*EPF508 12/12/2003
Information Society Summit Closes with a View of the Future
(Final agreements call for bridging the digital divide) (1000)

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer

Geneva -- Representatives from 176 nations closed the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) December 12 with adoption of a declaration of principles and a plan of action, outlining goals and objectives for nations to follow in attempting to extend the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to all the world's people.

"We think they are both excellent documents that reflect the views of the United States and all of the rest of the nations of the world," said Ambassador David Gross, who led the U.S. delegation.

Some observers and participants criticized the final WSIS documents for a failure to provide detailed strategies for resolving disputes about Internet governance and bridging the digital divide. But Gross expressed satisfaction with the final outcome.

"[The declaration] talks very much, in quite striking detail, about the commitment of countries for freedom of expression, for a free and open media," Gross said at a press briefing after agreement on the final document. "It speaks, with regard to Internet governance, about the fact that it must be a reflection of a multi-stakeholder approach -- private sector, governments, civil society and the like -- and refers of course to a study that will go into greater detail with regard to certain of these issues."

Gross cautioned against any expectations that all the issues could be resolved at this meeting. "It would be incorrect to think that a summit, a political summit, ought ... to decide fundamental technical issues," Gross said. "Rather, the idea of having the summit is to draw attention at the highest political levels to the importance of the underlying issues, and particularly the importance that new technologies have for helping people around the world with regard to their economic development, social development and political reform. We think that those issues are well teed up here and we look forward to working with other countries in resolving those issues going forward."

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan also took the long view toward what will be necessary to offer the tools of the information age to all citizens in order to create an information society. "An open, inclusive information society that benefits all people will not emerge without sustained commitment and investment," Annan said

The declaration begins with a clear statement on the need to create an information infrastructure that is open and available to all, affirming "our common desire and commitment to build a people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life."

The declaration also underscores the connection between ICTs and the achievement of development goals to reduce poverty and hunger, improve education and health care, promote gender equality and achieve economic and environmental sustainability. From the beginning, this summit has been closely linked to last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development and other internationally adopted development goals.

Freedom of access to information was considered a controversial issue in the long negotiating process that preceded this summit. The document ultimately adopted by the participating governments in Geneva reaffirms the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights on this issue with the statement, "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

The inclusion of youth, women, minorities, the poor and other vulnerable groups is also strongly emphasized in the WSIS document, attaching priority to the need to empower these groups in the information society.

Internet governance was also a controversial issue in the final rounds of negotiation that produced the WSIS declaration. The debate found the United States and other developed nations urging that the Internet remain a domain operated and regulated chiefly by the private sector with few government controls, while some less developed nations argued for creation of an international body to oversee governance of cyberspace. A compromise reached through the negotiating process keeps the status quo intact for the time being, but calls upon the U.N. secretary general to establish an international panel to examine the issue. With representatives from governments, the private sector and non-governmental organizations, the panel would produce a recommendation for consideration at the second phase of this summit set to be held in Tunisia in 2005.

The need to bridge the digital divide and help stimulate growth of ICTs in less developed countries is stated unequivocally and repeatedly in these documents, but agreement on how to finance these efforts is less clear. The language finally adopted is almost a statement to agree to disagree. "We recognize the will expressed on the one hand by some to create an international voluntary 'Digital Solidarity Fund', and by others to undertake studies concerning existing mechanisms and the efficiency and feasibility of such a fund," the declaration says.

The United States is advocating the establishment of a task force to study the funding strategies currently at work to build information technology infrastructure in the developing world, assess how effectively their working and recommend whether other mechanisms are needed. That is also an issue that will be reexamined during the second phase of WSIS in 2005.

Whatever disagreements remain as this phase of the summit ends in Geneva, the declaration itself ends on a decidedly hopeful and optimistic note about what lies ahead. "We are firmly convinced that we are collectively entering a new era of enormous potential," the declaration says in its final paragraph. "All individuals can soon, if we take the necessary actions, together build a new Information Society based on shared knowledge and founded on global solidarity and a better mutual understanding between peoples and nations."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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