‘Cash’ Appeal for World Summit Pays Off
The Secretary-General reported to Plenary on preparations for the World
Summit on the Information Society. Noting that preparations are well underway
and that some objectives of the Summit, such as raising ITU’s profile in the
International community, are already bearing fruit, three challenges remain:
- Involvement of all stakeholders. Civil Society, NGOs and the Private
Sector are not happy with the level of participation being proposed for
them.
- The themes and content for the Summit are not sufficiently focused to
ensure the participation of Heads of States.
- Limited financial resources.
While expressing his gratitude for the donations made thus far, Mr Utsumi
appealed to Member States for additional contributions. He told delegates, to
their pleasure, that ‘cash would do’. The delegation from Canada rose to
this challenge by announcing it was prepared to commit up to CAD$1 million to
the special trust fund established by the Secretary-General.
Canada stated that the key challenge of the information society is one of
inclusion regardless of race, gender or geography. The fight for inclusion is
the fight for peace, security and growth for all.
A number of Member States shared Mr Utsumi’s concerns. In particular, the
need to provide both a clearer focus and a limit to the Summit themes
(Switzerland, Japan, Russia). The Chair concluded the session by assuring the
delegates that further discussion on WSIS and all of the issues raised by the
delegates will be taken up by the Working Group of the Plenary.
Mr Marc Furrer, Secretary of State and Director of OFCOM, Switzerland,
proposed a sub-committee group Plenary to work on the declaration of principles
and actions plan and called for closer collaboration with other International
organizations and entities. He noted the following points that should be
considered:
- There is a need for a substantive contribution from ITU from this
conference
- We must be more open to other stakeholders, especially civil society
- The two-phase approach is a real strength in that it provides an
opportunity to access and adjust the action plan
- We need to ensure that the Summit has great visibility on the
international stage
Ridha Guellouz, Deputy Head, Ministry of Communication Technologies and
Transport said that Tunisia has already set up a commission to manage its input
to the first phase of the Summit and to manage the second phase of the Summit.
They are also working closely with an Arabic working group, which includes
participation of civil society to prepare. He stressed the following points:
- We need to be inclusive in the preparation process
- The themes must be comprehensive, and development-oriented
- Summit should be strive to be unique while including both a regional and
thematic structure
Policy and Reform — Framing the Debate
Committee 5 was convened under the Chairmanship of Mr Anthony S.K Wong
(China). The first order of business was a reminder to delegates by the Chairman
of the critical nature of their work on behalf of the Union and a request that
they commit themselves to working efficiently and effectively in order to deal
with the matters at hand. The urgency of this was underlined by the fact that
close to 600 proposals have been submitted to the Committee with a deadline of
11 October set for reporting back to the Plenary.
A ‘Dynamic’ Proposal
Australia presented a proposal for restructuring the Union in order to
promote more dynamic decision-making by Member States. The fundamental aspect of
the proposal is to ‘clean up’ the structure of the governing ‘Instruments’
of the Union, which it believes overtime have become filled with aspects or
potential conflicts as to which body of the Union has the right to make
decisions.
In the proposed scheme, the Constitution would deal with:
- Fundamental purposes of the Union
- Structure of the Union and its Instruments
- High-level government undertakings common to all Sectors
The Conventions would deal with:
- Operational matters common to all Sectors and the General Secretariat
- Policies for the operational self-management of the Sectors
The Administrative Regulations would cover:
- Treaty-level agreements between Member States that are particular to
each Sector
- Rules of Procedure for each sector to determine participation and
decision-making
Click here
for the complete document.*
Separating Treaty and Non-Treaty Obligations
A Common Proposal of the Arab States was presented by Morocco. The proposal
was prefaced by noting it had concluded that ITU is still working under
principles that were developed in 1947 in Atlantic City, despite the
revolutionary change in the field since that plenipotentiary.
While proposing that the present structure of the Union be retained the
purpose of its proposal is to clearly state the rights of Member States and
Sector Members and to focus on separating the treaty and non-treaty obligations
as they relate to the structure and functioning of ITU. It states that these are
well defined in terms of the Standardization and Development Sectors, but not
the case for Radiocommunications. It is proposing that the Plenipotentiary adopt
this approach and consequently limit the functions of the Radiocommunication
Sector to activities involving the Sector Members by removing articles relating
to radiocommunication conferences and the Radio Regulations Board and grouping
them with other treaty-making conferences.
