The Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006) in its Resolution 147
called for a review of the management and functioning of the Union. At
its 2009 session, the Council instructed the Secretary-General to
continue work on this resolution by conducting a consultation on the
following issues:
terminology
for the titles of the Directors of the Bureaux;
review of the
relationship between the timing of the credentials report and
elections at plenipotentiary conferences;
review of the
contributory unit system for Member States;
review of
existing and new revenue sources and associated costs, including
financial contributions from Sector Members and Associates;
methods to
stabilize the basic instruments of the Union, and, in particular,
the Constitution, on the understanding that this should focus on
existing text and should not include new issues;
convening the
Plenipotentiary Conference every five years (instead of four).
All 191 Member States of the Union were consulted through Circular
Letter 181 of 16 December 2009. A total of 29 countries responded,
commenting on all or some of the six items listed above. The results of
the consultation are set out in Document
C10/21 (Rev.1), which was
presented by Richard J. Barr, Chief of the Administration and Finance
Department and Arnaud Guillot, Head of the Legal Affairs Unit.
Contributions from Australia (Document
C10/43), The Russian Federation (Document
C10/54) and the Philippines (Document
C10/61) were also noted by the Council.
The
Council was invited to consider the report in Document
C10/21 (Rev.1), note the
results of the consultation and decide on the suggestions contained in the report as a way forward.
Terminology for the titles of the Directors of the Bureaux According to the report, some 27 of the 29 Member States that responded
to the circular letter gave an opinion on this item, with most of them
acknowledging the practical difficulties that can arise from use of the
title “Director”. However, no consensus emerged in favour of any given
solution, as stated in the report. The majority of the replies (19 out
of 27) are in favour of retaining the terminology currently used in the
basic instruments of the Union, namely “Director of the … Bureau”. Most
of those advocating a status quo “nevertheless consider that a
significant external communication effort should be made, in particular
towards the other organizations of the United Nations family, to ensure
a better understanding and full recognition of the true status of the
Directors,” says the report.
Noting the comments in the report and from the floor, the Chairman
concluded: “It is clear that we do not have a consensus on this issue
now. This matter will be taken up again at PP-10.”
Review of the relationship between the timing of the credentials report
and elections at Plenipotentiary Conferences
The Council has agreed to recommend to PP-10 not to amend the provisions
of the Convention or of the General Rules (governing this item), but to
ensure however that the Credentials Committee submits its first report
to the plenary as of the third calendar day of the conference, i.e.
before the start of the elections. The Secretary-General will make every
effort to facilitate and accelerate the procedures for depositing and
checking Member States' credentials prior to, and at the opening of,
PP-10.
Review of the Contributory Unit system
On this item, the Council concluded that there was no concrete
suggestion in the report and went on to note the comments.
One comment is that Member States that responded to the circular letter
were unanimous that the existing Contributory Unit (CU) system should be
maintained. According to this system, Member States should be free to
choose their class of CU once the amount of the CU has been fixed by the
Plenipotentiary Conference.
Meanwhile, the Council Group on the Financial Regulations and Related Financial Management
Issues (FINREGS) has discussed the issue of establishing
ranges within the existing CU system and will continue discussion in
June 2010.
Review of existing and new revenue sources
Again, there was no concrete suggestion in the report on this item, but
the Council considered and noted the report’s comments. The Council
noted the strong support expressed in the replies to the circular letter
for the admission of academia, universities and their associated
research establishments as a new category of Sector Member. It also
noted the support for introducing a reduced minimum membership fee in
ITU-T and ITU-R for least developed countries and countries with per
capita income of less than USD 2000. Several Member States in their
replies indicated that they did not support a further review of the
minimum amount paid by Sector Members at this time.
With respect to pricing and cost recovery for ITU products and services,
a clear majority of responses favoured establishing a pricing
differential between members and non-members. The consensus was that
non-members should pay a service fee. In addition, several Member States
in their replies encouraged the secretariat to continue to explore all
avenues to find new sources of revenue.
Methods to stabilize the basic instruments of the Union, and, in
particular, the Constitution, on the understanding that this should
focus on existing text and should not include new issues
According to the report, some 25 Member States responding to the
circular letter gave an opinion on this item, with all of them
expressing the view that ITU needs a stable constituent instrument which
would thus be amended only very rarely by future plenipotentiary
conferences. Some of those Member States considered, however, that it
was imperative for the Union to have regulatory instruments that are
both flexible and adjustable to the ever-changing telecommunication
environment. Another consensus that emerged from these replies is the
recommendation that PP-10 set up a working group to study, in detail,
ways and means of moving to the adoption of a stable constituent
instrument for the Union, so that PP-14 may take any decisions it deems
appropriate.
