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Examining the Aims of WSIS
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Dr. Kazem Motamednejad
Seminar Secretary, Professor of Communications at the
Allameh Tabatabaiee University
and a member of the Communications Committee in Iran’s
National UNESCO Commission. |
The WSIS is,
without a doubt, one of the most important events to come in the twenty-first
century. The event is a mammoth landmark and never before has there been an
international gathering of this magnitude and at this level – the level of
heads of states – to deal with such a wide spectrum of issues concerning
“information societies”. In preparation for active participation and
productive contribution to the summit’s discussions and negotiations a
scientific seminar on “Iran & Information Society in 2022” has taken place in
Tehran on 16 - 18 December 2002.
For accurate comprehension of the summit’s
goals and intentions, one must investigate its formation process. The WSIS
preparation started some four years ago, under the supervision of the United
Nations Secretary - General and with the cooperation of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) and other specialized UN bodies, particularly
UNESCO. The initiative for the summit was first proposed in 1998 (in an ITU
meeting in Minneapolis, USA) amid arguments on the effects of new information
and communications technologies (ICT) on political, cultural, social and
economical conditions of local and international communities, with expressions
such as “communications revolution”, “information era” and “network society”
in generous use. The proposal was eventually approved by a resolution of the
UN’s 56th Annual General Assembly in December 2001. The said resolution
stipulates that the summit should not only be attended by heads of states and
other high-ranking officials, but also non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
and other representatives of civil society.
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"There
has been a strong urge to create conditions in which everyone has the
right to unrestrained access to ICT – which should be considered a
fundamental human right – in an attempt to eliminate the world’s current
“digital gap”." |
However, the current international
discussions on “information society” are no longer focused on a new
information and communications world order, which was advocated by bodies like
UNESCO in the 1970’s and 80’s in an attempt to protect third world countries’
interests against the domination of capitalist Western countries. The new
focus is on facilitating liberal economies, political conservatism and
implementing policies of deregulation and privatization in ICT sectors
worldwide, in hopes of creating consumers of a global market dependent on the
technologies of big multinational corporations.
The first talk of creating an “information
society” dates back to the
United States’ Presidential Elections of 1992. In their campaigns, the
democratic candidates for presidency and vice presidency, Bill Clinton and Al
Gore stressed the importance and need for “information super highways” and
“national databases” for the evolving from an industrial society and emerging
as an “information society”. Upon their election,
Clinton and Gore started to implement their policies of creating a
“national information society” as well as a “global information society”. By
the summer of 1993 all the major European states as well as the European Union
and
Japan had implemented policies, programs and legislation to
facilitate the expansion of ICT capabilities in an attempt to create
“information societies”. In his famous speech delivered before the first ITU
conference held on
21 March 1994, in
Buenos Aires, the then Vice President Al Gore identified the following
five prerequisites for emerging as an advanced “information society”:
• The privatization of telecommunications
• Facilitation of free and fair
competition in the communications sector
• Deregulation of communication
activities and pricings
• Allowing for the independent
systemization of communications
• Provision of public communication
services.
This five-step process was subsequently
enshrined in ITU’s constitution as the organization’s main policy and program
and has since been applied throughout the world.
In the current circumstances, where the
developed world is working in orchestration with international bodies to
expand information capacities and create a “global information society”, it is
paramount that leaders of the developing world voice their concerns and
present their critical views at WSIS to defend their countries’ interests and
thus create a more just and equitable “global information society”. The active
participation of representatives from some Asian, African and South American
countries and the tireless efforts of many NGOs in the first WSIS preparatory
meeting (Geneva, June 2002) and its supplementary meeting (Geneva, September
2002) provided suggestions for discussion topics. There has been a strong urge
to create conditions in which everyone has the right to unrestrained access to
ICT, which should be considered a fundamental human right, in attempt to
eliminate the world’s current “digital gap”. There is hope that the WSIS will
take significant steps in the creating of a “global information society” which
is the product of global cooperation and understanding, in which ICT will be
beneficial to and fulfilling of the needs of all countries. |
