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LATIN
AMERICA:
Reg'l Meet
Promotes Inclusive Information
Society - In Theory
Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, (IPS) -
Non-governmental organisations
and networks protested their
exclusion from the Regional
Preparatory Ministerial
Conference of Latin America and
the Caribbean for the second
phase of the World Summit on the
Information Society, held this
week in Rio de Janeiro.
”The mechanisms for
participation and rules of
procedure established in the
framework of the Summit have not
been respected,” declared 22
groups, which included the
Network of Argentine Digital
Organisations (RODAR) and
Brazil's Information Network for
the Third Sector (RITS).
Only four official delegations,
those of Argentina, Nicaragua,
Peru and Uruguay, had civil
society representatives among
their members.
Ironically, the Rio de Janeiro
Declaration and Plan of Action,
the two official documents
adopted at the conference that
wrapped up Friday, reiterated
the commitment to create ”an
inclusive information society,”
and stressed that social
participation is essential for
achieving this objective.
Doubling the current number or
reaching the point where
one-third of public schools and
libraries are connected to the
Internet by mid-2007 is one of
the numerous goals established
for all of the region's
countries at this week's meet,
which began Wednesday in Rio de
Janeiro.
Other specific targets set by
the Plan of Action, with a
deadline of mid-2007, include
providing ”literacy training” in
information and communication
technologies (ICTs) for at least
2.5 percent of the working-age
population every year, and
doubling the number of community
access centres, or ensuring at
least one centre for every
20,000 people.
Health care centres and
hospitals will also be the focus
of a concerted effort over the
next two years, so that in every
country of the region, one third
of them will be connected to the
Internet, or alternatively, the
current number will be doubled.
The flexibility of the goals
established is based on the
recognition of ”different
subregional, national and local
realities.” In Nicaragua, for
example, only 109 of the
country's 12,000 schools are
connected to the Internet today,
José Ignacio López of the
non-governmental Sustainable
Development Network told IPS.
The divergent levels of ICT
development around the region
led to lengthy discussions on
several of Brazil's proposals,
such as placing preference on
”free” or open-source software.
In the end, the final
declaration reflected the
attempt made to appease all
parties, stressing ”the
importance of proprietary
computer software systems,”
which require the payment of
copyrights, but simultaneously
emphasising ”the need to
simulate and promote
collaborative development,
inter-operative platforms and
open-source computer programmes.”
With regard to digital
television, an area in which
Brazil is seeking to develop a
system adapted to local
conditions, the declaration
noted the region's ”interest in
continuing to carry out studies
and research,” as well as to
explore other communications
technologies with the aim of
fostering digital inclusion,
integration and regional
cooperation.
The representatives of Latin
American and Caribbean
governments attending the
conference also stated their
”conviction that digital
inclusion is an integral
component in a world that is
increasingly influenced by ICTs,”
which ”should be used as an
effective tool in the fight
against hunger, poverty and
illiteracy.”
They further determined to use
this potential of ICTs in
fulfilling the Millennium
Development Goals, adopted by
the international community at
the United Nations General
Assembly in 2000.
The eight goals set for the year
2015 include halving the
proportion of the world's
population living in extreme
poverty and hunger and
universalising primary
education.
A complex issue that will be
addressed in November at the
second and final phase of the
World Summit on the Information
Society in Tunis is that of
Internet Governance. Brazil
presented its model for a
managing committee that includes
government, civil society,
private sector and academic
community participation.
Brazil also proposed the
creation of a global forum, a
body that would function outside
the United Nations system
(although U.N. involvement would
be required for its approval and
establishment) and serve as
space for discussion of various
Internet-related aspects,
including infrastructure,
security, privacy and
intellectual property rights.
Despite the commitment to
inclusiveness declared at this
week's preparatory conference,
women's groups protested their
exclusion, and voiced their
disappointment that a gender
issues working group was not
included among the goals set in
the plan of action.
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