[CS Bureau] fyi: The Director-General addresses the Permanent Delegations on the WSIS

[Dr. Francis MUGUET]

Dear Magaly

This is very interesting and quite consistent with the
content of speech about "Open Access"
delivered by Elizabeth Longwroth from UNESCO
at a scientific conference I co-organized recently in
Paris at my institution
http://www.mdpi.net/fis2005/

Figthing terrorism by "figthing ignorance" was recognized.
This makes the UNESCO feels the heat and reminds it
of its mission of peace, an emergency
that appears now more important for survival than
protecting the greed of commercial publishers.
This is excellent news for "Open Access".
We simply regreet that it is taking bombs and blood
to remind the UNESCO of its true mission.

Best regards

Francis


> Dear friends,
> I've received this message from Unesco-Infolac please pay attention 
> about the linkage between the london attack and the Unesco agenda at WSIS.
> 
> Magaly
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> 
> 
>      **
> 
>     
> 
> *Flash Info n°122-2005
> *Office of the Spokeswoman/ La Porte Parole
> Contact: m.de-pierrebourg at unesco.org
> Telephone: 00 33 (1) 45 68 13 26
> Fax: 00 33 (1) 45 68 55 66
> 
> UNESCO, 8 July 2005
> 
> *The Director-General addresses the Permanent Delegations on the WSIS*
> 
> * ***
> 
> On 8 July 2005, the Director-General held an information meeting for 
> Permanent Delegations on the World Summit on the Information Society 
> (WSIS) to brief them on the preparation of the second phase of the WSIS, 
> which will take place in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005.
> 
> Since the meeting was held in the wake of the terrorist attacks in 
> London on 7 July, the Director-General expressed his agreement with the 
> statement made by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in 
> which he had characterized these vicious acts as “an attack on humanity 
> itself”, and asked the Delegates to observe one minute of silence in 
> respect for and in solidarity with the victims of the outrage in London.
> 
> In his address to the Delegates, the Director-General highlighted the 
> importance of the WSIS process, which over its two phases in Geneva in 
> 2003 and in Tunis in 2005, has served as catalyst for the international 
> development agenda. Mr Matsuura referred to the UNESCO-promoted concept 
> of “knowledge societies” with its four underlying principles – freedom 
> of expression; quality education for all; universal access to knowledge 
> and information; and respect for cultural and linguistic diversity - 
> that had gained due recognition in the Declaration and Plan of Action 
> adopted in Geneva.
> 
> The Director-General outlined UNESCO’s main contributions to the WSIS 
> process - the four thematic meetings organized in 2005 to foster 
> UNESCO’s multi-stakeholder approach to WSIS implementation activities 
> and to formulate proposals for concrete actions in the areas of UNESCO’s 
> competence. The publication of the World Report on “Building Knowledge 
> Societies” before the Summit in Tunis will “strengthen the intellectual, 
> strategic and ethical “watch” capacities of the international community”.
> 
> “At the World Summit itself in Tunis in November”, the Director-General 
> explained further, “UNESCO will have a strong presence and high 
> visibility. It will be an active participant and contributor, not least 
> through our efforts to organize three events that will build on UNESCO’s 
> concept of “knowledge societies”.
> 
> As regards the follow-up to the World Summit, the Director-General 
> assured the Delegates of UNESCO’s intention “to play a major role in the 
> implementation process, honouring its growing presence in the 
> international debate on ICT for development and building on its strong 
> multi-stakeholder partnerships. […] It is clear that each of the eleven 
> Action Lines will involve a multiplicity of stakeholders in the 
> implementation process. Among the UN agencies, it is important that 
> there is a unified and coherent approach. At the international level, 
> therefore, there is a need for overall inter-agency coordination of the 
> activities of the multi-stakeholder implementing teams addressing the 
> eleven Action Lines. ITU Secretary-General Utsumi has proposed that our 
> two agencies should take on this responsibility together and I have 
> accepted this proposal. However, it is important to remember that the 
> greatest responsibility for implementation lies at the national level.”
> 
> /The full text of Mr Matsuura’s statement is available at the following 
> address: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001400/140072E.pdf/
> 
> / ///
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> Comite-infolac at unesco.org.ec
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> 


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Francis F. MUGUET  Ph.D
World Tour of the Information Society (WTIS)
muguet at wtis.org

UNMSP project : http://www.unmsp.org

World Summit On the Information Society (WSIS)
Civil Society Working Groups
Scientific Information :  http://www.wsis-si.org  chair
Patents & Copyrights   :  http://www.wsis-pct.org co-chair
Financing Mechanismns  :  http://www.wsis-finance.org web

Director
Scientific Information Developement Laboratory :
Knowledge Networks and Information Society
ENSTA
32 Blvd Victor 75739 PARIS cedex FRANCE
Phone: (33)1 45 52 60 19  Fax: (33)1 45 52 52 82
muguet at ensta.fr   http://www.ensta.fr/~muguet

MDPI Foundation Open Access Journals
Associate Publisher
http://www.mdpi.org   http://www.mdpi.net
muguet at mdpi.org       muguet at mdpi.net

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