[WSIS CS-Plenary] [EN] Citizens’ Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) - Tunis, November 16-18, 2005

[Meryem Marzouki]

Citizens’ Summit on the Information Society (CSIS)
Tunis, November 16-18, 2005
First announcement and call for support
CSIS Press release – October 24, 2005

A Citizens’ Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) will be held in 
Tunis, on November 16-18, 2005, coinciding with the World Summit on the 
Information Society (WSIS).

The CSIS will be another milestone in the long tradition of UN 
conferences and Summits being complemented with events organized by 
citizen groups. Previous such events met with great success, for 
example during the Cairo Conference on Population and Development 
(1994), the Beijing Conference on Women (1995) or the Monterrey Summit 
on Financing for Development (2002).

The CSIS objectives are twofold:
- To send a strong message of support and solidarity from international 
civil society to the local civil society and citizens;
- To address the main issues being debated at the WSIS, from the 
perspective of citizen groups and the public.

Based on earlier precedents, this event will offer an excellent 
opportunity to promote the Information Society and the basic principles 
on which it must be based, as articulated in the first phase of the 
World Summit on the Information, namely: human rights and social 
justice.

Invitation and Call for support:
Citizen groups, Civil society organizations, National, Regional and 
International Institutions, Government Delegations, and all other 
interested parties and individuals are invited to participate in the 
Citizen’s Summit on the Information Society.  All are strongly 
encouraged to express their support for and solidarity with the CSIS 
by, e.g.:
- Signing-on as a supporter,
- Offering a donation,
- Proposing a contribution to the CSIS program,
- Reading a statement of support to CSIS, in a WSIS parallel event they 
may organize
- Disseminating CSIS news through websites and mailing lists,
- Or any other means of support they may suggest.

Practical information:
The Citizen’s Summit on the Information Society will begin on November 
16th at 16:00, with an opening ceremony, continue all day on November 
17th, with the closing session on November 18th morning. The CSIS 
program will consist of a series of panels and conferences addressing 
main WSIS issues from the public perspective.

The detailed program and practical information will be circulated by 
early November, together with a list of CSIS supporters.

First list of CSIS organizers and supporters:
AMARC (World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters), ANND (Arab 
NGO Network for Development), APC (Association for Progressive 
Communications), Article 19, CJFE (Canadian Journalists for Free 
Expression), Comunica-ch (WSIS Swiss Civil Society Coalition), CPSR 
(Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility), CRIS Campaign 
(Communication Rights in the Information Society), FIDH (International 
Federation of Human Rights Leagues), FrontLine (International 
Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders), HR Caucus 
(WSIS Civil Society Human Rights Caucus) HRW (Human Rights Watch), 
ICHRDD (Rights and Democracy), Index on Censorship, IteM (Instituto del 
Tercer Mundo), Norwegian PEN, OMCT (World Organization against 
Torture), WAN (World Association of Newspapers), WPFC (World Press 
Freedom Committee), in coordination with independent Tunisian civil 
society organizations.

CSIS International Organizing Committee:
Pablo Accuosto, Karen Banks, Roberto Bissio, Steve Buckley, Rikke Frank 
Jørgensen, Wolf Ludwig, Antoine Madelin, Meryem Marzouki, Seán Ó 
Siochrú, Chantal Peyer, in coordination with independent Tunisian civil 
society organization representatives.

Contact:
Expressions of support: support at citizens-summit.org
Press enquiries: press at citizens-summit.org
General contact, questions: contact at citizens-summit.org

Website: www.citizens-summit.org