New version just came in.
Deadline for the comments is Jan 8, to <m-kondo@soumu.go.jp>
thanks,
izumi
>Dear colleague,
>
>I atttached the Tokyo Declaration for WSIS version2.1.
>(Originally planned to distribute to you on Jan.3... but sooner is better.)
>
>NOTE:
>1) please coordinate in your organization when you send your comments to us.
>(ex. through focal point)
>2) please mention reasons when you point out and make comments
>3) I tried not to refer specific countries' example in the Declaration
>4) I also tried to describe basically ICT related issues and avoid
>mentioning political statement.
>5) In Features section, I did not describe value judgement except gender
>issue and
>special circumstances of islands where I described "attention is needed".
>6) Content of the draft is based on the contribution I got. However, it
>is not exactly same as
>you submitted. (Of course, ath the conference, the Secretariat will
>follow the participants'
>draft wording.)
>7) Deadline for comments is Jan.8. If we recieve many comments early,
>then I may reflect
>those comments and circulate version 2.5 (or 3.0) before that deadline.
>
>I appreciate your comments.
World Summit on the Information Society
Asia-Pacific Regional Conference
The Tokyo Declaration for WSIS
Draft version 2.1 (31 December 2002)
<Preamble>
Representatives from (?) countries and territories, (?) international
organisations, (?) private companies and (?) non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) in the Asia-Pacific region gathered in Tokyo on 13-15
January 2003 to develop a shared vision of the "Information Society" for
the region's future development. The objectives of the conference were to
discuss how we can best contribute to the effective transition to and
development of an information society. At the conference, it was
emphasized that crucial perspective is a view to bridging the digital
divide by creating an enabling environment for ensuring an equal
opportunity for all to benefit from increased access to information with
due regard to economic, technological, societal and cultural features and
needs of the Asia-Pacific region. Our aim is to contribute the
Asia-Pacific's perspective to discussions at the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS), to be held in December 2003 in Geneva.
With these objectives in mind, the participants in this conference called
for united efforts from all concerned to identify and overcome ICT-related
issues, so that a vibrant information society can be developed that; one
respects and builds on the strengths of the Asia-Pacific's richness and
diversity.
The regional conference took into consideration the outcome of the
preceding African and European regional conferences meetings for WSIS, as
well as the Asian Summit on the Information Society organised in
October-November 2000, the G8 Okinawa Summit of July 2000 and the Digital
Opportunity Task Force Meetings of July 2000, the Okinawa Seminar on
Information Technology for Development in the Pacific in January 2001,
that followed and the output of many other relevant international fora. It
also endorsed the important role ICTs should play in achieving the goals
of the United Nations' Millennium Declaration, which describes a
fundamental set of principles and guidelines for combating poverty,
hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and sexual discrimination.
1. Shared Vision of the Information Society
The concept of an Ūnformation SocietyÇis one in which, based on a
commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms, highly developed ICT
networks, free flow of information, equitable access to information and
appropriate contents can help populace to achieve their potential through
better access to information and the ability to share opinions with
others. In other words, the Information Society with its foundation on the
development of an information communication network can provide the
environment for achieving self-determination and fulfilment where people
empowered by information will enjoy an enhanced quality of life with
enriched intellectual activities. It guarantees the protection and
strengthening of the "Gobal public good" which include, for example, the
equitable access to information for educational, scientific and cultural
activities and a vibrant public domain of information. An information
society fosters the development of both individuals and communities, while
strengthening the links between them. This leads to an improved quality
of life for all.
It is essential for this region to develop an information society that can
promise such personal and social development as well as sustainable
economic growth , and which helps to preserve the cultural diversity of
the Asia and the Pacific in an age of globalisation. Recognising the
diversity and richness of the Asia-Pacific region, it is essential that it
be a leader in establishing an Information Society that safeguards this
diversity and promotes autonomous development of the individual and
community. This, in turn, will lead to an improved quality of life for all
by improving how the individual establishes contact with outside society
and how he/she accomplishes self-fulfilment by autonomous decision making
as a member of society.
