From: oudet To: Bruno.Oudet@imag.fr To: info-smsi@cyber-institut.org Subscribe: Civil Society Information Sessions June 23, 2004 Medina Conference Centre, Hammamet By Rik Panganiban, Conference of NGOs Please find here a report on the civil society information sessions organized by the Conference of NGOs in cooperation with the WSIS Executive Secretariat which took place on 23 June 2004 at the Medina Conference Centre in Hammamet. Presentations were given by Charles Geiger of the WSIS executive secretariat, Shoji Nishimoto of the Task Force on Financing Mechanisms, and Markus Kummar of the Working Group on Internet Governance, as well as by Renata Bloem of CONGO, Steve Buckley on behalf of Content and Themes, and Bertrand de la Chapelle for Wsis-online.net. There were approximately 80 participants at this forum, which was open to all participants without accreditation or registration necessary. CHARLES GEIGER, WSIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT Charles Geiger of the WSIS Executive Secretariat explained the background on the WSIS process in relation to civil society. He put the WSIS within the context of UN summits in general, and the rules for civil society participation that have come through the summit process. He noted that the WSIS was unique for the principal role of civil society and the private sector within the process, as well as the innovation of the creation of a civil society bureau to interface with the government bureau on questions of procedure. He gave his views on what is the purpose of phase II of the WSIS. Out of the WSIS Phase I, there were two left open issues: internet governance and financing mechanism, which were referred to new working groups for further work and discussions. The Working group on internet governance is to issue a report to Prepcom II on its progress. The Task force on financing mechanisms will undergo a stock taking exercise to analyze the different funding mechanisms. This should be done by September. The Prepcoms will proceed until the summit in November 2005. Prepcom II is likely to be February 2005 in Geneva. Prepcom III should be in September 2005 in Geneva or Tunisia. On the Declaration, he thought that governments will not re-open the declaration, that is they will not insert new issues. Regarding meetings between now and Tunis 2005, he noted that there were two types of meetings foreseen. Regional meetings are expected in Latin America, Africa (in February, Accra), and an Arab meeting. Thematic Meetings are also going to be organized, including one on Spam by ITU and a UNESCO meeting on freedom of information. There is a question of how thematic meetings are decided and labeled which will be decided here. At the Tunis Summit itself, there is anticipated to be a political document and an action plan. There will probably not have a +5 process for the WSIS, such as has occurred for other UN summits. There is the challenge of mainstreaming Tunis into UN system in general. He raised the issue of civil society liaisons for Phase I were both working for secretariat and for bureau of civil society. Civil society liaisons for Phase II will no longer serve as the secretaries for the bureau to make their role more clear. There will be two speaking slots for civil society on Friday morning and Saturday morning. MONCEF ACHOUR, WSIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT Moncef Achour, Civil Society Liaison of the WSIS executive secretariat, congratulated Renata Bloem and CONGO for having organized this meeting, and for their spirit of cooperation. He noted the funding that Tunisia had offered to facilitate the participation of civil society from the developing world, and urged others to help find the funds possible to ensure they are better represented in the WSIS. He highlighted the participation of African civil society and the diaspora as particularly important. Responding to question from a representative of FIDH, Charles Geiger noted that there is no such thing as “political approval” of NGOs. The Executive Secretariat submits to governments the files from applicants. Approval occurs usually during 1st day of the prepcom. As far as he knew, Human Rights in China were not formally refused. If files are complete then the secretariat should put it on to Prepcom II. If the secretariat does not recommend an NGO, it has to explain why it does not recommend. Organizations have to be legally recognized in their country. There is no exception possible. MARKUS KUMMAR, INTERNET GOVERNANCE WORKING GROUP Markus Kummar, head of the secretariat of the internet governance working group, gave a presentation on this body. He noted that there were two views on how to deal with internet governance expressed in Phase I, The first was for some kind of multilateral forum for dialogue on the UN system. The second was for a more private-sector driven solutions that “don’t mess with what works.” There was broad agreement on the principles of multilateral cooperation, transparency, democracy and the necessity of the involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations. The tasks of the working group are: • To Define Internet Governance, with the choices between a narrow technical one or a broad and political one. • To Identify Public policy issues • To define the roles of various actors in field – developing a list of who does what The working group will draw up a report for the Tunis Summit. The Members will be appointed