Global Policy Forum

By Gustavo Capdevila

The unprecedented cooperation among governments, civil society and the private sector that has characterised the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process for the last three years was undermined this week by a decision adopted by government representatives. Non-governmental organisations (NGO) have reacted with alarm over the decision to exclude civil society and private sector representatives from a number of the drafting groups preparing the documents to be submitted for the second phase of the WSIS, taking place Nov. 16-18 in Tunis. The third meeting of the preparatory committee for the WSIS second phase is currently under way in Geneva, where the first phase was held in December 2003.

Renate Bloem, president of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO), told IPS that Russia and China had clearly stated their opposition on Tuesday to the participation of these two non-government sectors in the drafting groups. For her part, Jeanette Hofmann, a social sciences researcher from Berlin, reported that Brazil had blocked a private sector representative from speaking on Wednesday, and actually had the individual in question removed from the meeting room.

These incidents create further obstacles on the road to the WSIS, already made rocky by difficulties in reaching consensus on thorny issues like Internet governance and delays in the preparatory committee deliberations, which are scheduled to wrap up this Friday. The decision to exclude civil society and the private sector from WSIS drafting groups signals an "erosion" in the summit process that has undermined the rules of procedure adopted at the earliest stages, according to Wolfgang Kleinwaechter, a professor of international communication policy and regulation at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. "Now that it has become the practice of some drafting groups to expel non-governmental participants, civil society must protest," said Avri Doria, a researcher at Sweden's Lulea University of Technology.

This new government decision encompasses representatives of the private sector and the wide range of civil society actors who have been involved in the process, including delegates from universities, libraries and journalist associations, community radio workers, computer specialists, women, youth and indigenous peoples, and human rights activists, among others. The private sector and civil society, defined as "non-governmental stakeholders" in the WSIS process, were active participants in the first phase of the WSIS in Geneva. But from the very beginning of the preparatory committee sessions currently under way, starting Sep. 19, Bloem warned that there were signs of resistance among some government representatives to this high degree of multi-stakeholder cooperation.

Carlos Afonso of the Brazilian non-governmental Information Network for the Third Sector (RITS) expressed surprise and dismay over the stance adopted by his country towards the participation of non-governmental representatives in some of the preparatory meetings. "Unfortunately it is true, and it amazes us," said Afonso, noting that Brazil is usually a leading "representative of democracy," and currently enjoys greater freedom of expression than ever before. Until this last meeting, the Brazilian government had always supported the active participation of the full range of stakeholders, he added.

In response to these new challenges, the group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC) issued a statement to underline "our conviction that all stakeholders -- governments, the private sector, civil society and other interested parties -- should actively participate in Internet governance in a coordinated and balanced manner, commensurate with their respective roles and responsibilities."

Throughout the WSIS process, Brazil has headed up a large group of developing countries calling for profound changes in Internet governance to grant greater participation to all states. This would imply reducing the power of the private sector and the United States, which currently dominate the Internet arena. Sources close to the Brazilian delegation reported that its members were primarily opposed to discussing the draft resolutions on Internet governance in the presence of representatives of large corporations with a vested interest in this sector, such as Microsoft, the world's leading computer software producer. But the inclusion of civil society in this ban sparked a harshly worded response questioning "the sincerity of commitments made by some governments" to the principle of multi-stakeholder participation.

"Our exclusion deprives the preparatory committee of valuable knowledge, expertise and perspectives," says a statement released by civil society representatives. "Civil society has been and will continue to be the main force for promoting capacity building and development of the Internet in developing countries," it adds.

Kleinwaechter commented that governments are obliged to continue working in partnership with civil society until 2015, the deadline set for the goals established in the first phase of the WSIS, which include connecting all villages, hospitals and schools around the world with information and communications technologies (ICTs), and ensuring that all of the world's population has access to television and radio services. Civil society has the needed expertise in capacity building, community education and training, he commented.

The president of the preparatory committee, Janis Karklins of Latvia, acknowledged that progress in negotiations has been very slow, and that with only two days left before the sessions were set to conclude, consensus had been reached on barely 15 to 20 percent of the issues on the agenda. Subcommittee A, which is responsible for the theme of Internet governance, set up five drafting groups this week to help speed up progress towards agreements, but according to Kleinwaechter, some of the key issues in this area had yet to be touched just with only two days of discussions left to go.