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The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
in Geneva, Switzerland from the
10-12 December
2003, will address global information
communication technology (ICT) and its ability
to contribute to democratisation, transparency
and accountability. |
The WSIS represents a common desire and
commitment to build a people centred, inclusive
and development oriented information society,
where everyone can create, access, use and share
information and knowledge. This will help
individuals, communities and societies to
achieve their full potential in promoting
sustainable development and a better quality of
life for all.
During the summit representatives from all over
the world will formulate a declaration of
principles and a plan of action that respects
and upholds the purposes and principles of the
Charter of the United Nations and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. The part that
information technology has played in economic
development is undeniable and the WSIS addressed
a broad range of themes concerning the
information society with the aim of mending the
‘digital divide’ between developing and
developed countries. With the focus more on
opportunities than on problems, key areas
addressed included; connectivity,
computerisation, and capacity for content
development worldwide. Issues such as
‘e–education’, ‘e-health’ and ‘e-governance’
were discussed with the aim of setting clear
goals for the year 2015 and identifying concrete
projects to realise those goals.
The Summit will deal with matters of diversity
in languages and cultures in order to prevent
the development of one big ‘info-tech’ culture
and to allow a diversity of languages and
cultures to become more viable. Governments
cannot deal with the technical divide on their
own. They need the help of the global business
sector and civil society, including
non-governmental organisations, universities,
archives and libraries, which also have an
important role to play in developing
applications to use the new technologies as
tools for development.
UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, confirmed the
UN’s support at the opening session of the UN
sponsored World Electronic Media, Media Freedoms
Must Be Reaffirmed, forum in Geneva. In his
statement to broadcasters worldwide Annan said,
“Respect for media freedoms must accompany
efforts to expand the Internet, even though the
press will continue to be regulated in some
nations. But when they go further down the slope
toward censorship and harassment all of us – and
potentially our rights – are imperilled.”
The challenge for the WSIS is to harness the
potential of information and communication
technology to promote the development goals of
the Millennium Declaration, namely the
eradication of extreme poverty and hunger;
achievement of universal primary education;
promotion of gender equality and empowerment of
women; reduction of child mortality; improvement
of maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria
and other diseases; ensuring environmental
sustainability; and developing global
partnerships for development and the attainment
of a more peaceful, just and prosperous world.
The WSIS global group will restate its
commitment to the achievement of sustainable
development and agreed development goals
contained in the Johannesburg Declaration and
Plan of Implementation and the Monterrey
Consensus, and other outcomes of relevant UN
summits. The summit will also provide an
opportunity to table issues before heads of
State and government in the hope of winning
their united support. In an email sent on 10
December from the same computer used to write
the original World Wide Web software in 1990,
Kofi Annan wrote, “…I hope you will keep
communicating with each other to build bridges
of understanding between people and countries.”
Phase two of the summit will take place in
Tunis, Tunisia in November 2005. |
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Camille York, sixth-grade Canadian student
illustrates how IT can help the fight against
poverty. WSIS. |
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