[governance] WSIS 10+

["Kleinwächter, Wolfgang"]

Hi everybody,
 
I want to kick-start a discussion how to prepare for the next phase in the WSIS 10+ process, as it was discussed at length during the recent Geneva meeting.
http://www.itu.int/wsis/implementation/2013/forum/documents/outcomes.html
 
The overall plan - pushed forward by the ITU - is to have a high level (ministerial) meeting in April 2014 in Sharm el Sheikh followed by an another high level event in 2015. The 2015 event has to be decided by the next UN General Assembly in December 2013. One recommendation from Geneva was to link the WSIS 10+ process in a not yet specified way to the UN Milleniums Development Goals Summit which will take place also in 2015. Janis Karklins from UNESCO proposed to do the WSIS 10+ event (WSIS III?) before the Millenium Summit to clear how ICT can help to achieve MDGs. 
 
Furthermore a discussion has started for the "Beyond 2015 strategy" for the further development of the information society, something like WSIS++. The first push came from UNGIS, a platform of now about 30 intergovernmental organsations. UNGIS presents itself as a more technical (internal) UN body which just facilitates information exchange. However in its joint statement it has already framed how 2015+ should be discussed and it has the potential to become a policy body.
 
The process ahaed of us raises numerous issues, both with regard to substance as well as to procedures. And CS should start to form as quick as possible a similar structure which guided CS through the two phases of WSIS between 2002 and 2005 with a Plenary, a Bureau, a Content & Themes Group and various WGs and Caucuses.  
 
So far the process is driven mainly by the UN organisations with ITU, UNDP and UNESCO in the drivers sead. They "consult" with stakeholders but this consultations does not really look like a full inclusion on equal footing. There is on the one hand a general commitment for multistakeholderism on all levels, on the other hand there are no procedures in place how the MS should be operationalized in the preparation of the events in 2014 and 2015 and in draftting the 2015+ strategy. UNGIS sits in closed meetings. The ministerial meetings are not open to the public. There is no - as we had in WSIS I & II - Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) with interacting buereaus of the three stakeholder groups. 
 
My expecation is that the UNCSTD will discuss this in its June 2013 meeting and send some recommendations to the UNGA. The 2nd Committee will prepare probably a resolution which include principles and procedures for both the 2014 and 2015 events. 
 
The 2014 event in Sharm el Sheikh is back-to-back to the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) which will be prepared by a series of regional development conferences within the coming months. While there is no direct formal link between WTDC and WSIS 10+, one can expect that this process will be steered primarily by the ITU. 
 
What civil society should do now is to draft a formal statement with the aim to clarify the procedures for the full and equal involvment of CS into the preparatory process for the two events in 2014 and 2015 as well as into the drafting of a 2015+ strategy.  This statement should refer also to the CS Declaration from 2003 and reiterate basic CS values as still relevant in 2013++.   
http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en?&id=1179%7C1208
 
Wolfgang
 

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