In order to build a sound foundation for the Information Society with free
flow of information, it is critical to establish an information
communication network infrastructure and accessibility as well as
utilization to this network for all individuals.
ICT can also be used as a driving force for promoting sustainable economic
and technical development by enlarging national products with innovations,
as well as poverty reduction through robust growth based on higher levels
of productivity and improved efficiency by continuous research and development.
It is the private sector that plays a leading role in the development of
information and communications technologies and networks in the
information society. Governments are, on the other hand, expected to
support the private sector by creating an enabling environment to
encourage innovative private-sector initiative. In that sense, effective
public-private partnership is essential to maximize the social and
economic benefits of the information society.
2. Information Society in Recognition of Unique Features of the
AsiaPacific Region
In building an information society in the Asia-Pacific region, we should
take into account the following unique features of the region:
1) Geographical and populational feature: It comprises the earth's
largest land mass and vast ocean, is home to the world's only two, billion
people countries, as well as many small island states. The region has over
65% of the world's population, including over 75% of the world's poor.
Regarding ICT, nearly 600 million people worldwide have access to the
Internet, of whom only 150 million are in the Asia-Pacific Region.
2) Cultural and linguistic diversity: This region enjoys a richness
of ancient and modern cultures, which include diverse social traditions
and customs of communication. There are more than 6,800 languages in the
world out of which 3,500 (about 52%) are spoken in the Asia-Pacific region.
3) Institutional stability: In general terms, this region is
institutionally stable. Such stability will enable the region to attract
more investors including operators, manufacturers and vendors in the field
of ICT.
4) Abundant workforces: The huge population mentioned in 1) can
provide abundant workforce that will largely benefit from improvement of
efficiency and productivity that ICT can bring about as its effects.
5) Gender issues: With two-thirds of the world's illiterate people
being women, the majority of those live in this region, women have less
access to the education and training of ICT and ICT facilities than men,
which is observed in other region as well. In this regard, more attention
should be given to improving the status of women using ICTs.
6) Wide gaps in various aspects: In this region as a whole, there are
wide discrepancy in access to and use of the latest ICT between countries,
urban and rural areas, women and men, and minority and majority ethnic
groups. It is also observed that there is a polarized situation in this
region in terms of utilization of the Internet as well as broadband penetration.
7) Imbalance of information flow: While the amount of international
trade among the Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe are almost
balanced, it should be recognised that information flow among triple pole
is disproportional compare to that of trade amount. This illustrates
potential growth of information flow both between two other poles and
within the region.
8) Pioneering role in certain ICT areas: Within the region, some
countries have been pioneering the new era of broadband and mobile
telecommunication services, which are having a significant impact on the
ways people communicate. The experience gained by countries in this field
can be shared with others to promote good practice at regional and global
levels.
9) Special circumstances of islands: Within the Asia-Pacific region,
the special circumstances of island countries, which are characterised by
small markets, high costs of access and equipment, human resource
constrains, limited access to networks, and remote locations, require
particular attention and unique solutions.
3. Bridging the Digital Divide to Make Progress Together
In order to promote the creation and advance of an information society, it
is necessary to overcome many issues, within sectors as well as
cross-sectoral, while ensuring that the essential platform of ICT
development is established.
(1) Platform for ICT development
A fundamental aim of the information society is to provide a better
quality of life by bridging the social and economic discrepancy that exist
due to gender, age or other social factors, and by enhancement and full
utilization of ICT at any level in each society. The development of such a
society must be based on a platform of compatible technical standards and
technological innovation of ICT including mobile networks, as well as
systems to promote the exchange of knowledge at global, regional and
sub-regional levels through any media. In this regard, in addition to
enhance people's awareness for the advantages of using ICT, attractive and
useful online applications and contents which are based on R&D activities
and secured by intellectual property rights are required.
