Transcript Document

World Summit on the
Information Society
Overview of Tunis Summit
Presentation at Post-WSIS Seminar, Grand
Imperial Hotel, Kampala, 14 December 2005
Patrick Mwesigwa, Technical Manager, UCC
Outline of Presentation
 Origin
 Attendance
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Uganda’s statement at Summit
Highlights of Tunis Commitment
Highlights of Tunis Agenda
Implementation and follow-up mechanism
Way forward and recommendations
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WSIS: Origins and status
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WSIS originally proposed by ITU PP in 1998
Formally endorsed by the UN in 2001
Regional meetings, 2002 – 2003
PrepCom process, started in July 2002
First phase, Geneva 10-12 December 2003
Second phase, Tunis, 16-18 November 2005
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WSIS Tunis Phase participation
 More than 19,000 participants from govt, civil
society, private sector and media
 174 UN Member States
 More than 40 Heads of States
 Opened by the UN Secretary General, Kofi
Annan
 Uganda delegation led by Ambassador
Kweronda Ruhemba, Uganda's Permanent
Representative to UN Mission in Geneva
 More than 300 Summit Events
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Highlights of Uganda’s Statement in the
General debate
Highlighted Uganda’s achievements since sector was
liberalized
 Called upon International community to support
regional initiatives e.g. EASSy project
 Stressed need for involvement of all stakeholders in
Internet Governance policy issues
 Called for international collaboration in the fight
against misuse of Internet e.g. spam, pornography
and cyber crime
 Expressed support for the created Digital Solidarity
Fund
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Adoption of “Tunis Commitment” and “Tunis
Agenda for the Information Society”
After lengthy and tedious deliberations the
extended PrepCom3 finally adopted the two
documents only less than 12 hours before
opening of the Summit. The key sticking issues
were:
 Issues of human rights and freedom of
expression
 Internet governance oversight function
 Implementation mechanism for WSIS outcomes
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Highlights of Tunis Commitment
 Reaffirmation of support for the Geneva Declaration of
Principles and Plan of Action
 Recognition of ICTs as effective tools to promote peace,
security and stability, rule of law and good governance
 Need to prevent the abuse of information resources and
technologies for criminal and terrorist purposes
 Commitment to women’s empowerment
 Recognition of role of ICTs in protection of children from
abuse
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Tunis Commitment contd
• Encouragement of development of interoperative platforms and free and open
source software
• Commitment to Implementation of the
digital solidarity agenda
• Promotion of cultural diversity and
identities in the information society
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Highlights of Tunis Agenda
 Called upon international community to promote transfer of
technology to developing countries
 Identified key areas for greater financial resources:
 ICT capacity building programmes
 Access and connectivity especially for developing countries
 Regional backbone infrastructure
 ICT applications and content
 Local community initiatives in ICT projects related to health and
education
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Tunis Agenda contd
• Recommended several improvements in existing financial
mechanisms
• Welcomed the Digital Solidarity Fund created in Geneva
to compliment existing financing mechanisms
• Commitment to the stability and security of the Internet
with full participation of all stakeholders
• Endorsed working definition of Internet governance as
“the development and application by governments,
private sector and civil society in their respective roles of
shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making
procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution
and use of the Internet”
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Tunis Agenda contd
 Reinforcement of specialized regional internet
resource management institutions (e.g. AFRINIC)
to guarantee each region to manage its own
resources
 Called upon governments to to develop legislation
for the investigation and prosecution of cyber crime
 Encourage realization of multilingualism in the
internet development environment
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Tunis Agenda contd
Development of strategies affordable global
Connectivity by:
 Promoting commercially negotiated internet transit and
interconnection costs
 Setting up high speed internet backbone networks and
regional internet exchange points
 Development of low cost terminal equipment
 Negotiation of reduced interconnection costs for LDCs
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Tunis Agenda contd
 Countries should not be involved in
decisions regarding other countries’ ccTLDs
 Invited the UN SG to convene new forum
for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue called
“Internet Governance Forum” (IGF) by
2Q2006
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Structure and functioning of IGF
 Will be multilateral, multi-stakeholder, democratic and
transparent
 To built on existing structures of Internet Governance
 Will have lightweight and decentralized structure subject to
periodic review
 Meet periodically in parallel with major UN relevant
conferences
 IGF would have no oversight function and would not replace
existing arrangements, mechanisms or institutions
 Would not be involved in day-to-day or technical operations
of the Internet
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Tunis Agenda contd
Mandate of IGF:
 discuss public policy issues related to Internet
governance
 Advise all stakeholders on ways to accelerate availability
and affordability of the Internet in the developing world
 Contribute to capacity building for Internet governance in
the developing countries
 Discuss issues related to critical Internet resources
 Help to find solutions to use and misuse of the internet
 Publish proceedings
 First meeting of IGF to be held in Athens in 2006
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Implementation and follow up mechanism
Encouraged governments to set national
implementation mechanism, where:
 National e-strategies are an integral part of national
development programmes including poverty
reduction strategies
 Mainstreaming ICTs in strategies for Official
Development Assistance (ODA)
 Country assessment reports should contain
component on ICT for development
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Implementation mechanism at regional level
• Exchange of information and best
practices
• Organizing regional WSIS follow up
activities
• Adoption of multi-stakeholder approach
in regional WSIS implementation
activities
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Implementation mechanism at international
level
• Implementation to take into account main
themes and action lines in the Summit
documents
• Each UN agency should act according to
its mandate and competencies
• Implementation and follow-up should
include inter-governmental and multistakeholder components
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Implementation at international level
contd
 Request UN SG to establish a UN group on Information
Society consisting of relevant UN bodies to facilitate
implementation of WSIS outcomes. Identification of lead
agencies to take into account the experiences of ITU,
UNESCO, UNDP
 UN SG to report to UNGA thro ECOSOC on modalities
of interagency coordination of implementation of WSIS
outcomes by June 2006
 Called upon UNGA to declare 17 May as World
Information Society Day to raise awareness of the
importance of this global facility
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Way Forward and recommendations:
 We agree to set up a National Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) for
Uganda consisting of all stakeholders; Government, civil society, private
sector and the media to discuss policy and technical issues related to
the management of the internet. The NIGF will form the basis of
Uganda’s participation in the proposed global IGF
 We recommend that UCC coordinates the implementation and follow up
of the WSIS outcomes and regularly updates the stakeholders on the
progress of the realization of the WSIS goals and objectives taking into
account the internationally agreed Digital Opportunities Indicators.
 We request the WSIS National Task Force to ensure the involvement of
all stakeholders in all WSIS activities through such events as public
dialogues, conferences and workshops
 We further request UCC to continue playing the role of the Focal Point
for WSIS activities.
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Thank you for your
attention!
E-mail: [email protected]
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