[WSIS CS-Plenary] report from WSIS CS information sessions 23 June

[Rik Panganiban]

[apologies if this is received more than once]

Civil Society Information Sessions June 23, 2004
Medina Conference Centre, Hammamet

By Rik Panganiban, Conference of NGOs


Please find here a report on the civil society information sessions 
organized by the Conference of NGOs in cooperation with the WSIS 
Executive Secretariat which took place on 23 June 2004 at the Medina 
Conference Centre in Hammamet. Presentations were given by Charles 
Geiger of the WSIS executive secretariat, Shoji Nishimoto of the Task 
Force on Financing Mechanisms, and Markus Kummar of the Working Group 
on Internet Governance, as well as by Renata Bloem of CONGO, Steve 
Buckley on behalf of Content and Themes, and Bertrand de la Chapelle 
for Wsis-online.net.  There were approximately 80 participants at this 
forum, which was open to all participants without accreditation or 
registration necessary.


CHARLES GEIGER, WSIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT
Charles Geiger of the WSIS Executive Secretariat explained the 
background on the WSIS process in relation to civil society.  He put 
the WSIS within the context of UN summits in general, and the rules for 
civil society participation that have come through the summit process.  
He noted that the WSIS was unique for the principal role of civil 
society and the private sector within the process, as well as the 
innovation of the creation of a civil society bureau to interface with 
the government bureau on questions of procedure.

He gave his views on what is the purpose of phase II of the WSIS.  Out 
of the WSIS Phase I, there were two left open issues: internet 
governance and financing mechanism, which were referred to new working 
groups for further work and discussions. The Working group on internet 
governance is to issue a report to Prepcom II on its progress.  The 
Task force on financing mechanisms will undergo a stock taking exercise 
to analyze the different funding mechanisms.  This should be done by 
September.

The Prepcoms will proceed until the summit in November 2005.  Prepcom 
II is likely to be February 2005 in Geneva. Prepcom III should be in 
September 2005  in Geneva or Tunisia.

On the Declaration, he thought that governments will not re-open the 
declaration, that is they will not insert new issues. Regarding 
meetings between now and Tunis 2005, he noted that there were two types 
of meetings foreseen. Regional meetings are expected in Latin America, 
Africa (in February, Accra), and an Arab meeting. Thematic Meetings are 
also going to be organized, including one on Spam by ITU and a UNESCO 
meeting on freedom of information. There is a question of how thematic 
meetings are decided and labeled which will be decided here.

At the Tunis Summit itself, there is anticipated to be a political 
document and an action plan.  There will probably not have a +5 process 
for the WSIS, such as has occurred for other UN summits.  There is the 
challenge of mainstreaming Tunis into UN system in general.

He raised the issue of civil society liaisons for Phase I were both 
working for secretariat and for bureau of civil society. Civil society 
liaisons for Phase II will no longer serve as the secretaries for the 
bureau to make their role more clear.

There will be two speaking slots for civil society on Friday morning 
and Saturday morning.


MONCEF ACHOUR, WSIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT
Moncef Achour, Civil Society Liaison of the WSIS executive secretariat, 
congratulated Renata Bloem and CONGO for having organized this meeting, 
and for their spirit of cooperation.  He noted the funding that Tunisia 
had offered to facilitate the participation of civil society from the 
developing world, and urged others to help find the funds possible to 
ensure they are better represented in the WSIS.  He highlighted the 
participation of African civil society and the diaspora as particularly 
important.

Responding to question from a representative of FIDH, Charles Geiger 
noted that there is no such thing as “political approval” of NGOs. The 
Executive Secretariat submits to governments the files from applicants. 
  Approval occurs usually during 1st day of the prepcom. As far as he 
knew, Human Rights in China were not formally refused.  If files are 
complete then the secretariat should put it on to Prepcom II. If the 
secretariat does not recommend an NGO, it has to explain why it does 
not recommend. Organizations have to be  legally recognized in their 
country.  There is no exception possible.


MARKUS KUMMAR, INTERNET GOVERNANCE WORKING GROUP
Markus Kummar, head of the secretariat of the internet governance 
working group, gave a presentation on this body.  He noted that there 
were two views on how to deal with internet governance expressed in 
Phase I,  The first was for some kind of multilateral forum for 
dialogue on the UN system.  The second was for a more private-sector 
driven solutions that “don’t mess with what works.” There was broad 
agreement on the principles of multilateral cooperation, transparency, 
democracy and the necessity of the involvement of governments, the 
private sector, civil society and international organizations.

