[Lac] version correcta ahora
Valeria Betancourt
valeriab at apc.org
Mon Sep 22 16:39:06 BST 2003
Amigos/as:
Por error les envie la version no depurada de la declaración de
sociedad civil en reacción a la declaración de la CMSI.
Disculpas!
Ahi va el texto final, aún en inglés.
Valeria
--------------------
Statement of the Civil Society in Response to the WSIS Draft
Declaration
Presentation to Sub-Committee 2, September 22nd.
We, representatives from civil society, express our grave concern in
response to the Draft Declaration issued on 19th September 2003.
The information society described in the document is characterized by
uniformity, technocracy and bargaining. It lacks any vision that is
people
and citizen centered: there is little or no mention of the poor,
workers
and marginalized groups including indigenous people, refugees, people
with
disabilities. The emphasis on diversity of peoples, cultures and ways
of
living is still far from sufficient. Our contributions throughout
this
process of shaping a common vision of an inclusive, democratic and
sustainable information society, have not been given serious
consideration.
We have two overarching concerns:
· Although the principles of the UDHR and the Millenium Development
Declaration are referred to prominently at the start of the
Declaration,
subsequent paragraphs do not demonstrate genuine commitment to
upholding
these principles in the realization of an Information Society.
Existing
rights, such as Article 19, should be quoted fully and affirmed
rather
than
cut up in pieces according to individual country preferences.
· Some core concerns have been formulated in ways that fundamentally
alter
their meaning, whilst others raised by civil society over the past 18
months have been removed.
Specifically:
1. Community media as a concept is missing from the document. This
indicates a complete disregard of the value of such alternative media
in
promoting public participation and strengthening cultural and
linguistic
diversity.
2. Literacy, education and research - fundamental components of the
information and knowledge society cannot be confined to one section
of
capacity building. Universal education is a key principle for
building a
participative society.
3. Capacity Building must include not only skills to use ICT`s but
also
include skills for creating, innovating and enabling active
citizenship.
It
should also recognize fundamental rights in the workplace and core
labour
standards for all who work in the Information Society.
4. The value and benefits of Free and Open Source Software are not
adequately recognized nor promoted in this document, thus undermining
their
real potential. These extend far beyond the concept of affordability.
5. The section on Enabling Environment speaks of a regulatory and
legislative environment that reinforces the advancement of a market-
driven
industry at the expense of the citizenry.
6. The reference to Intellectual Property Rights manipulates the
notion of
fair balance. It threatens innovation, the public domain, and
citizens
rights and promotes the further concentration of wealth and power in
the
hands of the resource rich. Legal environments and economic means
should
be
setup for Public libraries, schools and universities in order to
enrich
the
public domain and facilitate the free and open circulation of
scientific
publications.
7. The role of civil society in relation to Internet governance, is
completely negated whilst increased powers of control are extended to
governments and the private sector.
8. Discussions in relation to Building Confidence, Trust and Security
have
shifted to a highly politicized agenda, characterized by language
referring
to the integrity of the military field and the use of information
resources
for criminal and terrorist purposes. This is at the expense of
citizen's
rights including freedom of association, movement, expression, and
privacy.
9. References to women still fail to recognize them as key actors in
building an information society. The Declaration must avoid language
that
couches women as 'wards' and must focus on the importance of women as
primary change agents.
10. In addition, references to the role of the Information Society in
ensuring the furthering of commitments made in previous UN
conferences are
given little, if any, mention in this document.
The document as it currently stands reinforces the unequal balance of
powers and of development between and within nations, rather than
redressing it. We demand that governments maintain a strong human
development focus and prevent the growing control of international
governance processes by market-led forces.
This is not a document that Civil society can endorse and we question
the
degree of support that will emerge amongst all stakeholders.
As it stands, the current document will only succeed in reaching a
consensus amongst the elite.
----
Prepared by the Civil Society Content and Themes group, mandated by
the
Civil Society Plenary on 22nd September.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Valeria Betancourt
Coordinadora
Monitor de Políticas de TIC en América Latina y El Caribe
http://lac.derechos.apc.org
Tel: +593 (2) 2-234447 Fax: +593 (2) 2-559440
APC ~ La Asociación para el Progreso de las Comunicaciones
http://www.apc.org
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