The entire document is available by clicking here.*
Responding to Industry Needs
A Common European Proposal was submitted on behalf of 20 Member States (click here
for the document). The proposal concentrates solely on the Standardization
sector, calling for the management of the Sector to be under the control of the
World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA). However, it notes that
ITU Constitution and Convention contain many detailed provisions, which it
believes would more appropriately be under the control of the WTSA to give
Assemblies greater flexibility to review and enhance the operations of the
ITU-T. It does not propose any changes to the Sector.
Delegates Respond
There was a wide range of initial reactions to all three proposals. The
United States and Mexico who voiced concerns that a ‘radical’ overhaul of
the Union is not necessary. The US cited the significant work of the Advanced
Approval Procedure of ITU-T, as an example of efficiencies already in
action. However, Uganda and Iran wanted to ensure that efficiencies would not
compromise the role of developing nations. Cuba noted that all three proposals
have positive aspects and stated its belief that what’s important is where the
decision-making powers lie. The United States requested clarification on one of
the Australian proposals which it believed was proposing ‘telecommunication
development regulations’. Australia stated it had no intention of regulating
development but was only proposing regulations for the ITU
Telecommunication Development sector and the way it conducts its business.
Consensus Clearly Possible
The Chairman noted that there were many similarities between the documents
and clearly an opportunity for consensus exists. He urged all parties to meet
outside the Committee in order to develop this common ground so that the work of
the Committee and the Union itself can proceed effectively and efficiently.
The Business of Union Management: a Bleak Financial Picture
"While the financial picture was rather sound in the past, the Union is
starting to face the beginning of a serious financial crisis. This however, can
be avoided if appropriate decisions are taken in a timely manner," Bruce
Gracie of Committee 6 told delegates. He said that they must determine by the
end of the week, the provisional upper limit of the amount of the contributory
unit, warning that the status of the contributory units announced as of 16
September 2002 translated into a deficit for the Union of some CHF 9 million.
"It is of utmost importance that key decisions are taken by the Members in
terms of programme prioritization and source of income."
Resources to cover the programme of activities reflected in the Draft
Strategic Plan for the Union for 2003-2007 are estimated at CHF 703. 3 million.
It is assumed that the funding of these resources will be derived from the
assessed contributions to the tune of CHF 572.1 million, including contributions
for the Regional Radiocommunication Conferences, income from cost recovery
activities, interest and other miscellaneous income; as well as a withdrawal of
CHF 6 million from the Reserve account. Mr Gracie further explained that these
estimates do not necessarily translate into full programme implementation of the
activities foreseen in the strategic plan. In fact, additional resources would
be required to fund infrastructure and maintenance of ITU buildings for
2004-2007, and the staff salary adjustments decided by the International Civil
Service Commission (ICSC).
Mr Gracie said that options for balancing the income with expenditure had
been discussed by an Ad hoc Working Group of the Council in July this year, and
though not exhaustive, they could serve as a basis for discussions and decisions
by the conference.
Staff matters
Committee 6 moved on to discuss
human resources management and was presented with a report covering recruitment,
performance management, ITU reform and gender issues, management renewable term
(MRT) appointments, compensation matters and long term insurance. The Staff
Association also addressed the meeting and highlighted harassment and mobbing as
being more than ever a subject of concern. "Promises were made that steps
would be taken to address this problem, but for the moment a set of proposals on
the subject have been collecting dust for almost a year. He observed that while
the number of complaints allegations from staff of harassment or mobbing
increases, it also comes from a wider range of staff in the hierarchy. Other
outstanding staff concerns include lack of progress on the implementation of
Minneapolis Resolutions 96 and 97 on long-term care insurance scheme and
occupational illness.
On the financial front, the Staff Representative had this to say: "The
strategic and financial decisions that you make during this conference will
affect the size, shape, and mandate of ITU for years to come. But it is not only
the decisions but the way you want them implemented, which will affect for
better or for worse, the professional lives and working conditions of ITU’s
dedicated workforce." He recommended three principles that should be
observed if staffing levels were to be reduced:
- Hiring of new temporary staff should be severely limited, and replaced by
greater mobility of existing staff. In accordance with the new contracts
policy, particular efforts should be made to integrate temporary staff
having worked more than 2 years at ITU.
- Internal mobility should be used coupled with training so that staff can
be used where they are most needed. If this policy is applied particularly
to cover needs when staff retire or leave ITU, then staffing levels could be
reduced without terminating contracts.
- Non-renewal or termination of contracts should not be used unless clearly
justified because of unsatisfactory performance.
Click here for the full text of the
speech.
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