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There are no set rules at the United Nations on how to hold a UN Summit. Each UN
Summit therefore has to decide on its own Rules of Procedure, usually at its
first preparatory meeting. In reality,, the main body of the Rules of Procedure
of each UN Summit are similar. They differ only in detail, such as the
participation of, NGO and business sector as the involvement of these
stakeholders in the implementation of decisions may differ depending on the
subject under consideration at the Summit.
General Assembly Resolution 56/183, in its paragraph 5, encouraged “effective
contributions from and the active participation of all relevant United Nations
bodies, in particular the Information and Communication Technologies Task Force,
and encouraged other intergovernmental organizations, including international
and regional institutions, non-governmental organizations, civil society and the
private sector to contribute to, and actively participate in, the
intergovernmental preparatory process of the Summit and the Summit itself”.
Therefore, in adopting the Rules of Procedure for WSIS, it was evident from the
beginning that the rules would have to contain a chapter on observers.
A. Written rules
The Rules of procedure of the Johannesburg (WSSD) and Monterrey (FfD) Summits,
which both included a chapter on observers, served as the basic template for the
Rules of Procedure of WSIS. But it nevertheless took several informal meetings
before PrepCom-1 and several days at PrepCom-1 to negotiate the Rules. The
Rules of Procedure of the Preparatory Committee of WSIS,
together with the
Arrangements for Accreditation
and the
Arrangements for Participation,
were adopted as a package on the last day of PrepCom-1 of the Geneva phase (5
July 2003). The Draft Rules of Procedure of the Summit were adopted at PrepCom-3
of the Geneva phase. There is no difference between the two rules (PrepCom rules
and Summit rules) with regard to observers. The Rules of Procedure distinguish
the following categories of observers:
- Entities and organizations having received a standing invitation to
participate as observers in the sessions and work of the General Assembly
- UN Secretariat and organs (this includes UN funds and programs)
- UN specialized agencies
- Other invited intergovernmental organizations
- Accredited civil society entities (including NGOs in consultative status
with ECOSOC)
- Accredited business sector entities (including ITU Sector Members).
- Associate Members of Regional Commissions
According to the Rules of Procedure, the observers had the following rights:
- Participants from entities and organizations having received a standing
invitation to participate as observers in the sessions and work of the
General Assembly, from UN Secretariat and organs, from UN specialized
agencies and other invited intergovernmental organizations as well as from
Associate Members of Regional Commissions were allowed to participate as
observers, without the right to vote, in the deliberations in the plenary
and, as appropriate, in committees or subcommittees on questions within the
scope of their activities. This rule was also valid for closed sessions.
- Participants from accredited civil society entities (including NGOs in
consultative status with ECOSOC) and from accredited business sector
entities (including ITU sector members) were allowed to sit as observers in
public meetings (plenary and subcommittee meetings in the preparatory
process, Plenary and committee meetings in the Summit). Upon the invitation
of the presiding officer of the body concerned, and subject to the approval
of that body, such observers were allowed to make oral statements on
questions in which they had special competence. If the number of requests to
speak was too large, the civil society and business sector entities were
requested to form themselves into constituencies, which then spoke through
their respective spokespersons.
WSIS was the second UN Summit to accept accreditation of business entities
(the first UN Summit to do so was the Financing for Development Conference,
Monterrey). During the informal preparations for PrepCom-1, Governments
discussed the arrangements for accreditation of business entities, and
especially if these arrangements should differ from those for NGOs and civil
society entities. As a compromise, Governments decided that the same rules
should apply (see the Arrangements for Accreditation). This led in practice to
unsatisfactory situations, as business entities, which are not public
shareholder companies, are not accustomed to disclose their financial situation.
Another discussion took place during the informal preparations of PrepCom-1
on whether Media should be named separately as an observer category. As
unanimity on this matter was not possible, Media was not mentioned as a separate
observer entity in the WSIS Rules of Procedure.
