Freedom of Expression Crucial for Information Society Says UNESCO Director-General
24-11-2003 ()
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, on Friday, 21 November, convened the Permanent Delegates of Member States to UNESCO for a second briefing session on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 10 to 12 December 2003 and then in Tunis, Tunisia, in 2005.
One of the main reasons for convening the World Summit was to find ways of harnessing the potential of knowledge and technology to promote international development goals.
For the Director-General it is essential that the Summit also include “ethical and intellectual considerations, which embrace such matters as social inclusion, youth, gender, cultural diversity, human rights and inter-cultural dialogue”. It is for this reason that UNESCO has stressed in the preparatory debates that “the Summit needs to address, first and foremost, the social, political, cultural and institutional dimensions of change”. That is why UNESCO has strongly “emphasized the concept of knowledge societies as being preferable to the information society as it goes beyond issues of connectivity and technological development to encompass a broader and more empowering vision that is based on the potential of ICT to enhance human development”
Mr Matsuura noted with satisfaction that many of UNESCO’s principles, namely: equal access to education; universal access to information and the preservation and promotion of cultural diversity including multilingualism, are included in the present drafts of the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action of the WSIS. “ Nevertheless, the headway made so far can be considered a success only if there is an unambiguous assurance that freedom of expression is recognized as the fundamental principle underlying and informing the development of the information society”, he added.
Mr Matsuura expressed his concern that the reference to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still under negotiation in the present drafts. “It is my firm position that it is important to retain in the Declaration and the Plan of Action an explicit reference to Article 19”, he said. Rejecting the idea “that this was a North-South confrontation”, as some had said during the preparatory debates, Mr Matsuura stated clearly, “What is at stake is the very foundation of a democratic society and this has nothing to do with any divide between North and South. Freedom of expression is not the monopoly of one geographic region, one culture, one civilization. It is about the raison d’être of our Organization and the very foundation of our Constitution”. In conclusion, he urged the Representatives of Member States to obtain from their governments the inclusion of “an explicit reference to freedom of expression”. “Its deletion from the text would severely undermine internationally recognized values and previously accepted universal principles and thus impair the international treaty system. There can be little argument that access to information and freedom must go together”, he said.
In the same vein, the Director-General urged delegations to “refrain from including any language (…) that could be interpreted as limiting the universality of the principle of freedom of expression”. Mr Matsuura also expressed his concern about “the continuing absence of any reference to the role that media play in the development of knowledge societies”. “Explicit references to the role of media, including the role of traditional media, in the information society in general and to their independence, pluralism and freedom, in particular, need to be retained in the Summit texts”, he said.
(Source Flash Info n°257)
For the Director-General it is essential that the Summit also include “ethical and intellectual considerations, which embrace such matters as social inclusion, youth, gender, cultural diversity, human rights and inter-cultural dialogue”. It is for this reason that UNESCO has stressed in the preparatory debates that “the Summit needs to address, first and foremost, the social, political, cultural and institutional dimensions of change”. That is why UNESCO has strongly “emphasized the concept of knowledge societies as being preferable to the information society as it goes beyond issues of connectivity and technological development to encompass a broader and more empowering vision that is based on the potential of ICT to enhance human development”
Mr Matsuura noted with satisfaction that many of UNESCO’s principles, namely: equal access to education; universal access to information and the preservation and promotion of cultural diversity including multilingualism, are included in the present drafts of the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action of the WSIS. “ Nevertheless, the headway made so far can be considered a success only if there is an unambiguous assurance that freedom of expression is recognized as the fundamental principle underlying and informing the development of the information society”, he added.
Mr Matsuura expressed his concern that the reference to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still under negotiation in the present drafts. “It is my firm position that it is important to retain in the Declaration and the Plan of Action an explicit reference to Article 19”, he said. Rejecting the idea “that this was a North-South confrontation”, as some had said during the preparatory debates, Mr Matsuura stated clearly, “What is at stake is the very foundation of a democratic society and this has nothing to do with any divide between North and South. Freedom of expression is not the monopoly of one geographic region, one culture, one civilization. It is about the raison d’être of our Organization and the very foundation of our Constitution”. In conclusion, he urged the Representatives of Member States to obtain from their governments the inclusion of “an explicit reference to freedom of expression”. “Its deletion from the text would severely undermine internationally recognized values and previously accepted universal principles and thus impair the international treaty system. There can be little argument that access to information and freedom must go together”, he said.
In the same vein, the Director-General urged delegations to “refrain from including any language (…) that could be interpreted as limiting the universality of the principle of freedom of expression”. Mr Matsuura also expressed his concern about “the continuing absence of any reference to the role that media play in the development of knowledge societies”. “Explicit references to the role of media, including the role of traditional media, in the information society in general and to their independence, pluralism and freedom, in particular, need to be retained in the Summit texts”, he said.
(Source Flash Info n°257)
Related themes/countries
· News Archives 2003
· Freedom of Expression: News Archives 2003
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