ICT Development Agenda

UN : Intersessional WSIS Meeting Revises Draft Declaration of Principles and Action Plan

France

04 August 2003

A four-day intersessional meeting on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), between the second and third preparatory committees, was held from 15 – 18 July 2003 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris (France). The key output of this meeting was to revise the Draft Declaration of Principles and Action Plan which will be adopted at the WSIS process.

Purpose of the Intersessional Meeting

The purpose of the meeting was to tackle unresolved issues from the second preparatory committee (PrepCom-2) held in Geneva (Switzerland) from 17 – 28 February 2003 (see UN: Outcomes of WSIS Prepcom-2: Nearly, but not quite An Information Society for All). Comprising the key outcomes of the WSIS process, these documents were redrafted, republished and the WSIS Secretariat then invited comments on them from all stakeholders by 31 May 2003 (see UN: Draft WSIS Declaration of Principles Published and UN: Draft WSIS Action Plan Published). The intersessional meeting was arranged to consider these inputs and incorporate them as far as possible into the documents.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Yoshio Utsumi, the Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) urged participants to ‘work so as to try and significantly shorten the length of the Action Plan and Declaration, and not to leave this huge task to PrepCom-3…to consider carefully and take into account the contributions submitted by the ‘observer community’… and to tackle contentious issues now and not simply set them aside for discussion later.’

Outcomes from the Meeting

One of outcomes of the meeting was that it was agreed that an extract from the Plan of Action be prepared to highlight those proposed actions that have specific tasks and/or deadlines associated with them. An excerpt from this is published below:

Source: Document WSIS03/PCIP/DT/7-E http://www.itu.int/wsis/preparatory/prepcom/intersessional/index.html

The discussion focussed on six following points, according to a note summarising specific action items. These were: the structure of the Plan of action, the objectives goals and target of the Plan of action, the action lines (list of issues), implementation, follow-up and second-phase. The main points made during the discussion were that:

The Plan of Action must be clearly linked to meeting the vision and principles expressed in the Declaration.

It should have clear objectives, which are prioritised and have associated actions and timeframes, with realistic and achievable objectives.

It should reflect solidarity and partnership, with roles and responsibilities for the different stakeholders.

Mechanisms to implement the Plan of Action should be clearly stated, including funding.