World Forum on Communication Rights

Concept Paper

This introduces a proposal to hold a one-day World Forum on Communication Rights alongside the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December 2003. The CRIS campaign (Communication Rights in the Information Society: www.crisinfo.org) is launching the initiative as a collaborative event, and is actively building a broader partnership.

1.	The Rationale

The purpose of the Forum is specific. In the context of human rights in general, it focuses on information and communication rights issues that surround the emergence of an information society. These are not limited to concerns regarding the ‘digital divide’ and access to ICTs; but draw on a more profound understanding of the role of information and communication in society and current dynamics and trends. They encompass areas such as the public domain and intellectual property rights, the public sphere and media and communication, and the commercialisation and closure of the Internet.

The WSIS itself is constrained in the manner and depth to which such issues can be addressed. Some countries and corporate interests have already demonstrated their determination to prevent certain matters from reaching the agenda. And many issues are the domain of existing international organisations and entities, and these are reluctant to cede territory to the WSIS. Yet it is essential that communication rights in the information society be considered as a coherent, and interrelated, set of concerns. Indeed, in all likelihood it is the extent to which rights are implanted and firmly fixed within the process of creating an information society that will determine which kind of information society emerges, how the benefits will be realised, and who will reap them.

The event comprises a forum to explore these and to do something about them. It traces its lineage (as does the CRIS campaign itself) not through the WSIS process per se, but in the mobilisation of civil society in recent years around global human rights, communication and development issues.

2.	Goals

The outcomes of the Forum are expected to be threefold:

A Portrayal of Communication Rights Globally: To explore and define the dimensions of information and communication rights that must underpin any claim of an information society to enrich the lives of all people, by portraying the denial of these rights in different contexts using concrete examples and analyses, and demonstrating novel examples of such rights being secured.

A ‘Declaration on Communication Rights in the Information Society’: To formulate together and agree a succinct statement, in comprehensible language, that:

Notes existing human rights relating to information and communication;

Sets down the conditions and environment necessary for people to exercise these, in practice;

Explores obstacles to achieving such an environment, identifying priority areas for intervention.

A Set of Actions: To engage multi-partner participation in a set of voluntary collaborative actions to implement such rights in a manner meaningful to people in their everyday lives, and to define appropriate follow-up. These will comprise targeted actions, each contributing to communication rights in the context of the information society, and that in practice are beyond the scope of the WSIS Summit. They might include for instance alternatives to intellectual property rights, promotion of open source software, innovation in governance and regulation, grass-roots technologies, or new fund-raising mechanisms.

3.	Modalities

The Forum is an open event. It welcomes those among civil society, activists, NGOs, agencies, governments, intergovernmental organisations and the private sector who accept the need to address communication rights in the information society and who want to work together to achieve these goals. It will have a duration of one day, and will take place alongside the first WSIS Summit in December 2003 in Palexpo. The provisional date is December the 11th, mid way through the three day Summit.

Link to Other Events

Links will be established with other events surrounding the WSIS, held within Palexpo as well as externally bringing together grass-roots and community activists and organisations. An important aspect of the Forum will be to build bridges between these and others within the WSIS as a whole seeking to cooperate on rights issues, and to bring forward radical but realistic proposals for action.

CRIS will also work with others to organise workshops, seminars or other events around the WSIS Summit, aimed at feeding into the Forum, and may establish live interactive links globally.

Preparatory Process

Preparations for all three objectives will be extensive and are underway.

A	The portrayal of the situation and needs of communication rights in different regions will be primed through a series of national and regional Workshops and other events. Using a common methodology, the aim is to explore the realities for communities in different regions in terms of rights or the absence of them, the impact on their capacity to engage effectively with the information society, and innovative solutions from communities and activists. Such workshops are currently being discussed with partners, and others are being sought.

B.	A first draft of the Declaration on Communication Rights will be prepared by the Forum Organising Group (see below) by July 2003. It will then be open to a period of discussion and debate, electronically, at civil society and other events and through targeted consultations. The final text agreed for the Forum will thereafter seek ongoing endorsement from a wide range of actors. This Declaration is not intended as a formal or legal statement, but as a basic set of agreed principles that can form a platform for organisation and mobilisation.

C.	The set of concrete actions initiated at the Forum need careful and extensive preparation and coordination with others. A first step is to identify potential projects, each to be organised as collaborations, going beyond the current status quo in conventional information society thought, that contribute to information and communication rights, and yet are realistic in terms of resources and outcomes. We are convinced that huge financial investment is not a prerequisite of progress, if the will is there to innovate in regulation, governance and new funding mechanisms. Donor agencies, government and indeed private sector are welcome in such actions.

Preparations will be pursued alongside existing civil society events during the year, WSIS PrepCom 3, and in dedicated meetings, encounters and communications, thus grounding it within ongoing civil society processes and discourse.

CRIS is ready to play its part in organising the event, and is actively seeking collaborators amongst NGOs and civil society, intergovernmental and other agencies, governments and private sector. CRIS is approaching various parties to form a Forum Organising Group.

Should you wish to know more: Seán Ó Siochrú sean@nexus.ie; Myriam Horngren: mh@wacc.org.uk

10 April 2003	2

Communications Rights Summit

Sean O Siochru

2003-04-22

NEXUS