[WSIS CS-Plenary] ITU reform and WSIS - CS

Thu Jan 26 21:18:18 GMT 2006

Dear Parminder, dear Francis and all
Many thanks for your valuable yet spontaneous content of your message.
I think it raises at least a main point : the ITU internal rules and functioning principles. These are enshrined in its Constitution and need an intergouvernmental consensus -i.e. the Plenipotentiary Conference agreement- to be modified or even updated ( I mean with regard to WSIS). Therefore any kind of CS participation in ITU activities and bodies is to be decided by gouvenments and not by lobbying in or around the "tower", I'm sorry for those of us who believe in fairy tales ... If lobbying is to be envisaged it has to be undertaken on a very broad gouvernmental basis, by CS activists trying to convince their own gouvernment's representatives at the "Plenipo" or, if that applies, their representatives at the ITU Council. This latter could be more "flexible" to the idea of accepting the principle of CS organisations as possible ITU Members (on which criteria ?). In this case the Plenipo has the last word and final decision.     
If you understand a little bit (or even more) french language, please visit CSDPTT's website www.csdptt.org where you'll find -FREE OF CHARGE- a complete document upon ITU worked out by myself as a former ITU Senior consultant and Project coordinator (L'UIT; la vieille dame des télécommunications"). So it's an insider analysys of its bodies, its rules and its drifts, some of which were very unhappy, mainly in the Development Sector.
But I'd also recall that during the whole WSIS process and since its very beginning, CSDPTT was the only CS organisation that put the inevitable ITU reform in the foreground, but never got any support from the CS federating bodies (Plenary, C&T, CONGO, ...). Moreover, CSDPTT did numerous proposals on its own on this subject to the intergouvernemental plenaries or its specific working groups. I tried to keep the CS bodies informed of these proposals, but even in our Geneva Declaration I had some trouble when I drafted the paragraph on Internetionel cooperation and multilateralism where the ITU was the focal issue. 
At last, during PrepCom-3 and the GFC meeeting before the Tunis Summit, I once more submitted CSDPTT's detailed proposals for a deep ITU reform to Mr Utsumi. My suggestions I formulated from my seat in Room XXII just close to Mr Houlin Zhao, the ITU Telecoms Standardization Bueau Director, were rather welcomed by the latter. They concerned the enlargment of ITU activities in the framework of the WSIS, an enhancement of its financial income in-phase with the WSIS decisions upon its role in the follow-up process, the place for CS organizations as plain ITU members in return of the CS commitment and action for achieving the Geneva Action Plan objectves, the creation of an ITU Voluntary Corps, etc...
Therefore I'll put these last proposals to the ITU Reform dedicated website ; they will be in french for obvious reasons. I hope you'll read them and give your opinion each one. Maybe CS will be able at last to demonstrate a common understanding and to propose a common text to be submitted to the next ITU Council, or even better, to the next Plenipotentiary Conference which takes place in November in Antalya (Turquey), because this is the place where essential decisions can be taken as it is the case for CS membership in the ITU.
Best regards
Jean-Louis Fullsack

> Message du 26/01/06 16:11
> De : "Parminder" 
> A : plenary at wsis-cs.org
> Copie à : governance at lists.cpsr.org
> Objet : [WSIS CS-Plenary] ITU reform and WSIS - CS
> 
> 

Hi Everybody, 

Philippe, thanks for the information on ITU meeting on possible reform vis-à-vis WSIS.

I think this is an important time for WSIS – CS to take up some important post WSIS advocacy work.

ITU lobbied hard to be the main body for WSIS implementation, and has been able to get itself named as ‘possible coordinator’ for most of the action lines.  ( see Annex to Tunis agenda). So it is important for us to watch now how ITU acts, and reforms. And though its membership policies have been quite exclusionary for CS, by taking up WSIS implementation roles ITU has certainly made itself accountable to the CS associated with the WSIS (and outside).

So, I went to the link in your mail for open online consultation and found only one message posted there.  Since the physical processes of the ITU meeting will be closed to us, we need to use the online platform to voice our concerns. 

Yesterday, I posted the following message on the online consultation but I still do not find it listed after 24 hours (the consultation is moderated). So I thought I will share it with the list.

(posting begins)
I am unable to understand how does ITU reconcile its role in initiating and hosting the WSIS, and also being the 'possible moderator' of the action line on 'access to information and knowledge' (tunis agenda), with complete non-compliance of the WSIS recommendation on 'access to information and knowledge'. 

