Global Policy Forum

By Gustavo Capdevila

By the end of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society this November in Tunis, the role to be played by civil society in bridging the digital gap and democratising communications will be clearly defined. But many activists are less than optimistic about the eventual outcome.

Until now, governments have included civil society and the private sector in discussions on all of the themes addressed, including the most controversial ones, like the issue of Internet governance. Nevertheless, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have doubts about whether this cooperation will be maintained in the future.

The targets already approved by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 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 by the year 2015. At the moment, half of the people living on the planet still have no access to telephone service.

The discussions that led to the adoption of these goals, which took place during the first phase of the WSIS in Geneva in December 2003, demonstrated that "the multi-stakeholders principle has been tied to the WSIS process," said Renate Bloem, president of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO).

One of the most distinctive features of the WSIS has been the participation of civil society - coordinated by CONGO - throughout the consultative process, alongside governments and the private sector. Bloem described this active role of civil society as "a breakthrough in the U.N.," adding that "the WSIS will be known for that."

This multi-stakeholder participation is clearly reflected in the third meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the Tunis phase (PrepCom-3), currently underway until Sept. 30 in Geneva. Civil society is involved in the discussion of all proposals to be submitted to the heads of state and government who will be meeting in the Tunisian capital Nov. 16-18. Latvian representative and PrepCom president Janis Karklins stressed that this high degree of cooperation is "unprecedented in the U.N. system," and that the question now will be "how to build up this cooperation."

Nevertheless, NGOs have recently begun to run into resistance to this kind of multi-stakeholder participation, particularly during the preparations for the 2005 World Summit held Sept. 14-16 at U.N. headquarters in New York. The wording used in the final declaration adopted by the Summit did not fully reflect this aspect of participation, commented an activist from a member group of the CONGO network who asked to remain anonymous.

Karklins took a more optimistic view, stressing that the 2005 World Summit Outcome final document devoted a special paragraph to the subject of the information society. The document makes a commitment to "building a people-centred and inclusive information society so as to enhance digital opportunities for all people in order to help bridge the digital divide."

The document also specifically defines the objective of "putting the potential of information and communication technologies at the service of development," which is one of the goals adopted in the first phase of the WSIS. Consequently, "ICTs for development will be anchored in the U.N. agenda at least for 10 years," said Karklins.

Civil society participation in the WSIS process would therefore be assured throughout this period, since cooperation among all stakeholders is an integral part of all of the decisions adopted up until now and the draft documents still being discussed.

Pakistani representative Masood Khan, chairman of the committee addressing the sensitive issue of Internet governance, stressed the need for this cooperation and for all stakeholders to play their roles. Internet governance is virtually entirely in the hands of the private sector, with some degree of participation by civil society, and a decisive influence exerted by the United States. Other states want the WSIS to establish more equitable participation in the adoption of decisions regarding the Internet.

Wolfgang Kleinwächter, a researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark, summed up the Internet governance discord as "an intergovernmental endgame" pitting the United States against the Group of 20 (G-20) developed countries headed up by China, Brazil, India and South Africa, "with the EU in the middle."

Khan called on civil society to keep in mind that the issue of Internet governance is different from the others addressed by the WSIS, and must take political realities into account. At the same time, however, he pledged that the process would be "as transparent and inclusive as possible under the circumstances," while calling on civil society and the other stakeholders involved to maintain a "sense of realism and pragmatism."

But there is still apprehension among civil society sectors, because "after Tunisia we have no guarantees," maintained the activist who spoke anonymously with IPS. For her part, CONGO president Bloem stated, "We strongly reaffirm this principle," and declared that "multi-stakeholders is the way for the future." She added that there are "windows of opportunity" for active NGO participation, and stressed the need to be "very disciplined and organised" in order to take advantage of them.