Recommendations – Conference "Where to go from Tunis?"

On 21-22 February the Danish network on WSIS and the WFUNA Task Force on
WSIS hosted the international conference “Where to go from Tunis” in
Copenhagen. The conference was aimed at following up on the World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS), which concluded on 18 November 2005 with an
agreement among world leaders on ambitious objectives and promises for the
future Information Society.

The Copenhagen meeting specifically focused on evaluating the results of the
WSIS process, and assessing the impact that the Tunis Agenda for the
Information Society will have on global development in general, and more
specifically on the future of the Information Society, particularly from a
civil society perspective.

The conference presented keynote speeches and workshops on four concrete
issues and approaches:
– National ICT strategies
– Local access to ICT
– Human Rights and ICT
– International follow-up mechanisms to the WSIS process – with special
focus on the Internet Governance Forum and the ECOSOC Commission on Science
and Technology

The debate and workshops resulted in an extensive list of recommendations
drafted by each workshop. The recommendations include the following:
– All countries should create a national ICT strategy consistent with the
WSIS Declaration and Action plan;
– Partnerships between private sector, civil society, local
government, academia, libraries and research organizations should be
promoted at all levels to provide local access and content;
– Spectrum should be considered a public good;
– Appointing a UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy;
– Establishing a Global Privacy Forum with the mandate to work towards
legally binding privacy regulation at global level;
– Internet Governance mechanisms should be tested for human rights
compliance, e.g. through a study initiated by the Internet Governance Forum;
– The Internet Governance Forum should allow for the bottom-up
creation of working groups on any relevant topic of interest to
participants.

Full list of Recommendations of the Conference “Where to go from Tunis?”
(22.02.2006)
http://www.una.dk/wsis/act_dan.htm

Contributions to the Conference “Where to go from Tunis?” (21.02.2006)
http://www.una.dk/wsis/Konference_2006/Contributions.htm

(Contribution by Rikke Frank Joergensen, EDRI-member- Digital Rights
Denmark and Jane Johnsen- FN-forbundet/Danish UN Association)