[Values-ethics] Values and Ethics Caucus contribution to CS statement

[Laina Raveendran Greene]

Dear Liberato,

Para 1- para 43 of the Tunis documents spells all the abuses as spelt out in
the Geneva declaration. Your statement only rings true if you are saying
that other than abuse of ICTs, things like using ICT for peace is not
included.

Para 3- given that there is already a section on human rights in the CS doc
from HR caucus, perhaps this para could be removed but the last sentence on
the Tunis Amour initiative could be added to end of para 5
(reason- we lose impact if we try to cover too much ground)

Last para- I would remove the second sentence on market values. Understand
what you mean to say here but it adds another judgment call here which then
taints our overall message.

Bottom line- we should have our key one or two points (one ethics and values
is key, and two Info Society is about people and IT used as a tool with
ethics and values to bring the betterment and oneness of humankind)

Regards,
Laina

PS Liberato- the people cced on this list. Should Max add them to the
values-ethics list? This would make it easier for them to participate.

-----Original Message-----
From: values-ethics-admin at wsis-cs.org
[mailto:values-ethics-admin at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf Of Liberato Bautista
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 3:43 PM
To: values-ethics at wsis-cs.org
Cc: bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de; eadjali at gbgm-umc.org; Underwood, Ginny;
gdharmar at gbgm-umc.org; dbriddell at aol.com; aabelton at aol.com;
enzmink at daktel.com; mdhansokho at sentoo.sn
Subject: [Values-ethics] Values and Ethics Caucus contribution to CS
statement
Importance: High

Dear friends in the VEC,

Here's my latest take that incorporates the suggestions of Laina and Max on
the contribution of the Values and Ethics Caucus to the Civil Society
statement. We are under a tight schedule and I am copying Ralph Bendrath of
the writing team of my version (as of 6:38 EST which is 00:38 CET for
Ralph). I sent this version to seven others in my United Methodist
delegation to Tunis who were at the caucus meetings.

Ralph gave us some more time to work on this document until tomorrow--but it
is tomorrow for him which will still be evening for most of us in the United
States. I suggest that if people have problems with my re-write that they
send that to Ralph by replying to all in this email so that everyone gets a
copy. Given the time I have and we were given, this is my best shot.

By sending this to Ralph, we are saying that we would like the writing team
to consider our text in its entirety and length. It's comparable to the
length of the other sections of the latest version of the statement that we
received. We have rewritten it in such a way that it refers to Geneva, Tunis
and beyond. We are submitting our text with the assertion as a caucus that
the ethical dimension should be an overarching theme, be it in the Civil
Society statement or in the UN texts (which we critiqued because this wasn't
the case). This is the reason why it is written the way it is.

I am hoping that the "democratic and inclusive writing team" for the CS
statement, as described in Tunis in response to my question at plenary,
truly reflects the work of the caucuses and the working groups. Writing is a
largely perspectival enterprise. It matters who write and who edits. We were
told in Tunis that the editorial team will put together the statement, but
not rewrite what caucuses and working groups, which are far more
representative, are contributing. Nonetheless, we thank those whose job it
is to put together contributions with disparate
writing styles which they can choose to edit.   

Levi

____________________________________________________________________
REV. LIBERATO C. BAUTISTA
Asst. General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs Main
Representative to the United Nations General Board of Church and Society The
United Methodist Church

Member of the Board of CONGO

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