In the light of the comments formulated in the replies to the circular
letter, the Council has agreed to recommend to Member States and to
PP-10 to make only an extremely small number of amendments to the
Constitution and Convention, or even, as far as possible, not to amend
these two instruments at all.
The Council has further agreed that the best approach would be a
Council working group open to all Member States.
Convening the Plenipotentiary Conference every five years
The Council noted the large consensus against lengthening the period
between Plenipotentiary Conferences from four to five years. In view of
the lack of support (only one Member State is in favour of lengthening
this period), the proposal was withdrawn by its proponent (the Russian
Federation). It also noted this withdrawal.
Number of Member States on the Council
Currently, the Council has 46 Member States (or 46 seats). Because the
Council must reflect ITU’s global reach, Member States that serve on it
are elected at each Plenipotentiary Conference with due regard to the
need for equitable distribution of seats among all regions of the world
(Americas, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and
Australasia). This table shows the current distribution:
Americas
(8 seats)
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
Cuba
Mexico
Trinidad and Tobago
United States
Venezuela
Western Europe (8
seats)
France
Germany
Italy
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Eastern Europe (5
seats)
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Romania
Russian Federation
Ukraine
Africa
(13 seats)
Algeria
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Egypt
Ghana
Kenya
Mali
Morocco
Nigeria
Senegal
South Africa
Tanzania
Tunisia
Asia and Australasia (12
seats)
Australia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Republic of Korea
Malaysia
Pakistan
Philippines
Saudi Arabia
Thailand
United Arab Emirates
The Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006) decided that the number
of Council seats should be increased, with effect from PP-10, in
compliance with Nos. 50 and 50A of the Convention. In its Resolution
134, the Antalya Conference instructed the Council to review the
criteria and to develop a mechanism by which the allocation of seats is
determined among the regions and to submit a report to PP-10 on any
actions that may be required, including proposed amendments that may
need to be made to the basic texts of the Union.
In this regard, the Council considered and took note of the final report
on the number of Member States (Document
C10/7), presented by
Marie-Odile Beau, Head of the Membership Division. This report proposes
that the 47th seat of the Council be allocated to Region A (Americas),
that a draft resolution on the methodology for allocating seats of
Council Member States be adopted by PP-10, and that No. 207 of the
General Rules of Conferences, assemblies and meetings of the Union be
amended accordingly. The Council will submit this report to PP-10. The
recommendation to allocate the 47th seat to Region A will have to be
approved by PP-10 before the elections for Council are held.
Strengthening the Regional Presence Document
C10/18 on Strengthening the Regional Presence was introduced by
the Deputy to the Director of BDT, Dr Yury Grin. The document outlined
progress made by the Union in implementing Resolution 25 (Rev. Antalya,
2006), and also correlated this work to recommendations made by the
United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) on the Effectiveness of the
ITU Regional Presence. Topics covered advances made in staffing,
succession planning, training, BDT working methods and procedures,
enhancement of office connectivity, empowerment through delegation, and
collaboration and cooperation between the General Secretariat and the Bureaux, as well as in the regional and international contexts.
Brazil also presented a contribution on the same topic under Document
C10/51. The document outlined a number of specific proposals formulated
following intra-regional discussions spanning the regional presence
mandate, the level of human resources allocated to the region; the
structure of Area Offices and Regional Offices and the decision-making
mechanisms.
Delegates expressed their appreciation of the work done by the Union to
address Resolution 25 and the decisions made by the Council on the JIU
recommendations. Speakers from the Africa and Americas regions stressed
the important role of Area Offices – for example, Chile during recent
natural disasters, and Harare, as a focal point for activities in the
southern African region. Several councillors underscored the need to
proceed with caution when considering the restructuring of the regional
presence, particularly as options were to be considered in the context
of the financial plan. It was also stressed that while supporting
further empowerment of regional offices, some functions were better kept
centralized, namely human resources and financial management.
Requests were also made to prepare more detailed reports to be tabled at
the Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara on Resolution 25 and in
particular an assessment from the regional offices and the Member States
of the workshops, seminars and other events organized in the regions by
the various ITU Sectors, the status of implementation of the JIU
recommendations, as well as the plan of action proposed for the
implementation of the remaining recommendations to be endorsed by the
Plenipotentiary Conference.
