[WSIS CS-Plenary] Clarifications on the ITU informal consultation on WSIS implimentation

Wed Apr 27 17:18:15 BST 2005

Hi Bill 

Thanks, for these clarifications. I was out of town and therefore did not
speak to anybody in the ITU, but my own interpretation of the meeting was
very similar to yours. I sent this yesterday to Tracey and the CSB, see
below.
I was, however, surprised to hear that they expected some CONGO people to
attend. We were not asked to send this around as they had indicated of
having very limited space.

>Dear Bertrand, Tracey and all,

>Having been in Nairobi last week and again away until today, let me just
>join in this discussion. 
>When I received the invitation for this consultation, I saw it mainly as an
>attempt of the ITU to position itself in WSIS and follow-up in relation to 
>its own constituencies, (if you look at the agenda of the following
WG->WSIS) 
>other UN agencies and the UN in general 

>I have not been involved in this ITU WG-WSIS so far, but if you look at
>some of their working papers, it becomes clear that they need to address
>some of what the ITU should do in order to play a more substantive role in
>WSIS follow up: e.g. 

>to align it more clearly with WSIS goals and objectives; 
>to reflect more relevantly the MDGs 
>to have closer engagement with CS, (!)even 
>to have closer cooperation with the rest of the UN 
>and probably a number of other to dos.

>With other words, I see this exercise in the first place to get their house
>in order to prepare better for becoming the whatever.overall coordinator of
>the Plan of Action (according to the Russian proposal, not necessarily
>endorsed by all governments). 

>So the very brief consultation with other stakeholders should therefore be
>seen in my view in this in-house perspective as one (among many)
>consultations for follow up. (UNESCO, UNCTAD, OECD all prepare many
>meetings, including on follow-up)

>I agree fully with Bertrand's letter (and thank you Bertrand!) to Janis
>Karklins, in which way a more structured dialogue should take place. But I
>would somewhat hesitate to send the other letter to Yuri Grin at this time,
>precisely not to give more importance to that meeting than it has. However,
>together with those who will attend, I will certainly raise the concerns.

>Best

>Renata 

Renate Bloem
President of the Conference of NGOs (CONGO)
11, Avenue de la Paix
CH-1202 Geneva
Tel: +41 22 301 1000
Fax: +41 22 301 2000
E-mil: rbloem at ngocongo.org
Website: www.ngocongo.org

The Conference of NGOs (CONGO) is an international, membership association
that facilitates the participation of NGOs in United Nations debates and
decisions. Founded in 1948, CONGO's major objective is to ensure the
presence of NGOs in exchanges among the world's governments and United
Nations agencies on issues of global concern.  For more information see our
website at www.ngocongo.org

Hello Tracey,

The ITU Council's Working Group on WSIS has long had a meeting scheduled on
the 3rd and 4th http://www.itu.int/council/wsis/wsis_WG.html to talk about
ITU's role in WSIS.  The chair of the Council decided a couple of weeks ago
to add on an informal meeting on the day prior to hear from other
stakeholders, in part I think because ITU's been taking a lot of heat from
CS about being a closed shop (especially in WGIG).  Three key points:

First, this is not a WSIS meeting; if it was it'd have been done by the WSIS
secretariat and would have had to follow the relevant rules etc.  It's an
ITU meeting, about ITU's role in WSIS, and an informal one at that, under
the authority of the chair, which is why it hasn't appeared on the ITU's
website and calendar of events.  Second, given the genesis described above,
I wouldn't read too much into the way this was done in terms of setting
precedents on CS participation in ITU, much less in WSIS. The chair of an
ITU body can always call an informal meeting to hear what people have to say
and invite whomever she or he wants.

Third, I just spoke with the head of the SG's strategy and policy shop, and
asked who was invited and why.  He said that they'd simply pulled email
addresses of people on the CS bureau, CS people based in Geneva like myself,
and a few others they knew of.  Originally they thought they'd have a room
that seats thirty, so they were trying to keep it small.  But there's been
more demand than expected, so they've now moved it to a room that seats 100.
He told me that about sixty people are registered at present, perhaps half
of them from CS.  I expressed surprise because I'm not aware that there's 30
WSIS CS people in Geneva, and he said well there are CONGO people, some
folks from out of town, etc.  Didn't ask him to read a list.   He emphasized
that now that they have a bigger room, they can accommodate more people if
others would like to register.  I suggested they put the meeting
announcement with a registration link somewhere visible on the website, and
he said they'd get on it.  So anyone else who wants to go, maybe check the
URL above in a day or so.

I should add that it's not obvious how many ITU members will be attending,
since ITU-T is also holding a meeting that day to provide input into the
Council Working Group.  So probably attendees will be speaking mostly to the
chair and some staffers, rather than to governments and corporations.  As to
the Council WG itself, participation in that is more ambiguous.  I was told
I could attend as an individual 'expert' but not as a CS person, since CSOs
have no standing right to participate unless they are Sector Members or
Associates.  Unfortunately, I can't go to any of this, as I'm speaking at
the OECD's 2005 Forum in Paris, but if someone else wants to ask for an
'expert' invite it might work.

Hope this helps,

Bill

> -----Original Message-----
> From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org]On
> Behalf Of Tracey Naughton
> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 4:43 PM
> To: plenary at wsis-cs.org
> Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] re: invite to the ITU informal consultation
> on WSIS implimentation
>
>
> Hello
>
> The CSB is formulating feedback for the ITU about the forthcoming
> informal WSIS Implementation meeting. It has been convened at short
> notice and it's unlikely to have the participation of people from
> developing contexts, (which is not to negate the value of those who
> will be able to attend by virtue of being based around Geneva). It goes
> without saying that many of us would like to have input.
>
> It would appear that few people have been invited but we would like to
> get a sense of who did receive an invite as background to our feedback.
> So far we know that myself, Ralph Bendrath and Adam Peake received
> personal invitations. Ralph also posted the invite to the plenary list
> but it's the direct ones we would like to record.
>
> Please let the list know. Thanks
>
> Tracey
>
>
>
> Tracey Naughton
> NYAKA
> Communication for Development Consultant
> 201 Somerset Hall
> 239 Oxford Road
> Illovo     2196
> South Africa
>
> landline & fax:	+27 (0) 11 880 5030
> cell / mobile:	+27 (0) 82 821 1771
> email:		tracey at traceynaughton.com
> skype:		tracey_naughton
>
>
>
>

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