[eccr] UNESCO online consultation on WSIS

Title: UNESCO online consultation on WSIS

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From: Sean O Siochru <(sean /at/ nexus.ie)>
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 14:18:50 +0000
To: "crisinfo-comunica.org" <(crisinfo /at/ comunica.org)>, (wsis-prep1 /at/ lists.cpsr.org)
Subject: [CRIS Info] UNESCO online consultation

Dear All,

I have been asked to join with Marie Thorndahl in facilitating the UNESCO online discussion at http://wsisforum.unesco.org <http://wsisforum.unesco.org/> . It is due to run till January 15th, only another week.  The Section we have been asked to facilitate is "Civil Society in the WSIS and Beyond" - the last one in the list. It is about how civil society would like to participate in the process during and after the WSIS.  

For some reason, this is a Web-only discussion, meaning you will not receive a pile of e-mails, but you must register and access the Website to participate. For the many of us with dial-up internet access (including myself), I suggest you prepare your comments in advance, then go online and copy them in.  

For a start, I though we might consider simple answers to three questions relating to immediate participate.  Later we can look more to the future:
 
1.  PrepCom 1 (going against the UN/ECOSOC rules ) agreed to allow individual for-profit corporations  to participate formally in the WSIS - unlike other Summits where they were represented only by their associations.  How should civil society respond to this?  Should NGOs object? 

2.  The proposal for the PrepCom and Summit is for tri-partite representation:  Governments, civil society, and private sector (including individual for-profit corporations).  If this goes ahead, should Industry Associations (i.e. those that are funded by and represent the interests of for-profit corporations) participate as part of civil society, or should they be part of the private sector? 

3.  In the PrepCom and Summit, should civil society be expected to participate without any significant funding? If not, should the Secretariat and governments say what they will do about funding?  So far, a few fellowships are available (useful) but nothing is there for e.g. civil society organising its own Website and information strategy, mobilisation at and around events etc. 

4. Given how the agenda is shaping up (not very well), and the absence (so far) of the promised innovation in CS participation, should civil society participate directly in the WSIS, or should we organise our own events and activities focusing on what we believe civil society should look like, and what we can do to achieve it? 

I urge you to go online at UNESCO and answer these as simply as possible.  The sub-topic will be called:  "Four Starter Questions" (under "CS in the WSIS and beyond") 

best
Sean 



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