[WSIS CS-Plenary] commentary UNESCO, Microsoft, convention

[Meigs]

Dear all,
 
I have been following the exchanges on the general list and they have
convinced me that Civil Society needs to take action in a more concerted
manner, beyond the two issues that have been the major focus of these last
few months, namely internet governance  and financing mechanisms. Other
major problems are persistent and they are connected  with education,
culture and human rights.  As a result they tend to revolve around Unesco
issues, in the last month, in relation to the agreement with Microsoft and
the Convention on cultural diversity.
 
ABOUT MICROSOFT:
            If corporations are going to make agreements with Unesco, they
have to maintain the minimum standards and means of corporate governance,
i.e. a sense of competition, and open checks and balances. Two dimensions to
that:
- There are well-respected models in the industrial sector that can serve
public service, or respect public service obligations, especially with the
foundation system. Well-respected foundations have maintained a healthy and
efficient separation between charity and commerce. This model should be
explored more and one can only be sorry that foundations have not been more
active inWSIS. Unesco has had agreements with other brandnames in the
information industry, but via their non-profit foundations, and as a result
there has been no outcry and no blatant recuperation of the logo.
            -There should be provisions in any agreement of that kind for
self-improving and self-regulating dynamics to kick in. This call for a
transparent mechanism  such that the best service and the product best
adapted to local needs can evolve outside the agreement process.  A real
multistakeholder partnership could achieve just that. It could also enforce
a principle that has already been experimented elsewhere: any direct,
proprietary gift from any corporation has to be balanced or matched by a
non-proprietary gift.
 
WHAT ACTION?
So we should issue a general statement from Civil society in WSIS, via the
³content and themes² group maybe,  and put pressure on nation-states and
Unesco so that two clear and transparent procedures be implemented:
-      If dealing with business and private sector, Unesco should create a
system of checks and balances, around bids on clear projects to fulfill its
mandate, the millennium goals, the WSIS goals (related to education, science
and culture), Š An overseeing board, composed of multi-stakeholders should
be put in place, and evaluate the process throughout;
-      If a corporation decides to make an offer or a gift to Unesco, it has
to be established so that the receiving party has to be able to develop
beyond the agreement process. No strings can be attached;
-      If a proprietary gift is made , a non-profit matching gift should be
made, either by other private-public foundations or by nation-states or
other acceptable donors.
 
 
ABOUT CONVENTION ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY
This Convention follows up on the declaration on Cultural Diversity, signed
unanimously by the nation-states of Unesco in 2001 (before the US return to
Unesco). It is supposed to turn the idea of cultural diversity into a new
right, alongside other human rights. So it  posits that cultural goods like
media productions and other content productions are not a service just like
any other but are part of culture and cannot be treated as a mere commodity.
As such governements are given certain responsibilities and means of
sanction to protect that new emerging right.
But  the recent draft of the convention seems to make some provisions that
curtail the proper development  of this right, tilting the balance towards
general trade agreements and very proprietary intellectual ownership rights.
 
WHAT ACTION ?
            We should issue a general statement from Civil Society in WSIS,
via the « content and themes » group, and put pressure on nation-states and
Unesco, so that some points are carefully reconsidered in the Convention :
-      the cultural diversity right should not be made subordinate to trade
and existing trade agreements, nor should it be disconnected from public
service, public goods and public commons (regional, national, international)
;
-      the cultural diversity right should apply to all media and technical
supports and not exclude any, especially the future technological
developments related to networks of distributed intelligence and immaterial
goods ;
-      the cultural diversity right should not be considered just at the
international level but also at the regional and local level, within
nation-states, in a true spirit of diversity, pluralism and balance.
 
 
So this is a call for the ³content and themes² group to take up business
again, and not wait for prepcom 2, where it might be too late and when other
imperatives will take up all our energy.
 
Best
Divina Frau-Meigs 
Focal point, family of education, academia and research
 
 I would be grateful if some translation in French and Spanish could be
provided.

 
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