As a sharp increase in international traffic is anticipated, it is
critical for international broadband network infrastructure to be created,
including international IXs and communication hubs that match the needs of
the Asia-Pacific region. New technology such as IP networks, direct
satellite access and IPv6 should be used in developing this essential
infrastructure in order to accommodate sharp increase of network user' demand.
(2) Priority areas for action
a) Securing affordable accessibility of telecommunication networks
The principal concept of the information society is "ubiquitous" access to
information networks: everyone should be able to have access to
information networks at any time and in any place. With this concept for
bridging the digital divide to make progress together, we should pursue an
ideal information society. To this end, it is important to encourage
existing technologies to be used to provide connectivity to outlying areas
that do not already have it, such as through schools, libraries, post
offices and community centres in the countryside. At the same time, it is
also important to upgrade existing telephone systems and extend them into
poor urban areas, as part of ensuring that telecommunication and data
networks are sufficiently robust for national needs and offer reliable
gateways to international communications. In this regard, new technology
such as wireless and satellite networks could help remote areas including
islands gain access to telecommunications. Broadband too has great
potential to help meet basic human needs through such means as e-education
and e-medicine.
Alongside measures to improve the ICT infrastructure, priority must be
placed on providing access to reliable and affordable communications,
especially for the poor in remote rural areas. In addition, special
attention should be paid to the needs of disadvantaged, disabled and
illiterate people, through innovative partnerships that can disseminate
knowledge of ICT.
b) Preserving linguistic and cultural diversity
Linguistic and cultural diversity enriches, one of the roots of
development, human life by offering a range of viewpoints and ideas. In
forming national ICT strategies, a conscious effort must be made to
promote respect for the knowledge and traditions of indigenous
communities, to help them to master information technologies, to
facilitate the digital dissemination of endogenous cultural products, to
facilitate access to the educational, cultural and scientific digital
resources available worldwide, particularly those in the public domain, to
preserve the national heritage and to encourage the appreciation and
understanding of other cultures while taking a pride in ones own. In this
respect, promoting broadband networks in the Asia-Pacific region could not
only support business and personal activities, but also help to preserve
cultural diversity through such means as enhanced local content creation
and digital archives.
In this context, an effort should be made to support local content and
applications creation. Local content development, translation and
adaptation in developing countries should be encouraged, while at the same
time local languages need to be incorporated in ICT applications.
At the same time, the importance of bridging communications in different
languages should be noted. An effort should be made to develop
technologies such as those for automatic language translation among
various languages. In addition, it should be noted that about 40% of
present the Internet users are English native speakers and 68% of all web
sites are written in English. In this regard, it is necessary to develop
character code such as ISO10646-2 based on respecting each local culture
in order to preserve precious cultural diversity and to promote
information flow within this region as well as transmission from this region.
c) Developing human resources
For people to make the most of the information society, they must have the
appropriate levels of literacy and ICT skills. To achieve this, relevant
education should be promoted at every level from primary to adult, to open
opportunities for as many people as possible. With this foundation,
knowledge and ideas will be able to spread more widely and quickly at
local, national and international levels. As part of this effort, it is
appropriate to establish special programmes for the youth, as well as to
promote gender mainstreaming.
ICTs also contribute to enhancing the quality of teaching and learning,
the sharing of knowledge and information. They have the potential to
introduce in the educational process a higher degree of flexibility in
response to societal needs. Therefore, the Information Society should
offer opportunities to use ICTs as innovative and experimental tools in
the process of renewing education.
It is also important to provide basic education in science and technology
as a basis for higher achievements in these fields. This will help to
create a pool of highly qualified and skilled ICT professionals that will
continue to serve as a foundation for the region$BCT(B ICT sector.
d) Establishing legal, regulatory and policy frameworks
In order to establish the information society on a firm and successful
footing, national governments should create appropriate and transparent
legal, regulatory and policy frameworks based on human rights including
economic freedom for business activities. These frameworks should
facilitate private sector investment from a variety of sources to promote
technological innovation and develop network infrastructure and new
services and increased liberalization where appropriate. In this regard,
fair competition such as guarantee of fair interconnection among
telecommunication operators will stimulate business initiatives. In
addition, an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) along with normal
judicial proceedings should be considered in order to secure prompt
settlement of disputes among industries and then facilitate business activities.
