[WSIS CS-Plenary] inputs for CSTD meeting

[Parminder]

Dear Renate,

 

I thank you and your CONGO team once again for the great work in continuing
to bring all information about post-WSIS consultations to us.

 

Hope I am no too late for requesting the following inputs for your
consideration for tomorrow's CSTD meeting. Please see if you could represent
some of these points in your intervention. 

 

The fact is that the use of CSTD for IS follow-up is conceptually so flawed
that it is difficult to decide on the right inputs. The CSTD has an
important existing mandate - of dealing with various S & T (science and
technology) issues especially with regard to development, and it will be
wrong to dilute or de-focus it. At the same time to view and conduct IS
follow-up from a narrow S & T perspective is very in-adequate at best, and
diversionary of the real issues at the worst. The big issues of IS public
policy lies in socio-political arena - whether they are about access to
information, public infrastructure, e-commerce or privacy and human rights. 

 

So it is difficult to suggest that CSTD leaves its existing S & T focus and
take a wholly new IS kind of socio-political orientation,  and it is as
difficult to go along with a technology-centric IS follow-up process and
mechanism. Under the circumstances we may only suggest that;

 

1.	The CSTD includes the issue of looking into implications of
emergence of an IS for development in its mandate as a key issue. It needs
to have specific processes developed around this key issue, with allocation
of the kind of resources that this multifarious and society-wide issue
demands.  This include regular public consultations, interfacing with
various other organizations on specific policy issues, presenting policy
options, bringing out reports etc

 

2.	It changes its membership qualification - which at present
specifically requires that members 'should possess the necessary
qualifications and professional or scientific knowledge', which makes it
more into an expert body. Processes of IS follow-up should include
non-technical participation that brings the whole variety of sociopolitical
issues implicated in IS to the table. 

 

3.	It should, of course, as suggested by the Tunis agenda, open itself
to multi-stakeholder participation. 

 

4.	All the above issue will imply considerable strengthening of the
CSTD, including much greater budget support. This must be ensured.  

 

(Another problem is that CSTD, under the UNCTAD umbrella, has a
disproportionate focus on implications of S & T in terms of economic
competitiveness, and pays much less  attention to systemic implications of S
& T in various areas of social development. I would very much like CSTD to
be attached to UNDP instead, but I know this one is a long shot.)

 

Warm regards

 

Parminder 

________________________________________________

Parminder Jeet Singh

IT for Change

Bridging Development Realities and Technological Possibilities 

91-80-26654134

 <http://www.itforchange.net/> www.ITforChange.net 

 

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