The Rules of Procedure of WSIS, contrary to the Rules of Procedure of the
Johannesburg Summit (WSSD), do not contain rules on the internal organization of
civil society and business (the Rio and Johannesburg preparatory process had
developed the “major groups” approach). The Rules pf Procedure of WSIS are
silent as to how the observers should organize themselves.
The Arrangements for participation are the third document in the package
decided at PrepCom-1 of the Geneva phase. Governments decided that NGOs and
business sector entities would be allowed to make the following substantive
contributions:
- “Substantive written contributions along with executive summaries
thereof would be welcomed on the basis of the Summit themes with fixed
deadlines. They will be published by the Executive Secretariat on the WSIS
website and circulated upon request in hard copies to the governments.
- All executive summaries would be compiled by the Secretariat in a
document according to the Summit themes, identifying the sources.
- The document will be widely circulated before the second preparatory
meeting and all stakeholders would have the opportunity to discuss its
contents and hold workshops and meetings to coordinate positions.
- As an informal part of the Preparatory Committee meetings, a number of
multi-stakeholders thematic round tables will be organized. The outcome of
these thematic round tables will be a Chairman's summary of the discussion,
which will be submitted to the preparatory committee and incorporated in its
records.
- They are invited to nominate speakers to make statements in the
Preparatory Committee, in accordance with the rules of procedure, reporting
on the proceedings of parallel and networked series of events, with a view
to contributing effectively to the success of the Summit.”
B. Unwritten rules (so-called “WSIS practice”)
WSIS developed a specific multi-stakeholder approach (“WSIS-practice”) that went
beyond the approach of other UN Summits. This was possible because the Rules of
Procedure and the Arrangements for participation were not too specific regarding
the modalities of participation. This allowed the PrepCom Presidents to propose
a number of practical modalities for participation, which were usually
sanctioned by the intergovernmental Bureau (after discussion) and (tacitly) by
the Plenary. The following practices were unwritten rules developed praeter
legem, (i.e. alongside the existing written rules, without contradicting them).
WSIS did not develop any rules contra legem (i.e. against the Rules of
Procedure).
- Written contributions: All observers were invited to make written
inputs. All inputs from observers were put on the website. On several
occasions, Governments asked the Executive Secretariat to make compilation
of inputs. In these compilations, the inputs from Governments and from the
observers were compiled in the same document. In the first round of
compilations (i.e. for PrepCom-2 of the Geneva Phase and between PrepCom-2
and the Paris intersessional meeting) Government inputs were put first and
observer inputs second. At a later stage, especially during the second phase
and the Group of Friends of the Chair rolling drafts, the inputs from
Governments (first) and observers (second) were summarized for each and
every paragraph separately, which made it easier for Governments during the
negotiations to integrate comments from observers into the final text.
This practice was very important, not only because it facilitated
negotiation, but also because it made the whole WSIS-process very
transparent. The Arrangements for participation contained the basic rules
for this practice, but the rules were refined by the unwritten practices
mentioned above.
- Oral inputs: It became a standing WSIS-practice to allow
observers to speak during PrepComs for 45 minutes every day on the issues
under consideration, and in case of evening sessions, it was considered that
the rule is 45 minutes for every 6 hours. The duration of the slot for the
observers and the timing of their input was usually discussed and approved
in the intergovernmental Bureau. During the Paris intersessional meeting,
the rule was extended to 1 hour per day for the observers. Most of the time
the observers spoke at the beginning of the day, and to the points that were
on the agenda of the day. The time for the observers was usually divided in
1/3 for business, 1/3 for civil society and 1/3 for international
organizations. There was a rotation regarding which observer group would
speak first. During informal meetings observers were allowed most of the
time to speak to the subject at any time and without a given order. One
important achievement towards the end of the negotiations in both phases was
to give the observers the floor at the beginning of the consideration of
each chapter (stop-and-go), in order to get all their comments and
suggestions for a given chapter at the same time.
- Presence: After some initial hesitations, observers were allowed
to be present (and to speak) not only in the Plenary and Subcommittee
meetings, but also most of the time in working groups and informal
open-ended meetings. In the Tunis phase, observers were explicitly allowed
to participate in some of the Group of Friends of the Chair meetings, and
they were present during the final negotiations among Governments, as these
negotiations took place mainly in subcommittee mode from 13 to 15 November
2005. They were given the floor for the last time on 13 November 2005,
during the opening Plenary.
