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What is WSIS?
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) represents a
global platform to bring together the international community, including
Heads of State and Government, Executive Heads of United Nations
agencies, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), industry leaders, media representatives and civil society.
As outlined in United
Nations Resolution 56/183, adopted 31 January 2002, the World
Summit on the Information Society was to be held under the high
patronage of the United Nations Secretary-General, with the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) as the leading organizational agency.
By gathering top-level government representatives, participants
from UN agencies, NGOs, civil society and the private sector, the
Summit will be held in two phases. The first phase took place between
10-12 December 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland and resulted in the adoption
of a Declaration
of Principles and a Plan
of Action. The second phase is scheduled for 16 – 18 November
2005 in Tunis. All the official documentation can be found on the
following website: www.itu.int/wsis.
The Challenge
During the past decade, the development of new information communication
technologies (ICT) has provided a variety of opportunities for people
the world over. However, a vast majority of humanity remains untouched
by the digital revolution. There are real disparities between countries
and socio-economic groups that are benefiting from information technologies,
and those that are not. By addressing the major social and economic
challenges posed by the use of new technologies, the purpose of
the Summit is to develop a common vision and understanding of the
information society and the adoption of a declaration of principles
and a plan of action for concerted development for implementation
by governments, international institutions and all sectors of civil
society in order to reduce the digital divide.
Preparation
The WSIS Preparatory Committee
arranged the following meetings:
PrepCom1 – Geneva 1-5 July 2002
PrepCom2 – Geneva, 17-28 February 2003
WSIS Intersessional Meeting – Paris (France), 15-18 July 2003
PrepCom3 – Geneva, 15-26 September 2003
The Regional Conferences accompanied
this preparatory work:
Africa
– Bamako (Mali) 28-30 May 2002
Europe – Bucharest (Romania) 7-9 November 2002
Asia Pacific – Tokyo 13-15 January 2003
Western
Asia Preparatory Conference: Beirut (Lebanon), 4-6 February 2003
League
of Arab States Regional Conference: Cairo (Egypt), June 2003
Latin
America & Caribbean – Bavaro (Dominican Republic) 29-31
January 2003
Organization
A High-Level Summit Organizing Committee (HLSOC)
was established to coordinate the efforts of the UN family and to
oversee the work of the Executive Secretariat. The HLSOC is chaired
by the Secretary General of the ITU and is composed of a Representative
of the UN Secretary-General and Executive Heads of the following
UN specialized agencies: FAO, IAEA, ICAO, ILO, IMO, ITU, UNCTAD,
UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO; the Director-General
of the WTO; the Executive Director of UNITAR; the Executive Secretariat
of the UN Regional Economic Commission and the President of the
World Bank.
The Executive
Secretariat of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS-ES)
was established to assist in the preparations for the Summit. Based
at the ITU headquarters in Geneva, it is composed of staff from
member states, UN specialized agencies, the private sector, NGOs
and civil society.
Switzerland’s involvement
Switzerland has established a host
country Executive Secretariat comprised of professional staff
members to prepare for the Summit and has retained the services
of a professional conference management company to handle logistics
needs.
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