Moreover, because the information society is, by nature, a global
phenomenon, issues such as the protection of privacy, consumer confidence,
management of domain names, facilitation of e-commerce, freedom of
expression, balance between intellectual property rights and the needs of
the users for information, and open source solutions need to be addressed
at an international level in consultation with all relevant parties.
e) Building confidence in the security of ICT
In regard to the security of information systems and networks, all
entities concerned with Info-communications issues should be aware of its
importance and take the necessary steps to enhance security, user
confidence and other aspects of system/network integrity that could be
seriously endangered by only one vulnerable link. Effective security for
these issues is not only a matter of technology, but also a matter of
education and training. To this end, a ÅÄulture of securityÇneeds to be
established by the effort of all participants. In addressing above issues,
achievements from international institutions, such as "OECD Guidelines for
the Security of Information Systems and Networks" should be referred to.
Each nation is required to implement the Guideline urgently on its own and
in cooperation with the regional frameworks, such as APEC and APT, which
are also active players in the e-security field.
(3) Cross-sector Programmes and Activities
It is necessary to carry out those priority areas for action mentioned
above for securing the successful implementation of cross-sector
programmes and activities. In addition, it is also useful as well as
important to encourage and support decision makers to fulfil the
programmes which can be included in the National/Regional e-Strategy.
a) e-government
ICT networks can offer better public services to citizens by allowing
citizens to be provided more conveniently, and by improving the
accountability and transparency of public administration. In this
regard, so-called "one stop" administrative service centres can play a
useful role, by allowing people to easily gain access to government
information, official procedures and so on, at one location. E-government
also gives the opportunity for a greater sense of community participation
to be created, by establishing online sites where citizens can input their
views and exchange ideas.
b) e-business
Through using ICT, businesses can achieve increased productivity, lower
transaction costs and more effective inventory control. To ensure that
businesses can enjoy these benefits, an enabling environment must be
established, including regulatory frameworks to promote business
investment and mutual certification among business parties.
On the side of the consumer, ICT can bring greater satisfaction through
the ability to interact with many potential suppliers beyond the
constraints of location. However, it is essential that consumer
confidence in using networks is developed and maintained.
c) e-community
As fundamentally social beings, humans need to build communities for
mutual support. In the modern age, these can also be "virtual"
communities online, where people can "meet" to exchange ideas and
information. At the same time, these online contacts can also help people
to learn about and share the resources and cultures of their local
communities with the rest of the world.
d) e-learning
ICT networks offer unprecedented educational opportunities to males and
females, youth and the aged, and disadvantaged people in all areas of the
Asia-Pacific region, and in particular to those in rural areas and remote
islands who are still outside the reach of the formal educational system.
Development of educational programmes, content, networks and hardware that
are accessible to all sectors of society should be pursued as a priority
to increase the Asia-Pacific region$BCT(B human resources in all sectors of
society because it helps to address numerous issues such as local content,
multi-lingual and cultural diversity and intellectual property rights.
Access to knowledge is an essential tool in economic, cultural and social
development and education also empowers people to overcome poverty.
(4) National and Regional e-Strategies
Comprehensive ICT strategies that include clear goals with benchmarks for
action and commitments need to be formulated at both national and regional
levels in order to create an information society for the benefit of all.
These strategies should be designed and implemented through collaboration
and full participation of parties concerns such as governments,
international organizations, academics, research institutions, private
sector and civil society, with each exercising its responsibilities and
playing its unique role. In this regard, promoting awareness of the
benefits of ICT among concerned parties should be emphasized.
4. Follow-up
This declaration, together with the annexes contributed by the
participants of this conference, is to be submitted as the Asia-Pacific
Region$BCT(B input to the WSIS process and its follow up. It is hoped that
this document will help to guide governments in forming policies and
taking necessary actions to progress the development of an information
society worldwide.