ITU preparatory activity for WSIS

The Council,

recalling

а) Resolution 73 of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis, 1998) and Resolutions 56/183 and 57/238 of the UN General Assembly on the ITU leading managerial role in the preparatory process for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), as well as Resolution 1158 of Council 2000, Resolution 1179 of Council 2001 and Resolution 1196 of Council 2002,

b) that WSIS will be held in two phases: at Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003 and at Tunis from16 to 18 November 2005;

taking into account

а) that Decision 8 of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002) 

• decided to forward to the Council Working Group on WSIS (WG-WSIS) the framework contained in Annex 1 of the Decision, as a guideline for further elaboration of ITU's substantive input to the WSIS declaration of principles and plan of action; 
• defined the principles concerning the spheres of competence of the ITU including the spheres where, besides ITU, other information offices of the United Nations system and other organizations operate also;

b) that Resolution 113 of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002) defined the ITU preparation procedure to WSIS where:

• Council was instructed to review the activities of the WG-WSIS and, if required, to review its mandate taking into account changing developments in the WSIS preparatory process; and to report on the results of the WSIS to the next plenipotentiary conference; 
• the Directors of the Bureaux were instructed to participate actively in the Council Working Group on WSIS and to contribute to ITU involvement in WSIS in the areas of its expertise; 

c) that the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002) in its Resolution 113 invited WG-WSIS to continue its work up to the 2006 plenipotentiary conference, with the full cooperation of the Secretary General and the Directors of the Bureaux, and to continue providing periodically updated ITU inputs to the WSIS preparatory process, as appropriate, within available financial resources;

d) that the United Nations General Assembly in its Resolution 57/238: 

• recommends that the occasion of the World Summit on the Information Society be used for arranging events related to the Summit;
• requests the ITU, in the context of its leading managerial role in the preparatory process for the Summit, in close cooperation with the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat and in coordination with other information offices of the United Nations system, to launch a public information campaign to raise global awareness of the Summit, within the existing resources and through voluntary contributions,

considering 

а) results of the first meeting of the WSIS Preparatory committee (PrepCom) (Geneva, 2002.), the WSIS regional conferences, the second meeting of the PrepCom (Geneva, February, 2003) and activities already fulfilled by the Council, it is especial concerning Resolutions 1158, 1179 and 1196;

b) that the information document was approved by PP-02 as Annex 2 to Decision 8 (Marrakesh, 2002) and the substantive contribution of ITU to the Summit was developed at PP 02 in the form of Annex 1 to Decision 8 and further revised by WG-WSIS and were forwarded to the ITU Secretary-General to be submitted as an ITU contribution to PrepCom-2;

c) that the third PrepCom meeting will be held on September, 15-26, 2003 in Geneva, and the intersessional mechanism includes continuation of work on the draft Declaration of principles (WSIS/PCIP/DT/1) and draft Plan of action (WSIS/PCIP/DT/2) at an informal meeting on July, 15-18 in Paris;

d) that the draft Declaration of principles (WSIS/PCIP/DT/1) and draft Plan of action (WSIS/PCIP/DT/2) under consideration reflect as a whole principles and the spheres of activities related to the ITU competence and defined by Decision 8 of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Marrakesh, 2002) and in the ITU Contribution to the second PrepCom, prepared by WG WSIS,

considering further

а) the report by the Secretary General (Document C03/09) on developments since the last Council in connection with the preparation of the World Summit on the Information Society;

b) the report by the Chairman of the Council WG-WSIS (Document C03/37) on the WG WSIS activity since the last Council, 


taking note of 

a) the report of the Council WG-WSIS, which, inter alia, has requested for additional support from the ITU Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux, for preparing necessary inputs in accordance with Decision 8 (Marrakesh, 2002);

b) ITU initiatives, in particular the Istanbul Action Plan adopted by WTDC-02, drawing attention to the crucial importance and urgent need to transform the ‘Digital Divide’ into ‘digital opportunities’ and the programmes identified for implementation under the leadership and coordination of ITU,

conscious of 

a) the role of the Council as the governing body of ITU in between the Plenipotentiary Conferences to ensure that the Decisions and Resolutions of the Plenipotentiary Conference are effectively implemented;

b) the role of the Council to ensure that ITU continues to play an effective lead role in the development of the telecommunication sector particularly highlighted in Resolution 129 (Marrakesh, 2002) on ‘Bridging the Digital Divide’;

resolves to instruct the Secretary General and the Directors of the Bureaux to

1 provide all relevant information and adequate support and assistance to the Council WG-WSIS for preparation of appropriate and substantive inputs by the Working Group to the WSIS preparatory process;

2 prepare for the consideration of the Council WG-WSIS, an appropriate status paper on the ITU activities relating to the ‘Digital Divide’ and such other subjects, for making substantive and useful inputs by ITU for information to PrepCom-3, particularly actions taken by ITU in the context of the follow-up action on the Istanbul Declaration; 

3 to use participation in the WSIS preparatory process for promotion of the leading role of the ITU in developing an information society and bridging the digital divide; 

4 to perform a “stock-taking exercise” and prepare an analysis paper, to show how ITU’s current work programme contributes to the fulfilment of the objectives outlined in the WSIS draft action plan and to post this material on both the ITU and the WSIS websites by 1 July 2003; 

5 to provide the maximal support to WG WSIS in accomplishing its commitments, including timely preparation of corresponding proposals with an estimation of their financial consequences; 

6 to continue to monitor the WSIS process and the implementation of the action plan and to report annually to Council on the financial and operational implications for ITU,

further instruct the Secretary-General

1 to present a complete overview of the WSIS financial status, taking into account all expenses and contributions while highlighting the significance of the ITU financial contribution to WSIS in the next Council meeting;

2 to submit to Council 04 proposals concerning a mechanism for an anticipated use of the amounts allocated to WSIS in the financial plan and which are not included in the ITU budget 2004-2005, in order to assess WSIS preparation financial requirements, 

encourages the Secretary-General, in his capacity as chairman of HLSOC

to encourage other UN agencies and international organizations to carry out a similar stock-taking of their own activities as they relate to the WSIS Plan of action,

resolves to instruct the Working Group on WSIS

1 to continue providing periodically updated ITU inputs to the WSIS preparatory process, as appropriate, within available financial resources, in accordance with PP-02 Decision 8 and Resolution 113;

2 based on inputs of the Secretary General and the Directors of the Bureaux as well as Member states and Sector members to prepare and submit to the 2004 session of Council the following proposals:

• necessary ITU actions to help accomplish the goals and objectives articulated in the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action, adopted at the first phase of WSIS; 
• a vision of how the ITU might prepare itself for the newly emerging information society paradigm; and
• the ITU participation in the second phase WSIS preparation process; 

3 to finalise and provide appropriate inputs/information papers for transmission to the PrepCom-3 at Geneva,

encourages ITU Member States

1 to make proposals and provide inputs to the WSIS, the inter-sessional meeting (Paris, 15 18 July, 2003) and PrepCom3 which may take into account inputs of the Council WG-WSIS;

2 to support the proposals and position of the ITU at the intersessional meeting, Prepcom 3, and WSIS;

3 to use the Istanbul Action Plan as a starting point for the drawing up of national/regional plans of action based on WSIS decisions;

4 to take part in the WSIS process at the highest level,

invites Sector members 

to participate actively in the ITU preparations for the WSIS.