World Summit on the World Summit on the Information Society Information Society

Overview of Tunis Summit

Presentation at Post-WSIS Seminar, Grand Imperial Hotel, Kampala, 14 December

2005

Patrick Mwesigwa, Technical Manager, UCC

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Outline of Presentation Origin Attendance 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• 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 theextended PrepCom3 finally adopted the twodocuments only less than 12 hours beforeopening of the Summit. The key sticking issueswere: 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 inter-

operative 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 contdDevelopment 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 contdMandate 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 nationalimplementation 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 multi-stakeholder 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: pmwesigwa@ucc.co.ug