[Lac] version correcta ahora

[Valeria Betancourt]

Amigos/as:

Por error les envie la version no depurada de la declaración de 
sociedad civil en reacción a la declaración de la CMSI. 

Disculpas!  

Ahi va el  texto final, aún en inglés.

Valeria
--------------------

Statement of the Civil Society in Response to the WSIS Draft 
Declaration
Presentation to Sub-Committee 2, September 22nd.

We, representatives from civil society, express our grave concern in 
response to the Draft Declaration issued on 19th September 2003.

The information society described in the document is characterized by 

uniformity, technocracy and bargaining. It lacks any vision that is 
people
and citizen centered:  there is little or no mention of the poor, 
workers
and marginalized groups including indigenous people, refugees, people 
with
disabilities. The emphasis on diversity of peoples, cultures and ways 
of
living is still far from sufficient. Our contributions throughout 
this 
process of shaping a common vision of an inclusive, democratic and 
sustainable information society, have not been given serious
consideration.

We have two overarching concerns:

· Although the principles of the UDHR and the Millenium Development 
Declaration are referred to prominently at the start of the 
Declaration,
subsequent paragraphs do not demonstrate genuine commitment to 
upholding
these principles in the realization of an Information Society. 
Existing 
rights, such as Article 19, should be quoted fully and affirmed 
rather
than 
cut up in pieces according to individual country preferences.

· Some core concerns have been formulated in ways that fundamentally 
alter
their meaning, whilst others raised by civil society over the past 18 

months have been removed.

Specifically:

1. Community media as a concept is missing from the document.  This 
indicates a complete disregard of the value of such alternative media 
in
promoting public participation and strengthening cultural and 
linguistic
diversity.

2. Literacy, education and research - fundamental components of the 
information and knowledge society cannot be confined to one section 
of 
capacity building. Universal education is a key principle for 
building a
participative society.

3. Capacity Building must include not only skills to use ICT`s but 
also 
include skills for creating, innovating and enabling active 
citizenship.
It 
should also recognize fundamental rights in the workplace and core 
labour
standards for all who work in the Information Society.

4.  The value and benefits of Free and Open Source Software are not 
adequately recognized nor promoted in this document, thus undermining
their 
real potential. These extend far beyond the concept of affordability.

5. The section on Enabling Environment speaks of a regulatory and 
legislative environment that reinforces the advancement of a market-
driven
industry at the expense of the citizenry.

6. The reference to Intellectual Property Rights manipulates the 
notion of
fair balance. It threatens innovation, the public domain, and 
citizens 
rights and promotes the further concentration of wealth and power in 
the
hands of the resource rich. Legal environments and economic means 
should
be 
setup for Public libraries, schools and universities in order to 
enrich
the 
public domain and facilitate the free and open circulation of 
scientific
publications.

7. The role of civil society in relation to Internet governance, is 
completely negated whilst increased powers of control are extended to 

governments and the private sector.

8. Discussions in relation to Building Confidence, Trust and Security 
have
shifted to a highly politicized agenda, characterized by language
referring 
to the integrity of the military field and the use of information
resources 
for criminal and terrorist purposes. This is at the expense of 
citizen's
rights including freedom of association, movement, expression, and
privacy.

9. References to women still fail to recognize them as key actors in 
building an information society. The Declaration must avoid language 
that
couches women as 'wards' and must focus on the importance of women as 

primary change agents.

10. In addition, references to the role of the Information Society in 

ensuring the furthering of commitments made in previous UN 
conferences are
given little, if any, mention in this document.

The document as it currently stands reinforces the unequal balance of 

powers and of development between and within nations, rather than 
redressing it. We demand that governments maintain a strong human 
development focus and prevent the growing control of international 
governance processes by market-led forces.

This is not a document that Civil society can endorse and we question 
the
degree of support that will emerge amongst all stakeholders.

As it stands, the current document will only succeed in reaching a 
consensus amongst the elite.

----
Prepared by the Civil Society Content and Themes group, mandated by 
the 
Civil Society Plenary on 22nd September.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Valeria Betancourt
Coordinadora
Monitor de Políticas de TIC en América Latina y El Caribe
http://lac.derechos.apc.org
Tel: +593 (2) 2-234447 Fax: +593 (2) 2-559440
APC ~ La Asociación para el Progreso de las Comunicaciones
http://www.apc.org