The tasks of the working group are:
•	To Define Internet Governance, with the choices between a narrow 
technical one or a broad and political one.
•	To Identify Public policy issues
•	To define the roles of various actors in field – developing a list of 
who does what

The working group will draw up a report for the Tunis Summit.

The Members will be appointed by UNSG, with 15-20 members anticipated. 
There is the need to balance efficiency and legitimacy, with some 
consideration for regional balance and gender.  The main criteria will 
be the qualifications of the members. At least 3-4 meetings will be 
necessary and in between need 2-3 rounds of open-ended consultations 
with governments and stakeholders.  There may be a need for separate 
expert meetings. The final report should be issued by July 2005. The 
working group will have to do some of its work online.

On the composition of the working group, there are various formulas 
being proposed, between – perhaps one-third government, one-third civil 
society and one-third private sector or perhaps half government and 
half civil society and private sector. The working group will operate 
in parallel to the prepcoms and report at the 3rd prepcom on its work.

RENATA BLOEM, CONGO
Renata Bloem, secretary general of the Conference NGOs, gave a brief 
history of civil society participation at WSIS.  She noted how the 
civil society liaisons of the secretariat initiated the idea of a civil 
society bureau as a counter-part to the government bureau to liaise 
with them on questions of procedure, not content.  The bureau has been 
composed of “families” of civil society including various 
constituencies and regions of civil society groups to bring legitimacy 
and representativity to the body.

Meanwhile the Content and Themes group has served to bring together 
civil society working groups and caucuses and individual groups to work 
together on shared projects, such as drafting joint texts, organizing 
meetings with governments and holding press briefings.

During the Paris Intersessional and the Third Prepcom civil society 
interventions were allowed during key parts of the official 
negotiations, as well as limited participation within the working 
groups.  Meanwhile the civil society plenary, the grouping of all the 
accredited NGOs present, served as the primary decision-making body for 
civil society.


STEVE BUCKLEY, CONTENT AND THEMES
Steve Buckley of AMARC explained the work of the Content and Themes 
group, which has served as a coordinating body for civil society work 
on the “substance” and advocacy during the WSIS.  The content and 
themes brings together the various caucuses and working groups to work 
together and share information collaboratively.  The group serves to 
important role of as a monitor of government activity.


BERTRAND DE LA CHAPELLE, WSIS-ONLINE.NET
Bertrand de la Chapelle of WSIS-online gave a presentation on the WSIS 
community web platform. He noted that the Geneva format is likely to be 
reused in Tunis Summit. I.e. large plenary and parallel events. There 
are 11 agenda items in the Declaration from Phase I.  The website 
wsis-online is built along these lines.  He gave a demonstration of the 
functions on the website, including interlinked databases of 
organizations, individuals, projects and events, indexed by the 11 
agenda items.  He concluded that the website was just a tool, which 
does not replace action but only serves to increase visibility of the 
different actions and actors.


SHOJI NISHIMOTO, UNDP
Shoji Nishimoto of UNDP presented on his work as secretariat of the 
Task Force on Financing Mechanisms.  The current financing mechanisms 
have never really been that successful.  The US funds for AIDS, 
Japanese funds for ICTs for example.  So when you talk about additional 
financial mechanisms, it is a challenge.

There is an opportunity for funds from developed countries to the 
developing world.  He noted the importance of non conventional sources, 
i.e corporate responsibility, consumer contributions.

The job of the Task Force is to provide informed, professional 
analysis. It will engage in data gathering and assessment of what kind 
of financing are available.  Are they working well, achieving what 
kinds of results? What are the gaps?  It will involve private sector 
and civil society as well as governments.  It will take a more holistic 
view before focusing on a particular mechanism.

The Team will be composed of 16-17 members. Membership is merit-based, 
rather than political.  An initial brainstorming session has already 
occurred.  They will finalize their findings to Mark Malloch-Brown by 
Mid-July. The first meeting of the task force will be mid to late 
September.  The report will be done by the end of December 2004 A 
series of working papers are being produced. By end of November, we 
should have the final version from  the secretariat. He emphasized that 
specific recommendations for members of the task force welcome.

He recommended a number of mechanisms, including infrastructure 
investment that is “pro-poor,” corporate solutions, and consumer 
solutions.   On the Solidarity Fund, he argued that as a huge 
general-purpose fund for ICT development, it probably won’t work.  
However its is important to know what is the specific purpose of a 
solidarity fund is.


Report by Rik Panganiban, Conference of NGOs.  Apologies for any errors 
or omissions in this report.  He can be reached at 
rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org.

===============================================
RIK PANGANIBAN       Communications Coordinator

Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship
with the United Nations (CONGO)
web: http://www.ngocongo.org
email: rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org
mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524