WSIS ‘in turmoil’

October 14th, 2003 | by aobaoill |

The latest edition of the GILC bulletin has a report on continued controversy around the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

The WSIS, which is being organized by the International Telecommunications Union under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), is supposed to foster discussion regarding the socio-economic impact of new technologies. The goal of the Summit is “to develop and foster a clear statement of political will and a concrete plan of action for achieving the goals of the Information Society, while fully reflecting all the different interests at stake.”
However, many groups have expressed concern over whether the Summit will pay sufficient attention to a number of issues, including human rights and the digital divide. These concerns have been heightened by two recent developments. For one thing, the organizers of the WSIS have excluded two human rights groups, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF-a GILC member) and Human Rights in China (HRIC), from participating in the summit. After being notified of this rejection, RSF secretary general Robert Menard questioned how the UN could “still expect to maintain the least credibility in the light of this kind of decision, which contravenes the most basic principles of freedom of expression.”
In addition to rejecting RSF and HRIC, the president of Tunisia (which will host the second phase of the WSIS in 2005) has appointed General Habib Ammar to head the preparatory committee for the 2005 gathering. General Ammar, who had previously served as Commander of the Tunisian National Guard and as Interior Minister, has been cited by human rights activists for his forces’ heavy use of torture against demonstrators and political opponents of the ruling regime. Numerous civil society organizations issued a joint statement expressing “stupor and indignation” about “the appointment by Tunisian President Ben Ali of General Habib Ammar. … The signatory organizations are already preoccupied by the decision to hold the second phase of WSIS in a country known for its serious violations of human rights and the rule of law. They consider that naming this military man … who has been denounced by the World Organization Against Torture for his activities, presents a real risk of compromising the proceedings of this Summit. This appointment has already tarnished the image of the WSIS and risks undermining the legitimacy of its outcome. The civil society organizations consider that the two principal objectives of the Summit, that is to say the struggle to overcome the digital divide and the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the information and communication society, cannot be dissociated from each other.”
These and other issues were hotly debated during a preparatory meeting held this past September. Due to these disagreements, summit organizers were forced to schedule an additional preparatory meeting for November 2004, just one month before the first WSIS phase (in Geneva) is to begin.
An < href="http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/hr-wsis/">archive of WSIS-related documents is available from the Imaginons un
Reseau Internet Solidaire (IRIS-a GILC member).
This report was originally published by GILC in their bulletin.

Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.