[WSIS CS-Plenary] press release 27 september 2003

[Beatriz Busaniche]

Text of press release Civil Society
27 September 2003

WSIS process at PrepCom III

Civil society has come here to share with the governments our own vision 
for an Information Society. We want an information society based on 
human rights. This provides a unique chance for the extension of all the 
values of Civil Society around the globe.

Over the past two weeks, Civil Society has proven that it is a vibrant 
force in the preparation of the World Summit on the Information Society. 
Civil Society has engaged in dialogue with government and business, and 
has expressed visionary ideas and a strong position in the negotiations. 

According to Beatriz Busaniche, a civil society bureau member:  “A few 
days ago I met an indigenous person from Ecuador, who is here in Geneva 
at the U.N. Indigenous Forum, fighting here for rights for self-
determination of his people. He told me that his community is not here 
asking for their rights, nor to seek affirmation. They are already 
living them. They are here for the international community to recognise 
the fact.”

In a similar way, civil society has already been building the 
information society, defending our rights to achieve social, 
educational, political, and economic benefits. Communication rights are 
part of human rights. Human rights must be the framework for the 
Knowledge Society, without this, the WSIS vision of an information 
society is meaningless.

As delegates from Civil Society we believe that every stakeholder should 
have an equal voice, and a right to the benefits of the Information 
Society, whether in education, work, leisure, and communications. Hence 
we are disappointed by the continuing resistance of governments to 
include specific text that ensures support for community based media 
initiatives – which will facilitate the inclusion of hitherto 
marginalized communities from the Information Society. To date, there 
has been an overemphasis on computers and the Internet, to the exclusion 
of analogue and traditional media.

In this process, for first time, Civil Society has been directly 
involved in the negotiations.  A special effort has been made by Civil 
Society to communicate its philosophies and methods to governments and 
the business sector. Even though the process has been fraught and 
inconsistent, with civil society included and excluded at the whim of 
governments, our experience has been one of closer engagement than has 
been the case at other United Nations conferences.  We hope that this is 
an experience that can be built on to ensure much closer involvement of 
civil society in the design and development of the Information Society.

We now have a stronger position, because as the days have progressed 
meaningful communication has emerged. But much remains to be done.