INTERIM REPORT OF THE ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL FAMILY 
TO THE CIVIL SOCIETY BUREAU
(December 2004 draft)

Background

The Asia Caucus (more formally the Asia Pacific Civil Society Coordinating Committee for WSIS) traces its roots to WSIS PrepCom 1 in Geneva where 15 or so Asians attending agreed to coordinate efforts and come together as a regional caucus, and produced a regional Statement read in Plenary. After interfacing with the civil society structures and discussions during that time, it was agreed that more Asian participation to WSIS was needed. (Note: Western Asia/Middle East has since spun off a separate regional caucus; the SIDS of the Pacific also  sometimes holds its own caucuses.)

A more strategic opportunity for coordinating Asian participation in WSIS occurred in Bangkok in November 2002 at a seminar organized by Bread for All (Switzerland), the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC, UK) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia, Thailand). The outcome of this meeting, a joint statement from the participants from  around 16 Asian countries <http://www.wsisasia.org/materials/finalversion.doc> became the basis for discussion among a much larger number and more broadly representative gathering of civil society organizations participating in the Asian Civil Society Forum 2002, organized by CONGO as their biennial event in the region. This meeting included a videoconference between participants in Bangkok and the WSIS Secretariat, Geneva.

"WSIS: Asian Response Meeting", Bangkok, Thailand, 22-24 November, 2002 <http://www.wsisasia.org/materials/materials.html> ; and
"Asian Civil Society Forum 2002" Bangkok, Thailand, Dec. 9 - 13, 2002 
<http://www.wsisasia.org/wsis-acsf2002/> 
 
A core group had formed by the time of the Asia and Pacific regional PrepCom, Tokyo, 12-15 January 2003. The group were instrumental in introducing a multi-stakeholder drafting process used to produce the declaration of the PrepCom, and played a particularly strong role in the whole regional process.(See below.)

The "family" was officially formed during PrepCom2, February 2003, Geneva. Since then, the Asia Caucus has been actively participating in all WSIS activities and eventually collaborated with other CSOs through the various structures set up, including the CS Plenary, the various Content & Themes Working Groups, and the CS Bureau.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES, INITIATIVES, AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Tokyo Regional PrepCom

Asia Caucus members played particularly strong roles in the Tokyo PrepCom, particularly in ensuring CS participation in all aspects of the event:
•	Japanese CSO stakeholders were closely coordinating with the Japanese government hosts;  they were also instrumental  in securing funding to bring more CSOs to Tokyo.
•	CS Working groups were also formed and functioned well. 
•	Caucus members were able to place members into the drafting committee for the regional statement, the major output of the PrepCom; the said Final Statement is considered by many to be one of the most progressive to come out of the formal PrepComs, containing strong language on civil society participation as well as in some key regional issues (localization, access & accessibility, FOSS).
•	The CS groups in Tokyo also organized a mass action (picket and press conference) around the “WSIS for All” theme, probably the only one organized by a regional caucus during the formal process. 
All in all, it was a successful engagement, despite the usual limitations inherent to a formalized intergovernmental process.

Convening and Coordination.

•	The Asia Caucus performed convening and coordination functions for most of the Asians participating in WSIS. It attended all the WSIS PrepComs and Intersessionals as well as the Geneva Summit. It convened caucuses regularly during these events.
•	Aside from these, the Caucus also held face-to-face meetings also on three separate occasions: Bangkok during ACSF I in Bangkok in November 2002, and in a Special Caucus in Manila after the Knowledge Networking Workshop organized by FMA in March 2003. The most recent one is in the ACSF II in Bangkok last November 2004. (See below.)
•	It also set has continuing online discussions through a mailing list (see below).

