[WSIS CS-Plenary] Modification of the Guidelines for parallel events at WSIS

Sat Oct 29 16:41:59 BST 2005

Dear all, 

I had a long conversation yesterday with the legal advisor at ITU about a
couple of things, including of course the guidelines regarding the conduct
of parallel events. 

As concerns §6., I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the
text of this document has now been modified further to our concerns. The
first sentence of this paragraph is almost a direct quotation of UN ECOSOC
Resolution 1996/31 on Consultative relationship between the UN and NGOs;
this resolution also provides elements on the participation of NGOs in Intl
Conferences convened by the UN. However, in the initial version of these
guidelines for parallel events (referred to by Richard and Ralf), the last
part of the resolution paragraph was missing, thus deeply modifying the
meaning. Now the question of criticism towards state governments in this
paragraph 6 should be understood as follows: “
 unsubstantiated or
politically motivated acts against Member States of the United Nations
incompatible with those purposes and principles [of the Charter the United
Nations]”. With this modification, this paragraph is now in line with the UN
rules and practices in this regard and is a more balanced approach to
critical expression of State governments.

To answer Robert’s comment on the authority of the Chair of a session, I was
told by the ITU legal advisor that the Organizer/Chair of a parallel event
has the responsibility to keep order in the meeting room, by analogy with
the practice and rules of official meetings. The Chair of the parallel event
is implicitly granted with policy powers (with the right to notify a
potential expulsion to a participant hindering the proceedings of the event,
and then ask the UN security staff to intervene if the acts continue to
occur). 

The presence of UN security staff in the meeting room will be granted on the
request of the organisers (as it was the case during PrepCom meetings). Do
not hesitate to let us know if you consider your meeting is at risk and if
you would like security staff to be present during your meeting. 

At last, paragraph 5 is mainly drawn from the regular UN practice in this
area, including previous UN summits (i.e. Johannesburg). 

The ITU legal advisor will remain at our disposal before and during Tunis
Summit. Do not hesitate to come back to us for further comments or
clarification.

Best regards, 

Philippe

-----Message d'origine-----
De : plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] De la part
de Richard Vincent
Envoyé : jeudi, 27. octobre 2005 16:31
À : vb at bertola.eu.org; plenary at wsis-cs.org
Objet : [WSIS CS-Plenary] New Information for Participants @ Summit (rules
of conduct..?)

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_______________________________________

I agree that a statement such as "politically motivated acts against Member
States" is extremely vague and may include critical political expression
directed toward state governments, Tunisia, the US, or anyone else.  Also,
the restriction against filming is absurd.  Finally, the limitation of
document distribution including newspapers to only the publishers section,
while perhaps an attempt to establish order,  is a direct attack on basic
freedoms of expression.  It seems to me that the WSIS may finally be
regretting the "first of a kind" open forum that the ITU originally
envisioned.  I saw no true disruption of activities during the Geneva phase,
and I see no reason to assume that we will see it now.

Rick

Dr. Richard C. Vincent

Professor 

Department of Communication

Indiana State University

Terre Haute, IN 47809

U.S.A.

email: rvincent at indstate.edu

telephone: +1 812 237-3246

fax: +1 812 237-3217

>>> vb at bertola.eu.org 10/27/05 9:56 AM >>>

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Ralf Bendrath ha scritto:

> This is especially funny:

> 

> "politically motivated acts against Member States of the United Nations"

> -> call UN security

> 

> Does this mean we can't say anymore that we dislike the US policy on 

> Internet Governance? ;-)

Sure. Feel free to criticize Tunisian food and Tunisian weather, but not 

the Tunisian government.

I think we should make a clear, loud and firm protest against these 

parts of the document, and request edits. For example, 6. should have a 

safeguard clause mentioning freedom of (critical political) expression. 

And the constraint on filming is ridiculous. If we start to accept 

constraints like these, we'll engage into a situation where we'll be 

bound hands and feet.

-- 

vb.             [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a] bertola.eu.org]<-----

http://bertola.eu.org/  <- Prima o poi...

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