Online Forum for Civil Society's Preparation of World Summit on the Information Society
03-12-2002 ()
An online discussion forum for non-governmental organizations and civil society to discuss their input in the Final Declarations of the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS; Geneva 2003, Tunis 2005) will be held on UNESCO's website at wsisforum.unesco.org from 9 December 2002 to 15 January 2003.
The Forum that will be chaired by Monique Fouilhoux, President of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee, will discuss eight themes: General Discussion, Access, Development and Empowerment, Content Issues, Education, Training and Research, Rights, Future Developments of Information Technologies, Civil Society in WSIS and Beyond.
The forum is open for all members of non-governmental organizations and civil society.
Proposals to be included in the drafts of the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action that result from the Forum will be transmitted to the WSIS Executive Secretariat for submission at Prepcom II (17-28 February 2003).
The decision to organize the Forum was taken by representatives of non-governmental organizations and civil society at a preparatory meeting at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, on 27 and 28 November 2002.
At the meeting, Adama Samassékou, President of the WSIS Preparatory Committee, highlighted the essential contributions that non-governmental organizations and civil society can make to the Summit and its follow-up.
Speaking at the Opening of the meeting, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said that UNESCO is well-positioned to bring quite diverse constituencies into the Summit process and, indeed, to act as a bridge linking civil society, governments, professional groups and users.
UNESCO, he stated, wishes to ensure that the Summit addresses questions that go beyond ‘access’ in technical or infrastructural terms: “After all, the access in question is really about full access to society; more than this, it is about the capacity to influence the kind of society being generated by large-scale technological and economic forces”. The desire to enlarge the Summit’s agenda to take account of important issues of intellectual and ethical debate is something that UNESCO shares with civil society. “The narrowing of cultural as well as technological divides is something we must all strive for”, said the Director-General.
The forum is open for all members of non-governmental organizations and civil society.
Proposals to be included in the drafts of the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action that result from the Forum will be transmitted to the WSIS Executive Secretariat for submission at Prepcom II (17-28 February 2003).
The decision to organize the Forum was taken by representatives of non-governmental organizations and civil society at a preparatory meeting at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, on 27 and 28 November 2002.
At the meeting, Adama Samassékou, President of the WSIS Preparatory Committee, highlighted the essential contributions that non-governmental organizations and civil society can make to the Summit and its follow-up.
Speaking at the Opening of the meeting, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said that UNESCO is well-positioned to bring quite diverse constituencies into the Summit process and, indeed, to act as a bridge linking civil society, governments, professional groups and users.
UNESCO, he stated, wishes to ensure that the Summit addresses questions that go beyond ‘access’ in technical or infrastructural terms: “After all, the access in question is really about full access to society; more than this, it is about the capacity to influence the kind of society being generated by large-scale technological and economic forces”. The desire to enlarge the Summit’s agenda to take account of important issues of intellectual and ethical debate is something that UNESCO shares with civil society. “The narrowing of cultural as well as technological divides is something we must all strive for”, said the Director-General.
Related themes/countries
· online discussion forum for Civil Society
· 2002
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