Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Expectations
By Rebecca Wanjiku & Emrakeb Assefa, HIGHWAY Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA, June 23, 2004 Improved access to Information
Communication Technologies (ICTs), more discussion on Internet governance,
financing, and strengthening of African civil society are some of the
objectives that organizations attending WSIS preparatory committee are hoping
to achieve.
The question of Internet governance ruffled feathers in Geneva last December
with some countries challenging the role of the United States of America and
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in controlling
the Internet.
In this regard, Theresa Swinehart from ICANN hopes to participate in the process
and enlighten participants more about ICANN and its role in internet governance.
During the Geneva Phase of WSIS (Dec 10-12, 2003) participating governments
struggled to find an answer to bridging the digital divide, they invited the
United Nations to form an intergovernmental body to rival ICANN but the move
was later shelved.
But for Richard Buguma of the United Nations Association in Uganda, the issue of
Internet governance is not high on his agenda. He wants his government to
participate more in international meetings and the
people of Uganda to access ICTs such as FM radio or computers.
“You can’t govern what you don’t have. We must access computers first then start
talking about governance issues,” said Baguma.
Asked how he would achieve this objective, Buguma insisted that success lay in
strengthening of the African civil society caucus and working within the
community media thematic group.
Elsa Mapilele from United Nations Association in Mozambique hopes that by the
end of the three-day meting, issues of financing can be properly addressed. She
feels that all Africans should be in a position to access ICTs and reap its
benefits.
Being a member of the taskforce on ICTs and development, Mapilele hopes to get a
forum to address other participants on why Africa needs financial or technical
assistance to access ICTs and consequently bridge the digital divide.
While the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action adopted in Geneva may
have benefited through the involvement of civil society and business
organizations, it is hoped that the Tunis PrepCom
will move a step further down the line from principles to action.
Renate Bloem, president of Conference of NGOs (CONGO) hopes that the PrepCom
will be able to offer a practical approach and a forum to review the
achievements since last year’s Geneva summit.
“I am hoping to move from principles to action through practical approach. The
summit presents us with a tool to accelerate the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) by connecting people,” she added.
Saying that civil society organizations’ (CSOs) participation during the First
Phase in Geneva has been very active, Bloem, however, cautioned that NGOs need
to “build on the success we made in Geneva and advance further.”
She noted that the most promising aspect of the WSIS in Geneva from CSOs’
viewpoint was the agreement reached among governments, civil societies and
businesses to institute a multi-stakeholder approach
to bridge the gap in access to information and communications technologies
(ICTs) between developed and developing nations.
In January, the WSIS Executive Secretariat made an open call to organizations in
all sectors participating in the WSIS to forward information regarding
partnership initiatives to bridge the
digital divide.
According to the president, the partnerships should involve a range of actors in
a given area of work arranged among any combination of partners, including
governments, regional groups, local authorities,
non-governmental actors/civil society, international institutions and private
sector partners.
The initiative aims to reduce the vast inequality in access to information
technology which is “threatening to slow the formation of a truly global,
inclusive information society,” Bloem noted.
(0) comments
By Rebecca Wanjiku & Emrakeb Assefa, HIGHWAY Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA, June 23, 2004 Improved access to Information
Communication Technologies (ICTs), more discussion on Internet governance,
financing, and strengthening of African civil society are some of the
objectives that organizations attending WSIS preparatory committee are hoping
to achieve.
The question of Internet governance ruffled feathers in Geneva last December
with some countries challenging the role of the United States of America and
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in controlling
the Internet.
In this regard, Theresa Swinehart from ICANN hopes to participate in the process
and enlighten participants more about ICANN and its role in internet governance.
During the Geneva Phase of WSIS (Dec 10-12, 2003) participating governments
struggled to find an answer to bridging the digital divide, they invited the
United Nations to form an intergovernmental body to rival ICANN but the move
was later shelved.
But for Richard Buguma of the United Nations Association in Uganda, the issue of
Internet governance is not high on his agenda. He wants his government to
participate more in international meetings and the
people of Uganda to access ICTs such as FM radio or computers.
“You can’t govern what you don’t have. We must access computers first then start
talking about governance issues,” said Baguma.
