Thursday, June 24, 2004
UN Fund for civil society participation in WSIS in the offing
By Emrakeb Assefa, Highway Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA. June 24, 2004 Tunisia called today for the establishment of a permanent United Nations Fund to ensure a wider participation of international civil society in the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), and to help build their efforts in bridging the digital divide between the developing and developed countries.
Formally opening the WSIS preparatory meeting, Mr. Sadok Rabah, minister of communication technologies and transport of Tunisia said that since Civil Society constitutes an essential element in building an ‘inclusive’ information society, the international community should ensure their participation at all the stages of preparations for the Tunis summit in 2005.
“Keen on ensuring a wider participation for the civil society, Tunisia calls for the establishment of a permanent United Nations Fund,” he told the gathering attending the First Preparatory Committee meeting (PrepCom1) in Hammamet, Tunisia from 24-26 June 2004.
The Fund would finance the activities of international Civil Society in relation to the organization of WSIS. It would also provide support and assistance to projects and programs that link ICT applications rapid economic development.
Rabah announced today that his country has made a contribution of 400 000 Dinar (U$ 380 000) to provide assistance to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Least Developed Countries. Efforts will be made to give especial attention to NGOs concerned with the disabled, with women and children, he added.
Yoshio Utsumi, secretary general of International Telecommunications Union (ITU), noting that this meeting was the first preparatory committee session outside Geneva, said, it “symbolizes the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the WSIS process.”
“We are building the bridges to connect different peoples across geographical, knowledge and information divides. We are beginning to connect the dots embedded in the WSIS Action Plan that will form a truly inclusive and equitable Information Society,” he said.
However, it is worth noting that “the migration of WSIS from North to South” did not result from a UN decision to be fair to developing countries. Both Rabah and Utsumi stated that Tunisia was given the chance to host the Summit as it initially proposed an information society summit in 1998.
The first phase of the WSIS, which took place in December 2003 in Geneva Switzerland closed with the adoption of the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action by 175 countries. The Geneva phase of the Summit is said to have been a success for bringing to the attention of the global political leadership to the growing digital divide in the world and the importance of ICTs for development.
The Tunis phase, which began today and will close with the summit in November 2005, is expected to extract commitments from governments and to provide solutions for the implementation of the two documents endorsed at the Geneva summit. As Utsumi noted, this phase is to be ‘the summit of solutions” and will signify a “transit from mere declaration to real actions.”
By Emrakeb Assefa, Highway Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA. June 24, 2004 Tunisia called today for the establishment of a permanent United Nations Fund to ensure a wider participation of international civil society in the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), and to help build their efforts in bridging the digital divide between the developing and developed countries.
Formally opening the WSIS preparatory meeting, Mr. Sadok Rabah, minister of communication technologies and transport of Tunisia said that since Civil Society constitutes an essential element in building an ‘inclusive’ information society, the international community should ensure their participation at all the stages of preparations for the Tunis summit in 2005.
“Keen on ensuring a wider participation for the civil society, Tunisia calls for the establishment of a permanent United Nations Fund,” he told the gathering attending the First Preparatory Committee meeting (PrepCom1) in Hammamet, Tunisia from 24-26 June 2004.
The Fund would finance the activities of international Civil Society in relation to the organization of WSIS. It would also provide support and assistance to projects and programs that link ICT applications rapid economic development.
Rabah announced today that his country has made a contribution of 400 000 Dinar (U$ 380 000) to provide assistance to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Least Developed Countries. Efforts will be made to give especial attention to NGOs concerned with the disabled, with women and children, he added.
Yoshio Utsumi, secretary general of International Telecommunications Union (ITU), noting that this meeting was the first preparatory committee session outside Geneva, said, it “symbolizes the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the WSIS process.”
“We are building the bridges to connect different peoples across geographical, knowledge and information divides. We are beginning to connect the dots embedded in the WSIS Action Plan that will form a truly inclusive and equitable Information Society,” he said.
However, it is worth noting that “the migration of WSIS from North to South” did not result from a UN decision to be fair to developing countries. Both Rabah and Utsumi stated that Tunisia was given the chance to host the Summit as it initially proposed an information society summit in 1998.
The first phase of the WSIS, which took place in December 2003 in Geneva Switzerland closed with the adoption of the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action by 175 countries. The Geneva phase of the Summit is said to have been a success for bringing to the attention of the global political leadership to the growing digital divide in the world and the importance of ICTs for development.
The Tunis phase, which began today and will close with the summit in November 2005, is expected to extract commitments from governments and to provide solutions for the implementation of the two documents endorsed at the Geneva summit. As Utsumi noted, this phase is to be ‘the summit of solutions” and will signify a “transit from mere declaration to real actions.”
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