[WSIS CS-Plenary] Press release (final)

[sburch at alainet.org]

Civil Society Press release 
26 September 2003

WSIS - PrepCom III

Civil Society announces today that if governments continue to exclude our 
principles, we will not lend legitimacy to the final official WSIS documents.

Civil society is already shaping information societies to achieve social, 
cultural, educational, political, and economic benefits for all. Communication 
rights embedded in human rights should be the framework for Information and 
Communication Societies.  Human rights must be the framework for information 
societies. Without this, the WSIS vision of “an information society” is 
meaningless.

In the WSIS process, we have seen that, thus far, our main principles are not 
reflected in the results. Even though the process has been frustrating and 
inconsistent, with civil society included and excluded at the whim of 
governments, our experience has been one of closer engagement than has been 
the case at other United Nations conferences.  We hope that this is an 
experience that can be built on to ensure much closer involvement of civil 
society in the design and development of information societies.

While the spirit of the documents is market focused, civil society and some 
governments, especially from the south, will continue to support the rights of 
citizenship and promote the concept of cooperation instead of competition. 
Even if the outcomes of the WSIS do not reflect, at the end of the process, 
our principles, visions and perspectives, we will continue to be key actors in 
the definition of the nature and direction of information societies, one whose 
focus would be people’s rights. We will insist that the proposal of the WSIS 
includes our priorities such as development and justice for the south, human 
rights, gender equity, community media, education, public goods, free software 
and open access to scientific and technological information, privacy, 
democratic and transparent internet governance, cultural and linguistic 
diversity, excluded minorities, indigenous people, people with disabilities, 
labour rights, etc. 

We now have a stronger position, because as the days have progressed 
meaningful communication has emerged. But much remains to be done.  For our 
part, civil society, we are now in the process of drafting a framework 
document that will lay down our vision of inclusive, participatory, 
sustainable, equitable and just information societies. 

The civil society appreciates the role and contribution of the Swiss 
government as the host and also its support to civil society in this process.  
We also request the other governments to follow the Swiss government in this 
initiative. 




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