[WSIS CS-Plenary] commentary UNESCO, Microsoft, convention
mclauglm at po.muohio.edu
mclauglm at po.muohio.edu
Mon Nov 15 14:23:20 GMT 2004
Hi all,
I have been researching UN partnerships with the
private sector for some time, most recently in
respect to one of the great "successes" of the
WSIS--the use of the WSIS as a venue for securing
of partnerships with ICT giants such as Cisco
Systems, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and so on.
As such, I think that it's important to point out
that this recent UNESCO/Microsoft partnership
does not represent a *new* dangerous position
taken by UNESCO. For example, in 2000, UNESCO
worked in partnership with McDonald's and Disney
in sponsoring the "Millennium Dreamers" event,
which "set out to find and celebrate the
accomplishments of 2,000 young people ages 8-15
from every corner of the globeŠwho are making a
positive difference in their communities-and, at
the same time, reinforce McDonald's long-standing
heritage of giving back to the communities it
serves." The event was capped off by a global
youth summit event at Walt Disney World, attended
by 2000 "Millennium Dreamers whose essays had
been vetted by "an expert panel of judges."
Representatives from over 700 media outlets also
attended. The outcome of this initiative was
"alliance enhancement," according to Golin/Harris
International, the public relations firm that
managed the event. Here's a quote from
Golin/Harris's subsequent write-up of the event:
"The McDonald's/Disney alliance was elevated to a
new level of partnership, proving its ability to
positively enhance the two brands and corporate
reputations. It set the stage for future global
programs to move beyond Happy Meal and movie
promotions. Breakthrough events like having
company icons Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse
appear together for the first time in a public
venue, company CEOs joining together for events
and allowing Ronald McDonald inside a Disney
theme park for the first time all add to the
evidence of partnership growth."
(Golin/Harris International)
It would seem that UNESCO was a good brand with
which to be associated at a time when McDonald's
was under investigation (and later fined) for the
illegal use of child labor in the UK and Disney
had long been criticized for the abysmal labor
conditions at its subcontractors' factories in
Haiti, Indonesia, and China.
Anyone who is interested in reading about
corporate partnerships with the likes of UNESCO,
UNDP, and UNICEF might want to look at the
following web sites:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/United_Nations/perilous_partnerships.html
http://corpwatch.org/article.php?id=996
http://globalpolicy.org/reform/indxbizarch.htm
Most of the best research on this subject has
been done, not by academics, but by groups such
as Corporate Watch (especially Kenny Bruno) and
the Corporate European Observatory.
I've been thinking that it might be good to
create a collaborative international research
network to study various dimensions of UN
partnerships with the ICT sector, so if anyone is
interested in discussing this further, please be
in touch. I'd also be interested in helping to
draft a position paper against the
UNESCO/Microsoft position--I just think that we
need to be aware that there are precedents to
this recent dangerous partnership (all related to
the "Global Compact," which does not allow for
mandatory monitoring of partnership projects, for
corporate accountability, for mandatory corporate
reporting of their activities, for any
transparency whatsoever).
All the best,
Lisa
(Lisa McLaughlin)
>Meigs,
>as Civile Society Finance Mechanism List we are very
>interested by your proposal to draft a position paper
>against the dangerous approach adopted by UNESCO vis a
>vis Microsoft.
>I forward this message to my List and hope that you
>will propose a concertation process to draft together
>the paper.
>All the best
>Djilali
>--- Meigs <meigs at wanadoo.fr> wrote:
>
>>
>> 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
>> „content and themes¾ 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), ä 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 ª 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 „content and themes¾ 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.
>>
>>
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Educal mailing list
>> > Educal at wsis-cs.org
>> >
>>
>http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/educal
>>
>>
>
>
>=====
>Djilali Benamrane : dbenamrane at yahoo.com
>Tel/fax : (227) 75 35 09 BP 11207 - Niamey - Niger
>TÈl/Fax : (331) 01 45 39 77 02 Paris - France
>Page web sur le SMSI (mecanismes de financement) : en cours de construction
>Page web sur l'Afrique et la globalisation :
>http://www.multimania.com/djilalibenamrane/
>Groupe de discussion: http://www.egroups.com/list/afriqueglobalization
>
>
>
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