Asked how he would achieve this objective, Buguma insisted that success lay in
strengthening of the African civil society caucus and working within the
community media thematic group.
Elsa Mapilele from United Nations Association in Mozambique hopes that by the
end of the three-day meting, issues of financing can be properly addressed. She
feels that all Africans should be in a position to access ICTs and reap its
benefits.
Being a member of the taskforce on ICTs and development, Mapilele hopes to get a
forum to address other participants on why Africa needs financial or technical
assistance to access ICTs and consequently bridge the digital divide.
While the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action adopted in Geneva may
have benefited through the involvement of civil society and business
organizations, it is hoped that the Tunis PrepCom
will move a step further down the line from principles to action.
Renate Bloem, president of Conference of NGOs (CONGO) hopes that the PrepCom
will be able to offer a practical approach and a forum to review the
achievements since last year’s Geneva summit.
“I am hoping to move from principles to action through practical approach. The
summit presents us with a tool to accelerate the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) by connecting people,” she added.
Saying that civil society organizations’ (CSOs) participation during the First
Phase in Geneva has been very active, Bloem, however, cautioned that NGOs need
to “build on the success we made in Geneva and advance further.”
She noted that the most promising aspect of the WSIS in Geneva from CSOs’
viewpoint was the agreement reached among governments, civil societies and
businesses to institute a multi-stakeholder approach
to bridge the gap in access to information and communications technologies
(ICTs) between developed and developing nations.
In January, the WSIS Executive Secretariat made an open call to organizations in
all sectors participating in the WSIS to forward information regarding
partnership initiatives to bridge the
digital divide.
According to the president, the partnerships should involve a range of actors in
a given area of work arranged among any combination of partners, including
governments, regional groups, local authorities,
non-governmental actors/civil society, international institutions and private
sector partners.
The initiative aims to reduce the vast inequality in access to information
technology which is “threatening to slow the formation of a truly global,
inclusive information society,” Bloem noted.
Opening session of civil society
By Steven Lang, Highway Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA. June 23, 2004 Civil society appears to be upbeat,
if slightly disorganized ahead of tomorrow’s preparatory meeting (Prepcom)
for the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
The loose grouping of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is meeting at
the Yasmine Hammamet conference centre to decide on strategies and positions
to adopt during the official meeting on the Tunisian coast.
The Civil Society session began half an hour late, as many representatives
had not factored in the 80km drive from Tunis airport to the resort town.
The opening session was used to bring up to speed representatives who had
not attended the first phase of the summit in Geneva or those who had not
been closely monitoring developments in the field.
Renate Bloem, president of the Conference of NGOs (CONGO), and chair of the
session explained that one of the most important tasks at hand was to decide
on how to use the time allocated to Civil Society during the plenary
sessions of the government meeting. Bloem said that so far, Civil Society
would have two 15-minute slots to address the government representatives.
She stressed the importance of making best using of the two slots, and said
that speakers should take great care not to overrun their allotted times.
The WSIS is one of a series of United Nations summits that began in the
1980s. The series includes the World Food Summit in Cairo, the Women’s
Summit in Beijing, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg and several others. The summits were called by the UN because
the focus of these meetings could not be incorporated in the normal workings
of the organization.
Each summit has its own rules that are normally drawn up and agreed to at
the first preparatory meeting, or Prepcom. The UN summits tend to have three
or four Prepcoms as well as a number of technical gatherings in the run-up
to the summit itself. It is also common practice to have at least one
regional Prepcom on each continent.
The WSIS meeting is the first in two phases – the first in Geneva in
December 2003 and the second is set for Tunis in November 2005. It is also
the first time Civil Society and the business lobby have been allowed to
make direct inputs into the governmental sessions.
UN summits are specifically for governments and all other organizations such
as business, NGOs and international organizations attend summits as
observers. Even the UN body responsible for organizing each summit is only
present in its capacity as an observer. In the case of both phases of the
WSIS, the International Telecommunications Union, (ITU) has been entrusted
with organizing the meetings.