No observers were allowed in the intergovernmental Bureau meetings. During
preparations for PrepCom-1 of the Geneva phase, the idea was raised by some
Governments to have a tripartite Bureau. As the idea did not find unanimity,
it was dropped. But both PrepCom Presidents (H.E. Adama Samassékou from Mali
in the Geneva phase and Ambassador Janis Karklins from Latvia in the Tunis
phase) held extensive consultations with civil society and business
representatives, usually before and/or after the intergovernmental Bureau
meetings, upholding, by doing so, the multi-stakeholder approach of WSIS.
Joint Governmental and/or CSB and CCBI Bureau meeting were held on a regular
basis (see below).
- Internal organization of civil society and business: Civil
society and the business sector organized themselves and formed a
Civil
Society Bureau (CSB) and a
Coordinating Committee of Business Interlocutors
(CCBI, called BASIS
since 2006) to better interact with the intergovernmental structures of the
Summit on procedural matters. Civil society decided to self-organize into a
CS Plenary, thematic or
regional families and caucuses, while the
International Chamber of Commerce in Paris became the de facto focal point
for business entities. Civil society and the business sector decided on the
list of speakers for their constituency on a daily basis. During PrepComs,
both entities held daily Plenary meetings (in the Geneva phase, the civil
society speakers and the themes were chosen by the content and themes group
meeting) to discuss the themes of the upcoming interventions and to decide
on the speaker(s). The lists of speakers were handed over to the President
of the Preparatory Committee at the beginning of each meeting, on a daily
basis. Also during PrepComs, at least one meeting
took place at each PrepCom between the intergovernmental Bureau and the CSB
on the one hand and the intergovernmental Bureau and the CCBI on the other
hand. This allowed for an extensive exchange of mutual expectations on the
procedures and strengthened mutual understanding between Governments, civil
society and business.
- Summit interventions: At previous UN Summits, which were usually
into High-level, Ministerial-level and Summit-level segments, observers
usually spoke in the High Level segment. WSIS did not have several segments.
Therefore, during the Geneva and Tunis phases of the Summit, observers spoke
directly in the Summit segment for 30-60 minutes at the end of each Plenary
session, depending on the duration of the Plenary session.
- Round tables and panels: During PrepComs as well as during the
Geneva and Tunis phases of the Summit, a series of multi-stakeholder Round
Tables (and in Tunis a multi-stakeholder Panel) were organized as informal
part of the PrepComs and the Summit, and the summaries of these Round tables
and Panels were added to the Final Reports of the PrepComs and the Geneva
and Tunis phase of the Summit. The format of the PrepCom Round tables was
decided in the intergovernmental Bureau, while the format of the Summit
Round tables and the inclusion of observers were pre-discussed in the
intergovernmental Bureau and sanctioned in the Plenary, by accepting the
document of the Format of the Geneva Summit (in the Geneva phase) and the
Format of the Tunis Summit (in the Tunis phase). Both the CSB and the CCBI
were asked to submit proposals for Round Ttable and Panel participants (both
in the PrepComs and in the Summit). The final decision on the participants
was taken by the Secretary-General of the Summit.
- Meeting space: During PrepComs and during the Geneva and Tunis
phase of the Summit, meeting space was offered to all WSIS-stakeholders for
parallel events. During PrepComs, an average of 30-40 parallel events took
place, and during the Geneva and Tunis Summits, more than 300 parallel
events were held. During PrepComs, parallel events usually took place within
the PrepCom premises. At the Geneva and Tunis Summits, some of the events
took place outside the Summit premises, in the exhibition area (and were
thus not covered by the Host Country Agreement). At the Geneva and Tunis
Summits, selected parallel events reported directly to the Summit, on the
third and last day of the Summit (this practice was also sanctioned by the
above mentioned Format documents).
Civil society at WSIS, seen through the lens of
the Conference of NGOs (CONGO)
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