be alloted to each of them.
Its content is one more (however shorter) recap rather than a novel
formulation of the various and numerous CS objectives, identified and
commented during PrepCom-2. Hence I'd suggest that our final CS proposal for
the Action Plan be a three part document with an introductory note
explaining our concerns and vision, a list of priorities as defined above
and finally an annex containing all our identified and agreed issues ranged
in respective fields or domains (about ten, no more) ; a conclusion could
complete this document if there is a large censensus upon.
B- Content
Some of the objectives and items in our previous document have been dropped
without any explanation. This happened particularly to CSDPTT main
objectives, namely
- One access to the telecom network for any village or representative
community in DCs, responding to the needs of these communities and at
affordable costs and tariffs.
- Dissemination of renewable energy sources (RES) is a prerequisite for
these villages and communities to be connected to the local, regional and
national network, as it is for feeding the constituent network links in
either technology as to provide them their essential reliability and
sustainability.
- Deregulation and privatisation are not the universal solution for solving
DCs communications issues as some failures have proven especially in Africa.
Therefore a moratorium to this process has to be applied immidiately.
- In this relation ITU, which is the principal promotor in deregulation and
privatisation of DCs Public Telecommunication Offices, must reconsider its
action and refocus its activities to its original tasks for which it has
been created and is still mandated, namely and mainly to ensure a real
development of telecommunications prioritarily in DCs.
- A credible Action Plan needs resources : human, financial, technical. For
their provision, multilateral cooperation should be promoted as the
preferred scheme in developing communication networks and services in DCs,
especially in Africa.

These are just some of our reasons not to endorse the proposed document in
its current version, however to commit ourselves in the ongoing WSIS process
having in mind our main concern : to contribute in very practical terms to
overall development of DCs especially in Africa.

Sincerely
Jean-Louis Fullsack
(jlfullsack at wanadoo.fr)
CSDPTT France
(www.csdptt.org)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill McIver" <mciver at albany.edu>
To: "WSIS CS Plenary" <plenary at wsis-cs.org>; <ct at wsis-cs.org>; "INFOSOC
CPSR" <infosoc at lists.cpsr.org>; "Crisinfo (E-mail)" <crisinfo at comunica.org>
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 4:55 AM
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] WSIS Civil Society Priorities Document


>
> All,
>
> I currently have the following in the endorsement list
> for the Civil Society Priorities document sent out
> yesterday.
>
> *** Please let us know IF you wish to be added, removed, or
> *** have the text of your endorsement changed.
> *** We ask for this by 12:00 GMT 14 July 2003.
> *** Send requests to ct at wsis-cs.org
>
>
> Our friends at the Heinrich Böll Foundation have posted the document at
> in case you have not seen the document:
>
> http://www.worldsummit2003.de/download_en/WSIS-CS-CT-Paris-071203.rtf.
>
>
>
>
> Endorsements as of 02:00 GMT 14 July 2003:
>
>
> Agencia Latinoamericana de Información – ALAI
>
>
> ANAICE (for the promotion of child,youth and women rights, accreditation
> to Wsis, Mme Ouassa Tiekoura,focal point of Niger)
>
> ARTICLE 19 - Africa Program
>
> Asia Pacific Workers Solidarity
>
> Association for Progressive Communications (APC) / La Asociación para el
> Progreso de las Comunicaciones
>
> APC Women's Networking Support Programme (APCWNSP)
>
> Bread for all, Switzerland
>
> Center for Development of International Law (accredited to WSIS,
> consultative status with ECOSOC)
>
> Citizens’Action Network
>
> Civil Network for Cultural Reform
>
> Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS Campaign)
>
> Community Media Association
>
> Consumer Federation of America (WSIS accreditation pending)
>
> EMPA Swiss Lab
>
> The Environment and ICT Working Group
>
> Fantsuam Foundation
>
> Foundation for Media Alternatives
>
> Fundación Acceso
>
> Global Contract Foundation
>
> Global Society Dialogue
>
> Highway Africa
>
> International Association for Media and Communication Research
>
> Korean Civil Society Network for WSIS:
> - Korean Progressive Network (Jinbonet)
> - PeaceNet
> - Labor News Production
> - Korean Federation for Environment Movement
> - Korean Labor Net
> - People’s Solidarity for the Participatory Democracy
> - IPLeft
> - Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
> - Korean Christian Network
> - Media Center
> - Civil Network for Cultural Reform
> - Korea Women’s Association United
> - Citizens’Action Network
> - Korea Contingent Workers Center
> - Asia Pacific Workers Solidarity
> - Research Institute for the Disables' Rights and Interest
> - Kangwon Branch of the Korean People's Artists Federation
>
> Meridian FM, Ghana (Diana Heymann-Adu)
>
> MISA - Media Institute of Southern Africa
>
> PeaceNet
>
> People’s Solidarity for the Participatory Democracy
>
> Research Institute for the Disables' Rights and Interest
>
> SACOD - Southern African Communications for
> Development
>
> Telecommunities Canada (TC) (accredited to WSIS)
>
> Union for Democratic Communications (accredited NGO to WSIS, Lisa
> McLaughlin, UDC representative to the WSIS)
>
> The United Methodist Church (James Winkler, General Secretary, General
> Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church with some
> reservations in the area of "information security".)
>
> Université de l'Atlantique (Nnenna Nwakanma)
>
> University of Aarhus (Wolfgang Kleinwächter registered observer)
>
> Vancouver Community Network, Canada
>
> WACC (World Association for Christian Communication)
>
> World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)
>
> World Federalist Movement (accredited to WSIS, consultative status with
> ECOSOC)
>
>
> --
>
> Bill McIver
> Assistant Professor
> School of Information Science and Policy
> University at Albany, State University of New York
> Albany, New York 12222
> USA
>
> e-mail: mciver at albany.edu
> URL: http://www.albany.edu/~mciver
>
>
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