Contributions and involvement at the WORLD SUMMIT FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (WSIS) website of the activity
Activity description:
WSIS Phase I: Inclusion of children in Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action - CHI has facilitated the inclusion of children and young people, including child pornography issues, in the Geneva Declaration and Plan of Action. This is mentioned in Article 11, 13 and 16.
WSIS Phase II: Inclusion of children in Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action - CHI contributed to WSIS II by submitting proposed text changes to Tunis documents to further include children and young people in the ICT agenda. CHI also led a consultative and participatory process with various child-focused NGOs and international networks to submit a joint statement.
The key recommendations are to:
1. Place children in Telecoms agenda by requesting member state parties’ to pass a resolution stating that ITU recognises the importance of children in the telecoms agenda as they form a key group of future telecom users.
2. Recognise child helplines as a strategy for reaching out to children and young people and request member state parties’ to issue a three or four-digit toll-free number for each respective country’s child helpline. This number can be the universal access number earmarked for children, similar to emergency services numbers currently offered in many countries and should be accessible from both landline and mobile phones.
3. Recognise the negative use and impact of ICTs that exploit children, especially pertaining to pornography, paedophilia and trafficking for sexual exploitation. To work with child-protection NGOs and the larger civil society to protect children from being exploited through ICT’s by ensuring that the necessary regulations are set in place, without resorting to the ‘easiest’ solution of prohibiting access.
4. Emphasise the importance of technology for birth registration
5. Emphasise the importance of technology in education (formal/ informal sector)
2 side-events have also been planned for 19 and 21 September in Prepcom-3. The side-events will provide a platform to take forward the initiative.
WSIS action lines related to this activity: Theme 1. The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
Theme 2. Information and communication infrastructure
Theme 3. Access to information and knowledge
Theme 5. Building confidence and security in use of ICTs
Theme 7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life
Theme 11. International and regional cooperation
Theme 12. Achieving WSIS targets (PoA, Section B)
Theme 15. Towards WSIS Phase 2 (Tunis) (PoA, Section F)
Related MDGs: MDG 8. Develop a global partnership for development
Activity type:
Programme
Time scale:
Ongoing
Partners:
Child-focused NGOs and networks including Childnet International, Child Rights Information Network, ECPAT, EURONET, Global Movement for Children, Plan International, Save the Children UK and UNICEF
