(On behalf of Al and Angela. With best wishes for the New Year. Adam)
INTERIM REPORT OF THE ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL FAMILY
TO THE CIVIL SOCIETY BUREAU
(December 2004)
Background
The Asia Caucus (more formally the Asia Pacific Civil Society
Coordinating Committee for WSIS) traces its roots to WSIS PrepCom 1
in Geneva where 15 or so Asians attending agreed to coordinate
efforts and come together as a regional caucus, and produced a
regional Statement read in Plenary. After interfacing with the civil
society structures and discussions during that time, it was agreed
that more Asian participation to WSIS was needed. (Note: Western
Asia/Middle East has since spun off a separate regional caucus; the
SIDS of the Pacific also sometimes holds its own caucuses.)
A more strategic opportunity for coordinating Asian participation in
WSIS occurred in Bangkok in November 2002 at a seminar organized by
Bread for All (Switzerland), the World Association for Christian
Communication (WACC, UK) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and
Development (Forum Asia, Thailand). The outcome of this meeting, a
joint statement from the participants from around 16 Asian countries
<http://www.wsisasia.org/materials/finalversion.doc> became the basis
for discussion among a much larger number and more broadly
representative gathering of civil society organizations participating
in the Asian Civil Society Forum 2002, organized by CONGO as their
biennial event in the region. This meeting included a videoconference
between participants in Bangkok and the WSIS Secretariat, Geneva.
"WSIS: Asian Response Meeting", Bangkok, Thailand, 22-24 November,
2002 <http://www.wsisasia.org/materials/materials.html> ; and "Asian
Civil Society Forum 2002" Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 9 - 13, 2002
<http://www.wsisasia.org/wsis-acsf2002/>
A core group had formed by the time of the Asia and Pacific regional
PrepCom, Tokyo, 12-15 January 2003. The group were instrumental in
introducing a multi-stakeholder drafting process used to produce the
declaration of the PrepCom, and played a particularly strong role in
the whole regional process.(See below.)
The "family" was officially formed during PrepCom2, February 2003,
Geneva. Since then, the Asia Caucus has been actively participating
in all WSIS activities and eventually collaborated with other CSOs
through the various structures set up, including the CS Plenary, the
various Content & Themes Working Groups, and the CS Bureau.
MAJOR ACTIVITIES, INITIATIVES, AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Tokyo Regional PrepCom
Asia Caucus members played particularly strong roles in the Tokyo
PrepCom, particularly in ensuring CS participation in all aspects of
the event: Japanese CSO stakeholders were closely coordinating with
the Japanese government hosts; they were also instrumental in
securing funding to bring more CSOs to Tokyo.
CS Working groups were also formed and functioned well.
Caucus members were able to place members into the drafting committee
for the regional statement, the major output of the PrepCom; the said
Final Statement is considered by many to be one of the most
progressive ones to come out of the formal PrepComs, containing
strong language on civil society participation as well as in some key
regional issues (localization, access & accessibility, FOSS).
The CS groups in Tokyo also organized a mass action (picket and press
conference) around the "WSIS for All" theme, probably the only one
organized by a regional caucus during the formal process.
All in all, it was a successful engagement, despite the usual
limitations inherent to a formalized intergovernmental process.
Convening and Coordination
The Asia Caucus performed convening and coordination functions for
most of the Asians participating in WSIS. It attended all the WSIS
PrepComs and Intersessionals as well as the Geneva Summit. It
convened caucuses regularly during these events.
Aside from these, the Caucus also held face-to-face meetings also on
three separate occasions: Bangkok during ACSF I in Bangkok in
November 2002, and in a Special Caucus in Manila after the Knowledge
Networking Workshop organized by FMA in March 2003. The most recent
one is in the ACSF II in Bangkok last November 2004. (See below.)
It also set has continuing online discussions through a mailing list
(see below).
Information and Outreach
The Caucus disseminated information WSIS in general and the Caucus
activities in particular via an open mailing list and website. It is
here were virtual discussion occurs, specially before major events.
It is a bit quiet though after most of the big events, and
particularly so after the Geneva Summit.
Many of the caucus members also conducted information sharing
sessions (formal and informal) in other forums and workshop,
especially on the national level.