by UNSG, with 15-20 members anticipated. There is the need to balance efficiency and legitimacy, with some consideration for regional balance and gender. The main criteria will be the qualifications of the members. At least 3-4 meetings will be necessary and in between need 2-3 rounds of open-ended consultations with governments and stakeholders. There may be a need for separate expert meetings. The final report should be issued by July 2005. The working group will have to do some of its work online. On the composition of the working group, there are various formulas being proposed, between – perhaps one-third government, one-third civil society and one-third private sector or perhaps half government and half civil society and private sector. The working group will operate in parallel to the prepcoms and report at the 3rd prepcom on its work. RENATA BLOEM, CONGO Renata Bloem, secretary general of the Conference NGOs, gave a brief history of civil society participation at WSIS. She noted how the civil society liaisons of the secretariat initiated the idea of a civil society bureau as a counter-part to the government bureau to liaise with them on questions of procedure, not content. The bureau has been composed of “families” of civil society including various constituencies and regions of civil society groups to bring legitimacy and representativity to the body. Meanwhile the Content and Themes group has served to bring together civil society working groups and caucuses and individual groups to work together on shared projects, such as drafting joint texts, organizing meetings with governments and holding press briefings. During the Paris Intersessional and the Third Prepcom civil society interventions were allowed during key parts of the official negotiations, as well as limited participation within the working groups. Meanwhile the civil society plenary, the grouping of all the accredited NGOs present, served as the primary decision-making body for civil society. STEVE BUCKLEY, CONTENT AND THEMES Steve Buckley of AMARC explained the work of the Content and Themes group, which has served as a coordinating body for civil society work on the “substance” and advocacy during the WSIS. The content and themes brings together the various caucuses and working groups to work together and share information collaboratively. The group serves to important role of as a monitor of government activity. BERTRAND DE LA CHAPELLE, WSIS-ONLINE.NET Bertrand de la Chapelle of WSIS-online gave a presentation on the WSIS community web platform. He noted that the Geneva format is likely to be reused in Tunis Summit. I.e. large plenary and parallel events. There are 11 agenda items in the Declaration from Phase I. The website wsis-online is built along these lines. He gave a demonstration of the functions on the website, including interlinked databases of organizations, individuals, projects and events, indexed by the 11 agenda items. He concluded that the website was just a tool, which does not replace action but only serves to increase visibility of the different actions and actors. SHOJI NISHIMOTO, UNDP Shoji Nishimoto of UNDP presented on his work as secretariat of the Task Force on Financing Mechanisms. The current financing mechanisms have never really been that successful. The US funds for AIDS, Japanese funds for ICTs for example. So when you talk about additional financial mechanisms, it is a challenge. There is an opportunity for funds from developed countries to the developing world. He noted the importance of non conventional sources, i.e corporate responsibility, consumer contributions. The job of the Task Force is to provide informed, professional analysis. It will engage in data gathering and assessment of what kind of financing are available. Are they working well, achieving what kinds of results? What are the gaps? It will involve private sector and civil society as well as governments. It will take a more holistic view before focusing on a particular mechanism. The Team will be composed of 16-17 members. Membership is merit-based, rather than political. An initial brainstorming session has already occurred. They will finalize their findings to Mark Malloch-Brown by Mid-July. The first meeting of the task force will be mid to late September. The report will be done by the end of December 2004 A series of working papers are being produced. By end of November, we should have the final version from the secretariat. He emphasized that specific recommendations for members of the task force welcome. He recommended a number of mechanisms, including infrastructure investment that is “pro-poor,” corporate solutions, and consumer solutions. On the Solidarity Fund, he argued that as a huge general-purpose fund for ICT development, it probably won’t work. However its is important to know what is the specific purpose of a solidarity fund is. Report by Rik Panganiban, Conference of NGOs. Apologies for any errors or omissions in this report. He can be reached at rik.panganiban@ngocongo.org. =============================================== RIK PANGANIBAN Communications Coordinator Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO) web: http://www.ngocongo.org email: rik.panganiban@ngocongo.org mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524 _______________________________________________ Plenary mailing list Plenary@wsis-cs.org http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/plenary