Charles Geiger – deputy executive director the WSIS Executive Secretariat
said that the ITU, established in 1865, and responsible for allocating radio
frequencies has a long history of dealing with business. He admitted
however, that the ITU is still trying to work out how best to deal with
Civil Society.
Geiger said that at the first phase of WSIS in Geneva there were significant
breakthroughs in the relationship between governments and Civil Society.
These included a substantial input from Civil Society into the final Geneva
Declaration of Principles and a series of constructive meetings between the
Civil Society Bureau and the Summit Bureau.
Highway Africa reports from Tunis come courtesy of the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the
responsibility of Highway Africa.
(0) comments
By Steven Lang, Highway Africa News Agency (HANA)
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA. June 23, 2004 Civil society appears to be upbeat,
if slightly disorganized ahead of tomorrow’s preparatory meeting (Prepcom)
for the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
The loose grouping of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is meeting at
the Yasmine Hammamet conference centre to decide on strategies and positions
to adopt during the official meeting on the Tunisian coast.
The Civil Society session began half an hour late, as many representatives
had not factored in the 80km drive from Tunis airport to the resort town.
The opening session was used to bring up to speed representatives who had
not attended the first phase of the summit in Geneva or those who had not
been closely monitoring developments in the field.
Renate Bloem, president of the Conference of NGOs (CONGO), and chair of the
session explained that one of the most important tasks at hand was to decide
on how to use the time allocated to Civil Society during the plenary
sessions of the government meeting. Bloem said that so far, Civil Society
would have two 15-minute slots to address the government representatives.
She stressed the importance of making best using of the two slots, and said
that speakers should take great care not to overrun their allotted times.
The WSIS is one of a series of United Nations summits that began in the
1980s. The series includes the World Food Summit in Cairo, the Women’s
Summit in Beijing, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg and several others. The summits were called by the UN because
the focus of these meetings could not be incorporated in the normal workings
of the organization.
Each summit has its own rules that are normally drawn up and agreed to at
the first preparatory meeting, or Prepcom. The UN summits tend to have three
or four Prepcoms as well as a number of technical gatherings in the run-up
to the summit itself. It is also common practice to have at least one
regional Prepcom on each continent.
The WSIS meeting is the first in two phases – the first in Geneva in
December 2003 and the second is set for Tunis in November 2005. It is also
the first time Civil Society and the business lobby have been allowed to
make direct inputs into the governmental sessions.
UN summits are specifically for governments and all other organizations such
as business, NGOs and international organizations attend summits as
observers. Even the UN body responsible for organizing each summit is only
present in its capacity as an observer. In the case of both phases of the
WSIS, the International Telecommunications Union, (ITU) has been entrusted
with organizing the meetings.
Charles Geiger – deputy executive director the WSIS Executive Secretariat
said that the ITU, established in 1865, and responsible for allocating radio
frequencies has a long history of dealing with business. He admitted
however, that the ITU is still trying to work out how best to deal with
Civil Society.
Geiger said that at the first phase of WSIS in Geneva there were significant
breakthroughs in the relationship between governments and Civil Society.
These included a substantial input from Civil Society into the final Geneva
Declaration of Principles and a series of constructive meetings between the
Civil Society Bureau and the Summit Bureau.
Highway Africa reports from Tunis come courtesy of the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the
responsibility of Highway Africa.
African civil society participation at Tunisia PrepCom 1 critically low
By Emrakeb Assefa - Highway Africa News Agency
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA. June 23, 2004 Civil Society Organizations (CSO)
attending the First Preparatory Committee (PrepCom1) meeting of the Tunis
Phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) expressed today a
deep concern over the low level of African participation in the meeting.
“Representation of African civil society organizations is very poor, and the
number is so minimal as to be non-existent,” Baguma Tinkasimier Richard,
General Secretary of United Nations Association of Uganda, said, noting that
attending such meetings would be too expensive for most African NGOs. He
was one among the four sub-Saharan African NGOs currently participating in
the Civil Society caucus meeting, a pre-event to the PrepCom1 which will
open tomorrow here in Hammamet, Tunisia.
Charles Geiger, deputy executive director of the WSIS Executive Secretariat
also voiced a similar concern and blamed a lack of funding for the low
African attendance in the PrepCom one.