Another recent platform for the Asian Caucus to organize WSIS-related
events was in the recent second Asian Civil Society Forum
(Bangkok/November 2004) attended by more than 300 CSOs all over the
region around the issue of UN engagement and MDG's; the Caucus
organized a special panel on WSIS and facilitated a video conference
with members and staff of the WSIS Working Group on Internet
Governance (WGIG)
Website <http://www.wsisasia.org>
Mailing list <communication@wsisasia.org>
Subscribe: <mailto:communication-ctl@wsisasia.org?body=subscribe>
Content Development
The Caucus decided early on that it would not develop detailed
positions for submission to WSIS via the the regional caucus; instead
the strategy was to mainstream Asian positions within the various CS
content and themes working groups.
Caucus members are therefore also members of various content
caucuses, many times playing crucial leadership roles within them.
The content caucuses with strong Asian participation include: Gender
Strategies Working Group; Youth; Media, Internet Governance;
Patents/Copyrights/Trademarks; also the other CS "Families" such as
Persons with Disabilities, Networks and Coalitions, Think Tanks.
Whenever needed, the Caucus also developed selected interventions to
WSIS plenary and parallel sessions during the PrepComs and the Geneva
Summit. Documents and statements produced by the family can be found
on the Caucus website at <http://www.wsisasia.org>; these include
reports by family members from meetings to the lists, statements made
at press conferences, etc.
National Processes
Caucus members were active in convening, leading or participating in
many of the national WSIS processes from 2003 on. (Some of the
countries with such processes include: Korea, Japan, Hong Kong,
Philippines, Bangladesh, other...)
WSIS-related Sectoral activities were also initiated and led by
Caucus members (e.g., Youth.)
Overall Participation in CS Structures
Aside from the previously mentioned Content and Themes caucuses, the
Asia Caucus actively participated in the CS Plenary, with regional
reps occasionally chairing the assemblies during WSIS.
The Caucus also were represented in the Civil Society Bureau through
co-focal points Angela Kuga Thas (APC) and Al Alegre (FMA/APC). The
Asia Caucus raised and advocated many strategic issues within the
CSB, including: the terms of reference of the CSB as a
process-oriented structure; the question of transparency in WSIS
finances; the guidelines for the CS Facilitation Fund; the
participation of Content & Themes Working Group representative in the
Bureau.
Caucus members participated during many of the Summit activities
(e.g., Press Conferences, launch of the Civil Society Declaration,
etc.) as well as in the parallel Summit events (e.g., ICT4D Platform,
World Forum on Communication Rights, etc.)
Caucus members continue to be active in the Internet Governance
processes which is centered on the Working Group on Internet
Governance (WGIG). An active Caucus member (Adam Peake) continues to
co-convene the IG CS Caucus, and two others (Izumi Aizu and Al
Alegre) were chosen members of a regional Advisory Panel for UNDP's
Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance, which is tasked to
provide regional input to the WGIG.
Recent Activity (November 2004)
The family is still active, particularly in work on communications
rights and Internet governance. Family members organized sessions at
the Asian Civil Society Forum 2004, Bangkok <http://www.acsf.info/>
on Communications Rights, Internet Governance and WSIS. The final
declaration from the conference can be found here
<http://www.acsf.info/2004/acsf2004_D4_final%20statement.doc>. Notes
of the two WSIS sessions from the conference are available from the
FMA website:
Session one:
<http://mail.fma.ph/pipermail/commrights-asia/2004-December/000237.htm>
Session two:
<http://mail.fma.ph/pipermail/commrights-asia/2004-December/000238.html>
This meeting included a video conference between Asian participants
in Bangkok and members of the Working Group on Internet Governance
<http://www.wgig.org> in Geneva. We thank the WGIG secretariat for
providing the link and spending an hour with us. Notes of the video
conference are online
<https://ssl.cpsr.org/pipermail/governance/2004-December/002017.html>.
Conclusion
The family will soon begin a process to select new Bureau
representatives and will be present at WSIS PrepCom 2, February 2005.
Even as the WSIS Asia Pacific family is in transition, and discerns
the most important engagements in Phase II, it aims to continue to
participate in the work of WSIS Civil Society in the Tunis phase of
WSIS.
Current Contact Persons:
Angela Kuga Thas (amkt@apcwomen.org)
Al Alegre (alalegre@fma.ph)
[for Internet Governance: Adam Peake (ajp@glocom.ac.jp) ]
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