[WSIS CS-Plenary] drafting of the Dhaka Declaration: The Road to Tunis

[Andy Carvin]

Hi everyone,

Right now here in Dhaka, Bangladeshi ICT minister Abdul Moyeen Khan is moderating a plenary drafting session for the "Dhaka Declaration" that will be published at the conclusion of this week's WSIS forum hosted by the Bangladeshi government and UNDP Bangladesh. The current draft of the document is very brief, just one page long, though it is possible that there will be appendices summarizing the results of each panel from the last three days. The ICT minister is encouraging the drafting group to make the document as succint as possible.

We are currently going through a series of interventions. Zahid Jamil of Pakistan requested that the document make reference to multi-stakeholder partnerships as key to bridging the digital divide, while removing the word "appropriate" from the phrase "appropriate content," so there nothing in the document that could be perceived as being counter to freedom of expression. I seconded both of his interventions, as well as requesting the inclusion of the phrase "people with disabilities" when discussion the notion of creating an inclusive information society, along with women, children and the underprivileged, as originally drafted. These interventions were all adopted by the drafting group. Meanwhile, Josie Cacdac of the Philippines has just proposed the inclusion of the concept, "Holistic ICT education and training for all," which was adopted unanimously. Overall, the interventions made by representatives from civil society and the private sector have been compatible with each other and welcomed by the ICT minister.

Once the final version is complete, I will post a copy of it to the list and on my blog, www.andycarvin.com.  -andy


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Andy Carvin
Program Director
EDC Center for Media & Community
acarvin @ edc . org
http://www.digitaldivide.net
Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com
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