[WSIS CS-Plenary] October session and back to back Prepcom : discussion with amb. Karlklins

[Bertrand de La Chapelle]

Dear all,
 I had a phone conversation this evening with Amb. Karklins on the
modalities of the October session and back to back Prepcom . The outcome is
the following :
 *October Meeting*
 He mentionned that the October meeting is about negociation (that is :
removing brackets) and not about adding new paragraphs. Only governments can
do negociation. I mentionned that this is not yet true for the most
important paragraphs of Chapter One and Four : the paragraphs still need to
be drafted; we are not yet at the stage of removing brackets, as the exact
nature of the follow-up famework was kept unaddressed until this very moment
(which is by the way the reason for the October session). In addition, the
very structure of the Chapter Four (with possible inclusion of parts of
Chapter one) is still evolving and must be made more coherent to become
readable by everybody. On both aspects therefore (possible follow-up
architecture and document structure) CS actors have a lot of input to
contribute and want ot help the PrepCom Chair and governements attain a good
result for Tunis. I mentionned in particular the discussions by members of
the Follow-up Group with several delegations during PrepCom3 that could help
avoid a deadlock on follow-up.
 Amb. Karklins agrees to verify with Security that accredited participants
to the WSIS that will be able to come to Geneva in October will be allowed
to enter the Palais des Nations during the 5 days. If needed, a precise list
of who might attend could be transmitted in advance to facilitate access.
 More importantly, he also agreed to hold *an interactive session with CS
every morning for about 45 minutes* (from 9:15 to 10:00) to get input. That
is : the session would not only be about him reporting to CS but a real
interactive session. The idea of a second similar evening session was
raised, but schedule constraints would make it hard for him. The space is
narrow, but if CS suggestions are focused and if this is combined with
appropriate lobbying of governments in the corridors, this is a good
practical way to give input and check how it is (or not) taken in. Of
course, this does not establish a precedent at the symbolic level, only at
the practical one, but we must take into account that the final phases of
such processes are always edging towards closing doors rather than opening
new ones.
  The PrepCom President also wants to make sure that reporting on the status
of the discussions wil not be done only for people that can be present in
Geneva. He envisages a daily report or even a conference call. It is obvious
that CS reporting, including by CS members wearing governmental badges, will
be very important for those who cannot come.
 Important point :CS members with governmental badges (Jane, Vittorio,
others ....?) should check whether they will be included in their national
delegation for this special session
 Last point : Amb Karklins will work with the Executive Secretariat on the
13th and 14th of October to prepare the meeting of the 24-28 and will be
away afterwards until the beggining of the session.. He *is willing to meet
briefly* (I guess one hour) with a limited group of members of the Follow-up
Working Group* in the afternoon of October 12th* to get our input. I will
make the trip as I have other things to do in Geneva and will push the ideas
we have agreed upon during PrepCom3. Is anybody else from the Follow-up
Group available in Geneva at that date ? (Chantal ?)
 *Back to Back Meeting before the Summit*
 Less information on that one. Just to say that it will be a PrepCom, with
the normal rules of PrepComs; Amb. Karklins expects a lot of discussion to
take place in Plenary in order to build political consensus, even if some
drafting groups will naturally take place.
 The Plenary room will be about 400 seats but there will be no specific
space for Civil Society to hold daily plenaries as we did in Geneva (welcome
corridors !). No precisions on the exact place of the venue (unles it was in
the general announcement mail and I overlooked it).
 *Conclusion*
 At that stage, I found Amb. Karklins sincerely willing to explore practical
modalities to take CS input in, in spite of the constraints of the rules of
procedure. As a consequence, even knowing that the situation in October will
not be perfect, the final evaluation of CS capacity to impact should
probably be done only after the sesion :
 - Either CS is somewhat satisfied with the result (ie the likely follow-up
framework) and its actual capacity to interact with governments and there is
no need to make strong protest statements
- Or, in spite of all efforts and goodwill from CS, real interaction was
unsufficient and the result is not up to CS benchmarks and a statement will
be appropriate.
 This, of course, is not completely a distinct question from whether CS
should issue a parallel Decelaration.More on that in a separate mail.
 Hope this information is useful.
 Best
 Bertrand
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