[eccr] Communication Rights Summit in December 2003

from http://www.prepcom.net/1046255919/index_html

Communication Rights Summit - Concept PaperPosted by Susan Singh on
Wednesday February 26, @11:38AM

This describes a proposal to hold a one-day Communication Rights Summit,
alongside the World Summit on the Information Society in December 2003.

The initiative is being launched by the CRIS campaign (Communication Rights
in the Information Society: www.crisinfo.org) in collaboration with other
civil society networks and organizations, and is actively building a broader
partnership. 

The Rationale:

The focus of the conference is specific: In the context of human rights in
general, it focuses on information and communication rights issues that
surround the emergence of an information society.

The WSIS itself is constrained in the manner and depth to which these issues
can be addressed. Many of them are debated and acted upon in other
international organizations and entities. Yet, it is essential that all be
considered as coherent, and inter-related, set of concerns. Indeed, in all
likelihood they will determine which kind of information society emerges,
and how the benefits will be realized and distributed.

The Summit and associated events offers a forum to explore these, and
consider options for addressing them.

Goals: 

· To debate, explore and define the many dimensions of information and
communication rights that must underpin any information society if it is to
enrich the lives of all people.
· To formulate a succinct statement that:
- Notes down existing human rights relating to information and
communication;
- Sets down that the conditions and environment necessary for these to
be exercised, in practice, by people;
- Explores the obstacles to achieving such an environment, and
identifies the priority areas for action and intervention.
· To engage widespread participation in a set of voluntary and
collaborative actions to implement these rights in a manner that is
meaningful to people in their everyday lives, and to define what follow-up
to this first Summit would be appropriate.

Participation:

The Summit is an open event welcoming those in civil society, governments
and intergovernmental organizations, and private sector, who recognize the
need to address these issues in the context of the information society and
wish to work together to achieve the goals.

Modalities:

The event, with a duration of one-day, will take place alongside the first
WSIS Summit in December 2003. It will be the culmination of a series of
workshops, thematic debates, drafting activities, online events and so
forth, designed to ensure a thorough debate on the issues. The process will
take advantage both of events surrounding the WSIS Summit itself, and of
other events including the WSIS PrepCom3, international gatherings,
including those of civil society. It will be supported by publications, and
electronic for a. 

The Communication Rights Summit is thus grounded not only within the WSIS
process, but also within ongoing civil society processes and discourse.

For information contact Sean O Siochru: (sean /at/ nexus.ie); Myriam Horngren:
(mh /at/ wacc.org.uk) 

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