Hammamet, 25 June 2004 - Onsite Report from the WSIS - Tunisia Phase
PrepCom 1
Prepcom Plenary Suspended; CS loses one speaking slot in Plenary
By Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Isis International-Manila
Today$BCT(B proceedings at the ongoing First PrepCom meeting of the Tunisia
phase of the World Summit on the Information Society have been suspended
for 45 minutes following the objection of some Tunisian NGOs to a
representative of the Tunisian Human Rights League who was scheduled to
speak on behalf of the human rights caucus. In addition, the Tunisian NGOs
objected to the text in the civil society statement that calls for the
$BEI(Bost country of the Summit to show exemplarity, especially in the
realisation of freedom of expression, of information, of communication, as
well as of freedom of association and the right to privacy, during the
Tunis process and beyond.” According to them, Tunisia has shown
improvements in its human rights records and there is no point in
highlighting it as an example.
Sources say the objecting representatives of Tunisian NGOs complained to
the Tunisian government minister in attendance at the Prepcom, who in turn
registered the objection to Ambassador, Janis Karklins, the president of
the Prepcom.
At the resumption of the plenary, only three representatives of civil
society organisations made interventions$BMX(Bith one slot virtually lost
because of the disagreements around the statement addressing human rights
issues.
The first civil society speaking slot was taken by George Christensen from
AMARC-Africa. He acknowledged the WSIS Declaration of Principles as one of
the key output documents from the Geneva phase of the Summit. He proposed
that the Declaration should not be reopened. On the other hand,
Christensen, stated that the Plan of Action, the other document that came
out of the official WSIS process in Geneva, is unacceptable to civil
society. According to him, it was hastily drafted in the final stages of
the Geneva Summit with minimal input from civil society. He pointed out
that in certain respects, it is even in contradiction with the Declaration
of Principles. He put forward the civil society recommendation that it be
$BES(Beviewed to establish a new and measurable basis for action.”
The second civil society speaker was Mavic Cabrera-Balleza from Isis
International-Manila. She highlighted that the Tunis Summit corresponds to
the first five-year review of the Millenium Development Goals. Governments
and multilateral institutions will measure the results of the WSIS process
on the basis of its contribution to the achievement of universal primary
education, promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment, reduction
of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS,
malaria and other diseases and ensuring environmental sustainability and
development of global partnerships for development.” These are the key
targets against which action and implementation must be measured, she
added. Cabrera-Balleza emphasized that for policies and investment to be
effective, people and communities need to be enabled to take action to
improve their lives and conditions. $BE$(Bivil society initiatives and
community-driven development projects must be supported and encouraged
through improvements to the policy and regulatory environment for access
to information and to the means of communications and through investment
in traditional as well as new communication technologies,” she said
further.
The third civil society statement was presented by Ralph Bendrath from the
German Civil Society Forum. He drew attention to the need to realise a
true multi-stakeholder process in the Tunis phase of the Summit. He gave
emphasis to the fact that governments alone cannot address all issues and
challenges of an Information Society. Bendrath pointed out the irony in
the amount of speaking time given to civil society which according to him
represents only 2.7 per cent of the total plenary time. He also underlined
that in order to ensure meaningful civil society participation, mechanisms
have to be put in place so that NGOs and other concerned groups and
individuals who are not in Geneva or Tunis are able to participate. He
cited the possibility of using Internet broadcast as in the case of the
Geneva phase. Lastly, Bendrath acknowledged the suggestion of setting up
the participation fund. However, he stressed that the funds must be used
$BEJ(Bn a transparent manner, according to the actual needs and with
meaningful participation of already established civil society structures
on this.”
Meanwhile, the disagreements on the civil society statement and speaker on
human rights issue are expected to be addressed in an emergency civil
society plenary later today.
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