Geiger said, “We were concerned over the low level of participation from
Africa in the previous WSIS in Switzerland. But we are more worried now
because it has reached a critical point.” He believes the level of African
participation in the Tunisia phase would be even lower because Switzerland,
the host country of the first phase of WSIS, no longer provided financial
support to NGOs.
Meanwhile, Moncef Achour, seconded by the Tunisian government to serve as
Civil Society liaison with WSIS Executive Secretariat, admitted that African
participation was indeed limited, but his government is doing its level best
to overcome the financial problem. He promised that by PrepCom Two, which
is scheduled to take place in February, more finance would be made available
to the African NGOs to a grater representation.
The difficulty for African participants in the Tunisia Phase has been
further exacerbated by the practical problem of travelling. Several African
delegates arriving in Tunisia complained of the time consuming and
exhausting travel they had to endure in order to reach Tunisia.
“I have to travel over three continents before reaching Tunisia,” Baguma
Tinkasimier Richard complained, stating that on leaving Uganda he had to
make a 30-hour trip via Nairobi, Dubai and Paris. “Yet, Tunisia is on the
same continent as my country Uganda.”
The PrepCom 1 is the first of a series of PrepCom meetings to be held ahead
of the Second Phase of WSIS scheduled to be take place in mid November in
Tunis. WSIS is the first UN Summit to be held in two phases to address the
issue of Information Society. The First Phase, which was held from 10-12
December 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland, closed with governments endorsing
declaration of principles and plan of action, documents aiming to address
the issue of bridging the digital divide between developing and developed
world.
=================================================
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely
the responsibility of Highway Africa.
(0) comments
By Emrakeb Assefa - Highway Africa News Agency
YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA. June 23, 2004 Civil Society Organizations (CSO)
attending the First Preparatory Committee (PrepCom1) meeting of the Tunis
Phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) expressed today a
deep concern over the low level of African participation in the meeting.
“Representation of African civil society organizations is very poor, and the
number is so minimal as to be non-existent,” Baguma Tinkasimier Richard,
General Secretary of United Nations Association of Uganda, said, noting that
attending such meetings would be too expensive for most African NGOs. He
was one among the four sub-Saharan African NGOs currently participating in
the Civil Society caucus meeting, a pre-event to the PrepCom1 which will
open tomorrow here in Hammamet, Tunisia.
Charles Geiger, deputy executive director of the WSIS Executive Secretariat
also voiced a similar concern and blamed a lack of funding for the low
African attendance in the PrepCom one.
Geiger said, “We were concerned over the low level of participation from
Africa in the previous WSIS in Switzerland. But we are more worried now
because it has reached a critical point.” He believes the level of African
participation in the Tunisia phase would be even lower because Switzerland,
the host country of the first phase of WSIS, no longer provided financial
support to NGOs.
Meanwhile, Moncef Achour, seconded by the Tunisian government to serve as
Civil Society liaison with WSIS Executive Secretariat, admitted that African
participation was indeed limited, but his government is doing its level best
to overcome the financial problem. He promised that by PrepCom Two, which
is scheduled to take place in February, more finance would be made available
to the African NGOs to a grater representation.
The difficulty for African participants in the Tunisia Phase has been
further exacerbated by the practical problem of travelling. Several African
delegates arriving in Tunisia complained of the time consuming and
exhausting travel they had to endure in order to reach Tunisia.
“I have to travel over three continents before reaching Tunisia,” Baguma
Tinkasimier Richard complained, stating that on leaving Uganda he had to
make a 30-hour trip via Nairobi, Dubai and Paris. “Yet, Tunisia is on the
same continent as my country Uganda.”
The PrepCom 1 is the first of a series of PrepCom meetings to be held ahead
of the Second Phase of WSIS scheduled to be take place in mid November in
Tunis. WSIS is the first UN Summit to be held in two phases to address the
issue of Information Society. The First Phase, which was held from 10-12
December 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland, closed with governments endorsing
declaration of principles and plan of action, documents aiming to address
the issue of bridging the digital divide between developing and developed
world.
=================================================
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely
the responsibility of Highway Africa.
