[WSIS CS-Plenary] Implementation and follow up statement Version 3

[Nnenna]

Dear all
 
Please find below the statement that will be read this afternoon after incorporating the different contributions received.
 
Nnenna
 
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

Statement on behalf of Civil society Working group 
on WSIS Implementation and Follow-up

Sub-Committee B – WSIS PrepCom3 – Sept 20, 2005

(V3)

 

 

 

In November, the Summit itself will be over. Geneva produced valuable Principles and a comprehensive Agenda for Action. Tunis must now produce an innovative and inclusive follow-up framework that lives up to the challenge. This framework must be both effective and flexible. 

 

It is not efficient enough to merely encourage actors to keep doing what they have always done. The present GFC draft is much too weak. We all need stronger commitments from governments and more enabling mechanisms. 

 

Flexibility is the second criterion : nobody wants a heavy architecture, cast in iron, but rather an enabling framework. We must avoid generating a rigid, hierarchical and top-down mechanism that could stifle initiatives and establish control under the guise of coordination. 

 

In this first meeting of Sub Committee B, and before a decision is made on which document or model discussions will be based upon, we want to outline the following key elements that any framework must contain to be efficient and flexible.

 

1)            Any framework must reaffirm the key principles and values of the Geneva Declaration and Plan of Action, including among others :

-         Sustainable development and global solidarity

-         The respect of human rights and particularly freedom of expression and privacy

-         Women’s empowerment and gender equality

-         Non-discrimination

-         Cultural diversity and multilingualism

2)            Any framework should be based on a sincere multi-stakeholder approach, and we strongly oppose the deletion of the terms “full and effective” to qualify CS participation in the most recent GFC draft; 

3)            Any framework should address the national, regional and international levels but also organize the relations between them in the three dimensions of policy debate, implementation and evaluation; 

4)            Regular Review Meetings must be held to allow all actors to review progress in an open and multi-stakeholder format. This may mean more frequent and innovative formats beyond +5 and +10 Summits. It also means more than the insertion of a few paragraphs in an annual report by the Secretary General to Ecosoc or the UN GA  Frequency and convenors of such Thematic, Regional and Global review meetings should be defined with full and effective participation of civil society;

5)            Any framework should enable the progressive grouping of issues in larger Thematic Clusters, taking into account, but not exclusively, the Geneva Action Lines;

6)            Any framework should encourage the formation of Thematic Multi-stakeholder Initiatives, ideally with a minimum of common criteria for their formation and  functioning;

7)            All international organizations, according to their mandate or geographical competence, should integrate in their own activities the outcomes of the WSIS and actively support and facilitate the Thematic Multi-stakeholder Initiatives that emerge;

8)            Governments should individually “pledge” to establish, at the national level, “multi-stakeholder implementation frameworks” to define e-strategies, facilitate concrete initiatives and provide open policy fora for debate;

9)            A space for Global Policy Debate is needed to handle issues emerging in a fast changing Information Society. It should build on lessons learned through the WSIS process and particularly the WGIG. Its setting up should take into account the result of negotiations in Sub-Committee A. 

10)        Finally, Resolution 57/270 B in no way prevents the WSIS to establish a specific and more efficient follow-up mechanism, as the 2003 report to the General Assembly on Resolution 57/270 has clearly established. 

 

The above key elements will guide our specific drafting amendments in the coming days. They will also be the benchmarks by which we will judge the Operational Part of the Tunis Document.

 

We sincerely thank the Chair for establishing this flexible and efficient mechanism for interaction in this Sub-Committee. 

 

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