[WSIS CS-Plenary] >>>Vision section of CS Declaration - draft<<<

[Sally Burch - ALAI]

All,

Here is a draft of the vision section for the civil society declaration.  
Please send any comments by early Sunday to the CT list 
(ct at wsis-cs.org), under this same message subject.

Other sections will follow shortly.

Sally Burch

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1. A VISIONARY SOCIETY 

Our vision of information and communication societies is based on  
human rights, social justice and sustainable human development.  

We are committed to building people-centred, inclusive and  
equitable information and communication societies, where 
everyone can freely create, access, utilize, share and disseminate  
information and knowledge, thus empowering individuals,  
communities and peoples to improve their quality of life and  
achieve their full potential. 

The developments that shape such societies should be based on  
principles of social, political and economic justice, and  
peoples' participation and empowerment. They must pursue the  
objectives of sustainable development, democracy, and gender  
equality, for the attainment of a more peaceful, just and  
egalitarian world, premised on the principles enshrined in the  
Charter of the United Nations and in the Universal Declaration  of 
Human Rights. 

We reaffirm that communication is a fundamental social process, a 
basic human need and the foundation of all social organization.   
Everyone everywhere should have the opportunity to participate in 
and benefit from communication processes.  Communication 
rights, including freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to 
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media 
and regardless of frontiers, to access public information and  the 
public domain of knowledge, and to employ ICTs for producing 
information and  communicating, must be actively guaranteed for 
all.  

We support the development of societies where human knowledge, 
creativity,  cooperation and solidarity are considered  core 
elements; societies where not only individual creativity,  but 
also collective innovation, based on  cooperative work are 
promoted. Societies where knowledge,  information and 
communication resources are recognized and  protected as the 
common heritage of humankind; societies that  foster cultural and 
linguistic diversity and intercultural  dialogue, in environments 
that are free from discrimination, violence and hatred.

Building people-centred and inclusive information and  
communication societies implies involving individuals in  their 
capacity as citizens, their organizations 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, 
without exclusion.

We aspire to build information and communication societies where  
development is focused on fundamental human needs and shared  
social, cultural, economic, and environmental goals; where  
priority is given to a more equitable distribution of resources,  
leading to the elimination of poverty and other gross  
inequalities, in a way that is environmentally sustainable.  We  
are convinced that with the political will to mobilize the wealth  
of human knowledge towards this end, humanity could not only  
achieve the goals of the Millennium Declaration, but far surpass  
them.