Information and Outreach

•	The Caucus disseminated information WSIS in general and the Caucus activities in particular via an open mailing list and website. It is here were virtual discussion occurs, specially before major events. It is a bit quiet though after most of the big events, and particularly so after the Geneva Summit. 
•	Many of the caucus members also conducted information sharing sessions (formal and informal) in other forums and workshop, especially on the national level
•	Another recent platform for the Asian Caucus to organize WSIS-related events was in the recent second Asian Civil Society Forum (Bangkok/November 2004) attended by more than 300 CSOs all over the region around the issue of UN engagement and MDG's; the Caucus organized a special panel on WSIS and facilitated a video conference with members and staff of the WSIS Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG)

Website <http://www.wsisasia.org> 
Mailing list <communication@wsisasia.org> 
Subscribe: <mailto:communication-ctl@wsisasia.org?body=subscribe> 

Content Development

•	The Caucus decided early on that it would not develop detailed positions for submission to WSIS via the the regional caucus; instead the strategy was to mainstream Asian positions within the various CS content and themes working groups.
•	Caucus members are therefore also members of various content caucuses, many times playing crucial leadership roles within them. The content caucuses with strong Asian participation include: Gender Strategies Working Group; Youth; Media, Internet Governance; Patents/Copyrights/Trademarks; also the other CS “families” such as Persons with Disabilities, Networks and Coalitions, Think Tanks.
•	Whenever needed, the Caucus also developed selected interventions to WSIS plenary and parallel sessions during the PrepComs and the Geneva Summit.
•	Documents and statements produced by the family can be found on the Caucus website at  <http://www.wsisasia.org>;  these include reports by family members from meetings to the lists, statements made at press conferences, etc.

National Processes

•	Caucus members were active in convening, leading or participating in many of the national WSIS processes from 2003 on. (Some of the countries with such processes include: Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Bangladesh, other...)
•	WSIS-related Sectoral activities were also initiated and led by Caucus members (e.g., Youth.)

Overall Participation in CS Structures

•	Aside from the previously mentioned Content and Themes caucuses, the Asia Caucus actively participated in the CS Plenary, with regional reps occasionally chairing the assemblies during WSIS.
•	The Caucus also were represented in the Civil Society Bureau through co-focal points Angela Kuga Thas (APC) and Al Alegre (FMA/APC). The Asia Caucus raised and advocated many strategic issues within the CSB, including: the terms of reference of the CSB as a process-oriented structure; the question of  transparency in WSIS finances; the guidelines for the CS Facilitation Fund; the participation of Content & Themes Working Group representative in the Bureau.
•	Caucus members participated during many of the Summit activities (e.g., Press Conferences, launch of the Civil Society Declaration, etc.) as well as in the parallel Summit events (e.g., ICT4D Platform, World Forum on Communication Rights, etc.)
•	Caucus members continue to be active in the Internet Governance processes which is centered on the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG). An active Caucus member (Adam Peake) continues to co-convene the IG CS Caucus, and two others (Izumi Aizu and Al Alegre) were chosen members of a regional Advisory Panel for UNDP's Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance, which is tasked to provide regional input to the WGIG.

Recent Activity (November 2004)

The family is still active, particularly in work on communications rights and Internet governance. Family members organized sessions at the Asian Civil Society Forum 2004, Bangkok <http://www.acsf.info/> on Communications Rights, Internet Governance and WSIS.  The final declaration from the conference can be found here <http://www.acsf.info/2004/acsf2004_D4_final%20statement.doc>. Notes of the two WSIS sessions from the conference are available from the FMA website:

Session one: <http://mail.fma.ph/pipermail/commrights-asia/2004-December/000237.htm> 
Session two: <http://mail.fma.ph/pipermail/commrights-asia/2004-December/000238.html> 

This meeting included a video conference between Asian participants in Bangkok and members of the Working Group on Internet Governance <http://www.wgig.org> in Geneva.  We thank the WGIG secretariat for providing the link and spending an hour with us.  Notes of the video conference are online <https://ssl.cpsr.org/pipermail/governance/2004-December/002017.html>. 

Conclusion

The family will soon begin a process to select new Bureau representatives and will be present at WSIS PrepCom 2, February 2005. Even as the WSIS Asia Pacific family is in transition, and discerns the most important engagements in Phase II, it aims to continue to participate in the work of WSIS Civil Society in the Tunis phase of WSIS. 

Current Contact Persons:
•	Angela Kuga Thas (amkt@apcwomen.org)
•	Al Alegre (alalegre@fma.ph) 
[for Internet Governance: Adam Peake (ajp@glocom.ac.jp) ]