December 20, 2005

GENEVA – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has joined national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) protesting against attacks on human rights and the right to freedom of expression during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunis, Tunisia, 16-18 November 2005.

.".. at the World Summit on the Information Society, both inside and outside the official Summit, we have witnessed serious attacks on human rights and the right to freedom of expression," the NGO representatives state in their open letter to United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Kofi A. Annan. They also call upon the UN Secretary General to "undertake a thorough-going review of procedures leading up to the choice of host country, the protocols for host country agreements with UN agencies and the commitments required of the host country."

There are also requests for the revision of UN rules for civil society accreditation to the Economic and Social Council and to UN conferences "in order to end the exclusion of civil society organizations where the basis for that exclusion is a decision of an individual government with no right of appeal to any independent commission."

The LWF Deputy General Secretary and Office for Communication Services Director, Ms Karin Achtelstetter, and Ms Malin Brostroem from the Church of Sweden represented the Federation at the Tunis Summit.

Harassment of Summit Delegates

Prior to the Summit, civil society organizations had already expressed concern about the suitability of Tunisia as a host country. The November 24 letter to Annan draws attention to the harassment of WSIS delegates, assaults on Tunisian and international journalists, and human rights defenders. It also cites denial of entry to the country, blocking of Web sites, censorship of documents and speeches, as well as the prevention and disruption of meetings. In reaction to the situation in Tunisia, many civil society organizations jointly decided to cancel their side-events planned for November 15, the day before the Summit's official opening.

"The holding of the Summit in Tunisia, under the auspices of the Tunisian government has not only put the spotlight on the host country's poor human rights record, it has also brought into question the adequacy of the United Nation's mechanisms for civil society participation," says the letter to the UN Secretary General.

The Summit in Tunis was the second part of a process that was initiated by a 1998 International Telecommunication Union resolution to hold a WSIS. In 2001 it was decided to have a two-phase process – the first Summit, 10-12 December 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland, and the second, 16-18 November 2005 in Tunis, Tunisia. This year's marked the end of the official WSIS process, and the starting point for implementation, in which civil society is expected to play a crucial role as a partner to governments and the private sector.

In Tunis it was decided that further discussions about Internet governance would henceforth take place in a multi-stakeholder Internet Governance Forum, which will have its first meeting in the second quarter of 2006. It was also agreed that a Digital Solidarity Fund established during the WSIS' first phase, would serve as a voluntary financial mechanism aimed at transforming the digital divide into digital opportunities for developing countries. The UN General Assembly will oversee follow-up of the WSIS outcome, with a review expected in 2015.

LWF's Ongoing Involvement

The LWF has been involved in the WSIS since the process began. In 2004 and 2005, the Council called upon the LWF and its member churches to actively engage in the Summit process and its related issues including communication rights. Since June this year, Brostroem, seconded by the Church of Sweden, has been monitoring the process on behalf of the LWF.

At the final WSIS Preparatory Committee held in Geneva in September 2005, the LWF hosted a panel discussion on communication rights and a rights-based approach. One of the panelists, Ms Manisha Mahanandia, a youth representative of the Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church in India added an important grassroots' perspective to the discussion with her description of the consequences of lack of information and communication in Orissa, northeastern India.

Achtelstetter affirms the LWF's continuing involvement in WSIS-related issues: "The Council gave us the task to develop a policy on the Information Society with a specific focus on communication rights. In this process we highly depend on support from our member churches, their expertise and experience."

Lutheran World Information