The relevant part of Geneva Pan of Action (10 i) reads - 'Encourage initiatives to facilitate access, including free and affordable access to open access journals and books, and open archives for scientific information.'

ITU publications which are of great value for organizations like ours that do research on ICT and ICTD issues are not only priced, the prices are exorbitant.

Even a download of the WSIS Stock-taking report, prepared from information gathered 'free' from various stakeholders on various WSIS related initiatives is priced.
(ends)

What is interesting is that the same WSIS stock-taking report is available for free download from the WSIS website.

So, the WSIS practices that ITU (temporarily?) adopted with regard to WSIS are clearly quite different from standard ITU processes. The question is – now that WSIS is over, which processes will ITU carry forward. And what influence it will have on WSIS implementation since ITU has maneuvered itself into a driving seat for this purpose.

(The fact that 2003 Geneva POA does not seem to be implemented internally by ITU, in terms of open access, and that was the time when the WSIS spot-light was on, does not give us much confidence that ITU will reform according to the WSIS letter and spirit.) 

And there some other things which are as funny about ITU’s WSIS schizophrenia. 

While it calls the above to be an open consultations with stakeholders on ITU reform, and also lists ITU resolution 1244 as the main document on ITU reform, when you try to open the link to this doc you reach a page beyond which you need an ITU membership id. So, basically one cannot access this document. But this is supposed to be an open forum for people to give inputs on the forthcoming meeting on ITU reform for which this particular document is a base document…. 

Is this a joke or something !!!! 
(see http://www.itu.int/reform/index.html )

However, I could read the document by following the link on Philippe’s email – so apparently the same doc is freely accessible on WSIS website – but on the ITU website right on the page that is devoted to ‘open online consultation’ access to this document is restricted. 

So we have an ITU which has some very bad internal practices which militate against all that WSIS stands for and all that CS fought for at WSIS ( these though are really the very basic things, but if this is how ITU behaves on these basic issues, what confidence do we have on it leading WSIS implementation)

And of course there is also the often raised issue of CS membership of ITU.

I propose that WSIS-CS, as represented through this list, makes a representation to the 1st Feb meeting raising these serious concerns. And ITU got to listen to us, because it means to reform itself as per WSIS outcomes. It has no excuse not to engage with the WSIS-CS. 

For this purpose

1.    we can submit a short statement to the Feb 1 meeting raising concerns on the issues of ITU membership for CS entities, and on its poor record on ‘open access’ principle recommended by WSIS outcome documents. We can ask for greater CS inclusiveness for ITU activities, and urge ITU to immediately apply open access principle to its documents, as a proof of its intention to implement WSIS in letter and spirit.

2.    we can also use the period available till 30th to put a few posting to this effect on the open online forum for the forthcoming ITU meeting which will consider the reform agenda. (at http://www.itu.int/reform/index.html) 

best regards

Parminder

________________________________________________
Parminder Jeet Singh
IT for Change
Bridging Development Realities and Technological Possibilities 
91-80-26654134
www.ITforChange.net 

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:    [CS Bureau] On-line Consultation on ITU Reform
Date:       Mon, 23 Jan 2006 17:31:02 +0100
From:       CONGO - Philippe Dam 
Organization:     CONGO
To:   , 
CC:   , 

Dear all,

Just for your information, I’d like to draw your attention to the
*on-line consultation* organised on the ITU website, on the issue of the
*ITU reform* in the perspective of WSIS follow-up. NGOs, including
non-ITU members, and academicians can participate. ITU* *mentioned that*
deadline for on-line input is 25 January*.

This on-line consultation is intended to provide ground for the ITU
Reform Meeting (convened by the ITU Council WG on WSIS) to be held on
the 1st February 2006.

More information at: http://www.itu.int/reform/index.html

ITU Council Resolution 1244:
http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/background/resolutions/itu2005/1244.doc

Best regards,

*Philippe Dam
******11, Avenue de **la Paix**
CH-1202 **Geneva**
Tel: +41 22 301 1000
Fax: +41 22 301 2000
E-mail: **wsis at ngocongo.org* *
Website: **www.ngocongo.org ** *

* *

*The Conference of NGOs (**CONGO) is an international, membership
association that facilitates the participation of NGOs in United Nations
debates and decisions. Founded in 1948, CONGO's major objective is to
ensure the presence of NGOs in exchanges among the world's governments
and United Nations agencies on issues of global concern.  For more
information see our website at www.ngocongo.org
***

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