[WSIS CS-Plenary] Civil Society Bureau meeting - 20 September

[wsis at iprolink.ch]

Dear all,

Just for your information, please find below a summary of the third meeting of
the CSB for WSIS PrepCom-3 (20 Sept., 14:00-15:00).

Best,

Philippe Dam


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Notes on Civil Society Bureau Meeting
21 sept.-05



2. Facilitate chairing at Plenary
CSB members discussed two issues raised by the morning¡¯s CS Plenary meeting:
¡ñ	Proposition of the organisation of an extraordinary Plenary meeting next week
to discuss and approve the text of the Plenary Charter.
¡ñ	Discussion about the relations between civil society and the CCBI.
Report would be given to the next Plenary about this discussion at the CSB.

4. Press Conference(s)
CSB members discussed on the basis of recently available information from the UN
media services that 20 minutes would be allocated to civil society press
conferences in the official press agenda. A space in the civil society area
should be considered for any additional contact with the press. CSB members
agreed that this should be raised as a matter of clarification with the WSIS ES
and the organizers of the Summit.

5. Agenda for B2B meetings
The CSB essentially focused its meeting on the compilation of a series of issues
to be raised during the Meeting with the Governmental Bureau to be held on
Wednesday 21 September. The CSB amended the proposed draft and agreed on the
content of the Civil Society Discussion Points. It includes concerns related
to:
¡ñ	Multi-stakeholder approach;
¡ñ	Connectivity at WSIS Tunis, focusing on the free aspect of the connexion;
¡ñ	Documentation and press conferences, as a note to draw the attention of the
Bureau;
¡ñ	Final Documents: civil society must keep the possibility of a separate civil
society document, if the final governmental document would not reflect the
views of civil society.
¡ñ	Financing of civil society, not only focusing of Tunisian pledge and calling
for complementary contributions.
¡ñ	Attention should be also drawn on other issues to be discussed with the WSIS
ES and the organisers of the Summit, such as visas, importation of documents,
immunity and host country agreement.

10. Preparations for and logistics at Tunis Summit
Clarification should be made to better inform civil society participants on the
documents policy and process for the PrepCom-3, including informing civil
society participants on the provisions of Article 57 (ECOSOC Res. 1996/31). The
CSB decided a presentation would be made during a next CS Plenary meeting. In
addition, more information should be requested as regards Tunis Summit¡¯s
policy document.



Below: Civil Society Discussion Points presented to the WSIS inter-governmental
Bureau.

There would be no CSB meeting on Wednesday 21 September since the CSB would meet
with the WSIS Governmental Bureau.


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Civil Society Discussion Points
Tunis Summit Preparations & the WSIS Implementation Phase

Presented at PrepCom 3, September 2005
to the WSIS Inter-Governmental Bureau

This note follows and builds on the document submitted to the Inter-Governmental
Bureau, by the Civil Society Bureau, shortly after PrepCom 2. This note is
framed within the mandate of the Civil Society Bureau which is to manage
matters of logistics and procedures. Matters of content and themes are dealt
with at the daily Content and Themes meeting of the civil society plenary.


1.  Mutli-Stakholder Approach

We appreciate the interaction at Bureau level, which is enabled in the context
of PrepComs, and hope this can be continued beyond the WSIS process, within the
framework of any post WSIS mechanisms. We look forward to being informed of
Government Bureau decisions and to future meaningful interaction.

Previously we requested active engagement in the decision thinking and decision
making stages of preparation for the Summit. Although we acknowledge that our
input has been received, considered and in several aspects, acted upon, we
strongly submit that we have expertise and a complementary perspective that has
not been fully realised through face-to-face participation. We reiterate this
request and offer an assurance that Civil Society has the capacity to self
organise appropriate and highly skilled representation in this regard.



