unesco and the world summit on the information society 1 briefing session with permanent delegations...

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UNESCO and the World Summit on the Information Society

Briefing Session with Permanent Delegations11 September 2002

Abdul Waheed Khan Assistant Director Generalfor Communication and Information

UNESCO contributes to preparing the

World Summit on the Information Society

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Present situation

• Globalization• Predominance of market economy• Growing influence of science and technology• Increasing prevalence of democratic governance • Knowledge and information determine new

patterns of wealth • Growing divides (economic, social, digital …)

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A World of Contrasts

KnowledgeProsperityGlobalization

IgnorancePoverty

Marginalization

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WSIS Challenges

• Narrowing the digital divide• Building international consensus on norms

and principles• Ensuring free flow of, and access to data,

information and knowledge

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WSIS: UNESCO’s role

• Renewed relevance of UNESCO’s mandate “To promote the free flow of ideas by word and image and to maintain, increase and spread knowledge”

• UNESCO one of the initiators of WSIS, upon request of its governing bodies

• However: Role of IGOs formally limited, since main participants are governments

• Therefore: UNESCO as catalyst suggesting strategies and influencing policy making

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What should UNESCO achieve at WSIS? • UNESCO’s concerns reflected in Declaration of

Principles and Plan of actions • Importance of the content aspect of access• Importance of ICTs to enhance learning opportunities and

to foster capacity-building• Importance of ICTs to enhance scientific research and

communication• Importance of cultural creation, exchanges and preservation

(cultural diversity)

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WSIS Outcome

• Declaration embodying a set of principles and rules of conduct aimed at establishing a more inclusive and equitable Information Society;

• Plan of Action formulating operational proposals and concrete measures ensure all benefit equitably from the opportunities created by the Information Society.

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WSIS Preparation Calendar • PrepCom 1 (Geneva, 1-5 July 2002)

• Set the rules and framework of the Summit

• Informal meeting (16-18 September 2002)• Discuss the themes of the Summit

• PrepCom 2 (First half 2003)• Examine draft documents to be presented at the Summit

• PrepCom 3 (Second half 2003) • Prepare Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action

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UNESCO preparation process • Mobilizing Civil Society

NGO meetings, Paris, France, 02 + 04/2002 African Civil Society, Bamako, Mali, 05/2002 Archives Community, Beijing, China, 05/2002

• Mobilizing Member States Europe: Mainz, Germany, 06/2002 + Paris, France, 11/2002 LAC : Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 09/2002 APA: Thailand + Fiji, 11/2002 or 12/2002 (to be confirmed) AFR : Yaoundé, Cameroon, 03/2003 (to be confirmed)

• Promoting debates UNESCO WSIS Publication Series + Online forums

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Recommendations • Civil Society Consultations, April 2002

«The right to information must be given to those excluded from the information society especially to the disabled.»

• Bejing, May 2002

«Information carriers to enable permanent access to electronic information for future generations must be developed.”

• Bamako, May 2002

” The Information Society in Africa can greatly benefit from strong links between traditional media and ICTs.”

• Mainz, June 2002

«Access should not be limited to technological infrastructure, but also concern cognitive,economic and physical dimensions.»

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Tactical Framework

• Defining one main goal

• Focusing on a few areas of intervention

• Relying on adopted positions

• Establishing alliances

• Advocating UNESCO's position

• Creating events

• Measuring the impact of UNESCO's action

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Involving UNESCO Member States

Briefing delegations to PrepComs and ministerial regional conferences on UNESCO’s concerns

Promoting recommendations adopted at UNESCO WSIS preparatory meetings

Supporting UNESCO’s preparatory activities

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UNESCO and WSIS on the webhttp://www.unesco.org/wsis

unesco and the world summit on the information society 1 briefing session with permanent delegations...

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