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COMMUNICATIONS: Civil Society’s Star Rises at WSIS

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Dec 12 2003 (IPS) - For the first time, an international summit of representatives from civil society and the private sector took place with the participation of governments, said one observer with irony, surprised by the role played by non-governmental organisations at the World Summit on the Information Society.

The WSIS here this week was organised in part to foment the penetration of the industries related to information and communications technologies (ICTs) and computers in the relatively untouched markets of developing countries.

Industry came to the summit in Geneva trying to overcome the crisis it has been suffering since early 2001, after a decade of dramatic expansion. By the middle of that year, it was estimated that the sector was struggling under a debt burden of 60 billion dollars and had lain off 300,000 workers.

The WSIS, organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the United Nations, gave the industry a chance to relaunch itself with new business in the developing world.

Throughout the preparatory process, industry participated actively, but discreetly, as many of its interests were championed by government representatives from the European Union, Japan and the United States.

But unlike the private sector, which influences the decisions taken by the ITU in general, civil society did not have an established space in the arena of information and communications technologies.

But after two years of negotiations on the way to the summit, the emergence of the civil society movement is turning out to be one of the real results of the process, says Wolfgang Kleinwachter, an activist and ICT expert from Denmark’s Aarhuis University.

Until now, civil society “was not an organised stakeholder” in the international debate about the digital divide. “It was particularly dominated by some radical voices,” said the academic.

Now NGOs have achieved recognition, said Kleinwachter, stressing that civil society is involved in an ongoing discussion via Internet, one that will continue through the second phase of the WSIS, to take place in Tunis in November 2005.

Throughout the preparations for the first phase of the summit, a three-day conference that wrapped up Friday, civil society representatives had limited access to the meetings of government representatives.

“But now, we can say them: If you expect our contribution, you have to give us more rights. More or less in the same direction as the position the private sector has in the ITU,” the activist said.

The governance of the U.N. agency is thus nearing the sort of tripartite system of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), made up of government, employer associations and workers’ unions.

Kleinwachter admits “it takes time,” but adds, “This is the beginning.”

Civil society and the private sector are characterised by their ability to react quickly to the change that occur in society and in relation to ICTs, he says.

In contrast, governments are limited by other commitments. The differences are reflected in the draft declarations proposed. “The governments declaration says ‘could be done’. Civil society says ‘should be done’.”

The government approach was to limit human rights aspirations in the WSIS final declaration to recognition of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which consecrates freedom of expression.

But civil society pushed further, for more rights, such as the right to access to ICTs and the right to participate in the information society, said Kleinwachter.

Civil society’s objectives were summarised in the text presented Thursday by Sally Burch, head of the Agencia Latinoamericana de Información (ALAI) and coordinator of the NGOs’ group at the WSIS on content and issues.

The civil society declaration calls for – in the sessions after this summit – host countries to respect the provisions set forth in Geneva, particularly those referring to basic human rights, freedom of expression, of association and information.

The allusion is to the situation in Tunisia, host of the second phase, which has been accused by NGOs of being hostile to plurality in the communications media and towards journalists.