Having said that, Civil Society is concerned that there is an erosion of
commitment to the much-lauded multi-stakeholder approach for which WSIS has
been acclaimed. Although the spirit remains in the WSIS process, we are
concerned that it is gradually and subtly being eroded in practise and in
texts. There is as yet, no clear commitment to its continuation within WSIS
follow up. Multi-stakeholder process is a significant achievement within WSIS,
and stands as a model for other UN negotiations. We ask the Inter-Governmental
Bureau to promote it in WSIS related formats and more broadly as a mechanism
for global governance.


2. Connectivity at WSIS, Tunis


Internet Access:



We appreciate that Internet access will be available at the Summit. Internet
access is a basic tool of work for civil society, indeed for the Information
and knowledge societies that we are constructing. The high cost of connectivity
at the Geneva Summit was a severe impediment to the work of civil society. The
travel and accommodation costs of participation for civil society members are
already high and we ask for your support in ensuring that additional costs are
minimised.


Virtual Participation and Meeting Spaces:


There is a high level of interest in virtual participation that we believe must
be catered for. We reiterate our request for all key meetings and events to be
organised to enable virtual participation by interested parties who will not be
able to attend the Summit in person.


3. Documentation and Press Conferences

Press conferences:

We bring to your attention the allocation of daily press conference time at the
Summit, for civil society. This is a very positive indication that different
actors in the WSIS process are implementing the multi-stakeholder process and
enabling a plurality of voices to express their diverse interpretations of
information and knowledge societies. We commend the ITU Communications
Department.


4. Final Summit Documents


Civil Society seeks Summit outcome documents that reflect the views of all
parties to the negotiations. We recognise that any other outcome would diminish
the climate of multi-stakeholder process. We note that some of our ideas have
been included in texts to date, and will continue to seek a process that moves
our input to impact. We have not taken a decision to develop a separate text.
However, we still reserve the possibility, that should our input not be clearly
reflected in a multi-stakeholder document, of issuing a separate document. In
this event, we would like such a document to be appended, as in Phase 1 of
WSIS, to the Summit Declaration. Additionally, in the event of a separate
document from Civil Society being produced, we request a specific time to
present this to the Government plenary at the Summit.



5. Financing of Civil Society


The matter of financing Civil Society participation needs to be planned and
catered for with adequate time to prepare quality outcomes. Civil Society
participants seek assistance in advance on two levels ¨C that of fellowships
for attendance and participation and for events and projects that will enable
innovation in the exhibition and parallel event platforms. We ask that neutral
institutions such as UN-NGLS distribute all funding for civil society.



In particular civil society requests information on the commitment by the
Tunisian Government of 400,000 Dinars for civil society participation. We
applaud this allocation but call for urgent information on how this fund will
be used in relation to travel, accommodation and subsistence and how it will be
announced and distributed. We understand this fund will be targeted to support
participants from least developed countries and young people. We call for it to
include support for people in developing nations, especially those who have been
active in the WSIS process.



We call upon other governments to follow the lead of the Tunisian Government and
make complementary allocations to civil society participation.



7. Regional Follow up to WSIS



We ask the Inter-governmental Bureau to call upon Governments to facilitate and
support future regional Information and knowledge societies events that arise
from the WSIS process. We ask that the right of freedom of assembly be ensured
for such meetings, before, during and after the Tunis Summit.



8. Liaison with WSIS Executive Secretariat



Civil Society has additional items to raise that relate to the logistics of the
Summit. These include matters of visas, document importation and immunity,
which we understand will be covered by the host country agreement. We
appreciate and acknowledge the positive co-operation between civil society and
the Executive Secretariat and its commitment to informing civil society about
the host country agreement, which it is anticipated, will be signed during
PrepCom 3. In the light of this, these matters are not detailed in this
document.



9. Conclusion

In conclusion, we thank you again for this forum and warmly welcome your
response and feedback on both the matters in this note and on any other matters
relating to civil society that you would wish to express.



Verbal presentation of above by Tracey Naughton, Chair of the Civil Society
Bureau

PrepCom 3 September 20th, 2005