RESOLUTION GT-PLEN/7 (Antalya, 2006)
Study on the participation of all relevant stakeholders
in the activities of the Union related to the
World Summit on the Information Society
The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union
(Antalya, 2006),
recalling
a) § 20 of the Geneva Declaration of Principles of the World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS), which states that governments as well as the
private sector, civil society and the United Nations and other international
organizations have an important role and responsibility in the development of
the information society and, as appropriate, in decision-making processes, and
that building a people-centred information society is a joint effort which
requires cooperation and partnership among all stakeholders;
b) that stakeholders have different roles and responsibilities, as
indicated in § 8 of the Tunis Commitment of WSIS;
c) the beneficial participation of all stakeholders, including
civil-society entities and organizations, in the meetings of the preparatory
committee of WSIS (PrepComs) and their contributions to both phases of WSIS;
d) several paragraphs of the WSIS outcome documents, stressing the
importance of the participation of all the stakeholders, including civil-society
entities and organizations, in the construction of the information
society;
e) Article 2 of the ITU Constitution, which states that ITU is an
intergovernmental organization in which Member States and Sector Members, having
well-defined rights and obligations, cooperate for the fulfilment of the
purposes of the Union, and that it shall give due regard to the principle of
universality and the desirability of universal participation in the Union;
f) Article 3 of the ITU Constitution concerning rights and obligations of
Member States and Sector Members;
g) Article 19 of the ITU Convention concerning participation of entities
and organizations other than administrations in the Union’s activities,
acknowledging
the urgent need to bridge the digital divide and to assist developing
countries, including those countries with special needs, as stated in the WSIS
outcome documents, to benefit fully from the potential of information and
communication technologies (ICTs),
considering
a) that the Council, at its 2006 session, invited the membership to
reflect upon how ITU should adapt itself to the information society and the
changing telecommunication environment and what amendments may be required to
the ITU Constitution and Convention, and to include corresponding proposals in
their contributions to this conference;
b) the character of ITU as the specialised agency of the United Nations
on telecommunications, and the need to study the impact of the participation of
all relevant stakeholders in ITU’s activities related to WSIS, including its
financial impact,
recognizing
the need to promote and enhance the participation of entities and
organizations in the activities of the Union and to foster fruitful cooperation
and partnership between them and Member States for the fulfilment of the overall
objectives embodied in the purposes of the Union, in accordance with No. 3A of
the Constitution and other ITU basic texts,
resolves
1 to conduct a study on the participation of all relevant stakeholders in the
activities of the Union related to WSIS;
2 that all measures regarding the participation of relevant stakeholders in
the activities of the Union related to WSIS shall respect the agreed strong
development orientation of the United Nations system-wide follow-up of WSIS,
instructs the Council
1 at its extraordinary session, to establish a working group, or to task an
existing working group, open to all Member States, with the terms of reference
and mandate annexed to this resolution;
2 to review, at each annual session, the progress report of this working
group and disseminate, as appropriate, the interim results of the study;
3 to present a final report, well in advance of the next plenipotentiary
conference, for the use of Member States in preparing their proposals to that
conference;
4 to allocate the necessary funds, within available resources, in order to
implement this resolution,
instructs the Secretary-General and the Directors of the Bureaux
to support the working group by providing resources and possible inputs,
invites Member States and Sector Members
to submit written contributions to the working group.
ANNEX TO RESOLUTION GT-PLEN/7
1 The Working Group of the Council tasked with this study shall be open to
all Member States, whose delegations may include appropriate legal, technical
and regulatory experts.
2 The Working Group should develop and conduct open consultations, also using
electronic means, on the inclusion of relevant stakeholders in the activities of
ITU related to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), including
additional tasks to be performed by ITU as a result of the WSIS outputs.
3 The Working Group of the Council shall take into account:
a) the need to uphold the intergovernmental character of the Union
and the purposes of the Union as set forth in Article 1 of the
Constitution of ITU;
b) the important contribution of Sector Members and Associates in the
work of ITU;
c) relevant existing practices, if any, within ITU or other
specialized agencies of the United Nations and other intergovernmental
organizations;
d) the need to conform to the agreed strong development orientation
of all WSIS follow-up activities; any criteria and modalities for the
participation of relevant WSIS stakeholders shall especially take into
account the needs and priorities of developing countries.
4 The terms of reference and mandate for this Working Group shall include,
but not be limited to, the following tasks:
a) to establish a set of criteria for defining which stakeholders are
relevant to participate in ITU activities related to WSIS, taking into
consideration the added value of their participation;
b) to analyse the definitions of Sector Member and Associate and the
related provisions of the legal instruments of ITU, and how they could
be applied in order to enhance the membership of ITU, and, if required,
to identify possible amendments to these provisions;
c) to review the existing mechanisms (e.g. partnerships, symposia,
seminars, workshops, focus groups, policy forums, experts) in regards to
participation by non-ITU members, and to consider how to use them more
effectively, to improve them and to identify possible new ones;
d) to identify specific efforts that may be needed to mobilize and
ensure the meaningful and effective participation of all relevant
stakeholders from developing countries and stakeholders in the
development field, including by providing assistance;
e) to draft any possible amendments to the ITU basic texts that might
be needed in order to facilitate the participation of all relevant
stakeholders in the activities of ITU related to WSIS;
f) to identify and establish the spheres of competence that the
Member States reserve for themselves with regard to WSIS stakeholders
and the possible denunciation of their participation in ITU;
g) to consider the financial obligations and consequences of the
participation of relevant stakeholders in ITU’s activities related to
WSIS according to the options considered.
