[WSIS CS-Plenary] Update concerning the CSTD session on WSIS Follow-Up

[Dr. Francis MUGUET]

Hello from Geneva at a wee hour

Current negotiations in Geneva are quite
crucial for Implementation and Follow-Up ( except  Internet Governance ).

All Observers, including Ecosoc accredited ones,
  may be  expelled  from the  room if
the South African  representative persists.

The story unfold as follows,  as  we
are facing two serious procedural problems.

The first problem concerns the current procedure of the
"informal consultation",
that were first started by the Chair of ECOSOC himself,
Ali Achani for a short session on Monday, he announced
there will be a non-paper as a basis for future "informal consultations",
and then Achani decided that the following 'informal consultations"
will be chaired by Karklins.

During the informal sessions on Monday, and mostly on
Tuesday ,Wednesday, and Thursday,
Civil Society was allowed to speak and to propose language.
At that time, the Civil Society that took the floor was
DAPSI, the African Diaspora, with Pape Diouf,
CONGO with Philippe, and me.
On Tuesday, when Karklins took the chair,
he asked all governements if none objected to his proposal that
  the discussions be open-ended, meaning also open
to Civil Society observers. No Government, including China, objected.

Business is not present, which alarmed very much
the United States delegation,
but the CCBI turned now into the  BASIS
(Business Action to Support the Information Society )
( nice acronym; but you might be surprised if you
  translate the "basis" it into arabic... )  sent judiciously
a written  contribution,  reassuring the US delegation
which might have otherwise opposed Civil Society presence.

The "informal discussions" proceeded with exactly the same
open procedure as during  the Friends of the Chair sessions during WSIS.
They are just informal negotiations.
Then at the end of the session on Thursday,  we were stunned to learn that
South Africa ( who happens to represent the G77, so there is some confusion
as to whether South Africa was speaking for itself or for G77 )
has resqueted the Civil Societly to be expelled from the next informal
sessions
on Monday and Tuesday on the ground that, according to ECOSOC rules of
procedures,
observers cannot be present during negotiations.
This delegate from South Africa, just stepping fresh
into the discussions at this stage,
is based in New York.
Since it is an informal meeting,  ECOSOC rules of procedures does not
apply.
However, according to rules outlined by the chair,
if a government objects to the presence of Civil Society, then
Civil Society must leave the room.
However, it is clear that the government that is requesting the
Civil Society to leave cannot take cover of asking
for the application of ECOSOC rules,
this government must endorse its full political responsibility of its
willfull intent to expell Civil Society.
As it is clear that there absolutely no consensus in the G77 on this
matter,
that has not been discussed yet within the G77, South Africa would have
to endorse alone its decision.
At the end of session on Thursday, with the friendly advice of the
representative of an East African state, after getting lost,
I finally reached the G77  office. and
I met the South African  representative and was able to explain
to him the situation.  The discussion was calm  but  tense.
He said to me that the G77 will discuss this question on Friday.
I met again this delegate, this time with Philippe, on Friday morning, but
no further progress was made.
On Friday night, long past 6 PM, after the end of the closed G77 meeting ,
few friendly delegates told Ana Laurinda and me that this question was
not discussed during this G77 meeting, that they were late, and did not
finish
their agenda.
We are therefore still in the fog.
Most G77 delegates from Latin America strongly supports Civil Society
presence
so if South Africa want to pursue its stance, I guess it would have to
do it alone.

2/ The content of the current discussions on the non-paper
concerns the procedures to be followed
by the reformed CSTD for WSIS.
One crucial question is whether the reformed
CSTD will follow procedures followed at WSIS, or those of ECOSOC,
where precisely Civil Society cannot attend negotiations
( what we have been doing during  WSIS ! ).
So if we are expelled from current discussions, it is a very bad
omen for the content of the non-paper and
future CS involvement at the CSTD concerning WSIS follow-up.
ITU, UNESCO and other internal agencies representatives being
there are going to take note....

All these very difficult negotiations underlines the need
of the continuuing role of the CSB, otherwise Civil Society
stands to loose, during the follow-up phase; all the gains
  being made on procedural issues during
the first two phases of WSIS.
Renate should be there on Monday to reinforce the CS
in current negotations, and to discuss what could be done
at the CSB level.

In this context, I contacted Adama Samassékou, here is the text (
translated from French )
-----------------------------------

Following various conversations, H.E Adama Samassékou, President of the
WSIS PrepCom of the Geneva phase authorizes to communicate that, on one
side, in his vision, when it was created, the Civil Society Bureau had
been formed for the overall WSIS process which naturally include
implementation and follow-up, and on the other side, this global vision
also comprised the formation of national or regional Civil Society
Bureaus, antennas of the Geneva Bureau, to deal with procedural issues
for implementation at national and regional levels.

In General all Civil Society efforts aiming at fully assuming its role
within implementation and follow-up, are receiving all but his
encouragements.

-----------------------------------

Please find below attached ( openoffice, and pdf )
my contribution to the non-paper
being discussed.  I tried to the best of my capacity to
take into account all aspects.

Best regards

Francis



-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------
  Francis F. Muguet  Ph.D
  MDPI  Open Access Journals -  Associate Publisher
  http://www.mdpi.org  muguet at mdpi.net

  Knowledge Networks & Information Society Lab. (KNIS)
  http://www.knis.org  http://www.ensta.fr/~muguet
  E.N.S.T.A  32 Boulevard Victor  muguet at ensta.fr
  75739 PARIS CEDEX FRANCE
  (33) 01.45.52.60.19 -- Fax: (33) 01.45.52.52.82

  WSIS  World Summit on the Information Society
  Chair Scientific Information WG http://www.wsis-si.org
  Co-chair Patents & Copyrights WG htt://www.wsis-pct.org

  Multi-Stakeholders UN agency proposal  http://www.unmsp.org

  WTIS World Tour of the Information Society
  http://www.wtis.org  muguet at wtis;org
-----------------------------------------------------------

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