[WSIS CS-Plenary] CSB Minutes - 27 September

[wsis at iprolink.ch]

Dear all,

Just for your information, please find below a summary of the CSB meeting held
on yesterday(27 Sept., 14:00-15:00).

CSB Agenda:

 1. Roll Call
 2. Chairing of CSB and facilitate chairing at Plenary
 3. Speaker at CS slots
 4. Press conference(s)
 5. Agenda for B2B meetings
 6. Side events at PrepCom
 7. Mediation
 8. CS Speakers for Tunis Summit
 9. Criteria for Overpasses
10. Preparations for and logistics at Tunis Summit
11. Any Other Business


Best,

Philippe Dam


=======

Notes on Civil Society Bureau Meeting
27 Sept.-05


Participants:

- Titilayo Akisanmi
- Amir Barmaki
- Tijani Ben Jemaa
- Renate Bloem
- Bertrand de la Chapelle
- Divina Frau-Meigs
- Ann-Kristin Hakansson
- Hiroshi Kawamura
- Wolfgang Kleinwaechter
- Viola Krebs
- Francis Muguet
- Delphine Nana
- Tracey Naughton
- Joseph Sarr
- Tatjana (multi-stakeholder caucus)
- Moncef Achour (ex-officio)
- Ramin Kaweh (ex-officio)
- Mohamed Elyes Ben Marzouk (ex-officio)


6. Side events at PrepCom
Several Bureau Members emphasized with great concern the persisting tensions
between several groupings of civil society entities, referring to the conflicts
prevailing during a side event organised on Monday. It was reported that State
delegations complained about the situation during this meeting. A CSB member
proposed this should be discussed within the Bureau.

10. Preparations for and logistics at Tunis Summit
Mr. Charles Geiger, Executive Director of WSIS, and Ambassador Samir Labidi,
Permanent Representative of Tunisia, addressed the CSB to answer specific
questions related to the organisation of Tunis Summit.
¡ñ	Host Country Agreement ¨C Charles Geiger proposed that Articles 1 to 4 would
be shared with civil society representatives, if Ambassador Labidi agreed to
disclose some provisions specifically relevant to civil society, since it was
in the practice of ITU to distribute this information. Charles Geiger agreed to
present this to the CTG meeting.
¡ñ	Importation of documents in Tunis ¨C Mr. Geiger explained that the documents
policy would be decided by Mr. Utsumi, with very detailed guidelines. Practical
information would be made available soon. Charles Geiger said various options
are being explored, such as via UNDP.
¡ñ	Personal data and privacy ¨C Further to the concerns expressed by CSB
members, Mr. Geiger guaranteed that this was a major priority for the ITU. The
opportunity of a privacy policy document would indeed be explored by the WSIS
ES. RFID would be used and outsourced to the company that did the Athens
Olympic. Data would be wiped each night. People would be recorded as entered
but not traded.
¡ñ	Fellowships ¨C Mr. Labidi made it very clear that the pledged 400.000 Dinars
for civil society participation would be managed by the Tunisian government.
CSB members emphasized that the Summit would take place within two months so
that detailed indications on procedures, guidelines and criteria should
urgently be made available. Mr. Labidi stated that priority would be given to
participants from LDCs and developing countries, noting that a more elaborated
document would be published very soon on the Host Country Website.
¡ñ	Access for people with disability ¨C Mr. Labidi ensured that Tunisian
accommodation facilities and administrative buildings are fully equipped for
facilitating access to people with disability. He committed himself to give
some contact points for further information on this issue.
¡ñ	Visas ¨C Efforts were made so that all airport authorities be informed to
facilitate transit of participants. In addition, Mr. Labidi announced that visa
would be free.
¡ñ	WiFi connection ¨C Mr. Labidi clearly announced that wireless connection
during the Summit would be free.

In a general way, CSB members regretted that information was scarcely available
for the logistical preparation of Tunis Summit, whereas there were many
requests in that direction within civil society participants. Mr. Labidi stated
that the Tunisian mission in Geneva is open to answer specific inquiries about
the organisation of the Summit, and asserted that a list of contact point for
specific issues could be made available within a very few days, to facilitate
the interaction with the host country organisers.

11. Any Other Business

Spontaneous meetings of CS like-minded groups
Several Bureau members asked at the beginning of the meeting why some CS
participants have been thrown out of a room during an informal discussion.
Moncef Achour, WSIS ES NGO Liaison Officer, clarified the situation, explaining
that no official room request was formulated by the organisers of this meeting,
so that this incident was only related to a question of procedure but was not
motivated by political motivation. Later on Mr. Charles Geiger, WSIS Executive
Director, noting that this specific situation has not been handled at the best,
added that he took himself the decision to discontinue this non-announced
meeting, and advised that meetings should be requested in advance.

However, several CSB members expressed their concerns on this situation,
particularly in terms of possibility for like-minded civil society groups to
hold spontaneous meetings in the framework of the PrepCom, so that this point
should be discussed and further explored within the Bureau. The CSB requested
to ensure that all meetings could be held in a proper way, following the
procedures, and that freedom of assembly is respected by the WSIS ES.

Civil society participation in drafting groups
At the end of the meeting, Francis Muguet presented a draft statement to propose
Rules of Procedure for CS CS participation in drafting groups. He asked the
Bureau if they would endorse the statement or if should present it as a
personal intervention. This raised a discussion on what the appropriate CS
organ to deal with this was and it was agreed that the CS Bureau could not
discuss the paper before it had been presented at the CS Plenary. It was agreed
that Muguet could present his proposition at the CTG meeting and then it would
be up to Wednesday morning¡¯s Plenary to make a decision on it.

In relation to Francis Muguet¡¯s proposition, it was noted that CS shall be
careful with written statements as it can be used by governments later, but at
the same time, we shall try to be as clear as possible for the purpose of
future summits. In addition to this, it was noted that it is very important
that the guidelines for the CS organs would be approved before the end of
PrepCom-3.



Next CSB meeting would be held on Wednesday 28 September (14:00-15:00).