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

[djilali benamrane]

Dears, 
We are living the same practice when UNDP selected on
its own who must represent the Civile Society
participating to the UN TFFM in New York...
As long as at our own level we have not a powerful
position to impose the CSB as the main or the only
porte parole of the CS we do have do deal with such a
situation.
Je rapelle seulement que cette pratique
d'identification contingeante des représentants de la
société civile a déjà été utilisée par le PNUD lors de
la désignation des membres du Groupe de travail sur
les mécanismes de financement et que nous sommes
responsables de tels agissements
Djilali
--- Renata Bloem <rbloem at ngocongo.org> wrote:

> 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,
> 
> 
=== message truncated ===


Djilali Benamrane : dbenamrane at yahoo.com
Tel/fax : (227) 75 35 09 BP 11207 - Niamey - Niger
Tél/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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