In his response to questions from the floor, the Director of BDT,
Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid emphasized that work towards Resolution 25
was being carried out on an on-going basis by BDT. He further stated
that never before had vacant posts in the region been filled so rapidly,
sometimes even before the retirement of the incumbent so as to ensure an
operational continuity, either by the swift publication of vacancy
notices or agreed reassignment of staff between Headquarters and the
Field. He described action taken to staff three of the regional offices
and the work under way to cater for the needs of the others. But he also
underlined the difficulties encountered at times with staff mobility
because of personal or other considerations. Concerning the
re-organization of regional offices, the Director of BDT echoed the
concerns expressed by delegates on the need to proceed with caution and
not to take decisions on a case- by-case basis, but to consider all
elements in a wider global context.
The Council noted the document.
ICT and climate change — now to Mexico
Special Report from Copenhagen 2009
ITU was an active participant in the United Nations Climate Change
Conference, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. As the
specialized United Nations agency for ICT, ITU was asked by its Member
States to raise awareness of the critical role of information and
communication technologies in addressing climate change. This was
decided unanimously by the ITU Council in October 2009 in its Resolution
1307 “Information and communication technologies (ICT) and climate
change.”
Presenting Document
C10/6 to the Council, Deputy Secretary-General
Houlin Zhao said that Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré and Malcolm
Johnson Director of TSB participated in the Copenhagen Conference.
The discussions at this conference resulted in a Copenhagen Accord — a
political consensus on the long-term, global response to climate change,
rather than a binding agreement. The next step will be taken at another
meeting to be held in Bonn, Germany, from 31 May to 11 June 2010. ITU
has observer status and will continue pressing for full recognition of
the role of ICT in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate
change. In this regard, further opportunities to add ICT to the
negotiating text will be sought in the run-up to a conference, which
will be held in Mexico from 29 November 2010 to 10 December 2010.
Mr Zhao summarized ITU’s objectives, as well as its recent achievements
and initiatives on climate change.
In the
Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), Study Group 5 has
agreed upon a new ITU-T Recommendation L.1000: "Universal power adapter
and charger solution for mobile terminals and other ICT devices".
The Radiocommunication
Sector (ITU-R) has already taken concrete steps to reduce greenhouse-gas
emissions by assisting ITU Member States with the implementation of the
GE06 Digital Broadcasting Plan, which is leading to 10 times reduction
in the power consumed by powerful broadcasting transmitters.
The Telecommunication
Development Sector (ITU-D) is assisting Member States in developing
National Emergency Telecommunication Plans. ITU-D has developed an
"E-Environment Implementation Toolkit" that provides principles and
guidelines for the development and deployment of electronic applications
and services. Also, during 2009 and early this year, ITU responded to
natural disasters and provided emergency telecommunication equipment to
several Member States.
ITU has been
participating actively in the work of the UN Chief Executives Board
(CEB) and its subsidiary bodies, through the Strategic Planning and
Membership Department (SPM), on developing a unified and collaborative
UN strategy to combat climate change, including a matrix on activities
of each agency and programme. An inter-sectoral web page dedicated to
climate change is available at www.itu.int/climate
Mr Zhao called on the Council to continue supporting ITU in its efforts
to promote ICT as a cross-sectoral tool for combating climate change.
ITU will continue to assist in the effort of the UN system to “deliver
as one” to address climate change and is committed to working in
partnership with other organizations, he said.
The Council noted the report and endorsed the activities described in
it.
ITU to celebrate its 145th anniversary at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai,
China
WTISD 2010
Message from ITU Secretary-General
This year, ITU will hold its global celebration of World
Telecommunication and Information Society Day at World Expo 2010 in
Shanghai at the invitation of the Expo’s host country, China. The week
of 10-17 May will be dedicated to ITU activities under the theme “Better
City, Better Life with ICT”, adopted by Council 2009 to mark the 2010
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. Councillors were
invited to join the celebration.
The purpose of the Day is to help raise awareness of the full potential
of the Internet and other information and communication technologies for
societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital
divide. The Day marks the anniversary of the signing in Paris of the
first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the
International Telecommunication Union on 17 May 1865.This year’s theme
is aligned with the overarching theme of World Expo 2010: “Better City,
Better Life”. ITU activities at World Expo 2010 are being organized at
the UN Pavilion in keeping with the concept: “One Earth, One UN”.
A film will be produced in collaboration with UNTV to give visibility to
ITU’s work of extending the benefits of ICT to people around the world
for a better life in both cities and rural areas. The film will be
screened at the opening of the celebrations in Shanghai, as well as at
WTDC-10 and PP-10. Clips will be uploaded to ITU’s YouTube channel.
The Council noted the preparations for ITU’s 145th anniversary.
The United States proposes a resolution on ITU's role in ICT and driver
distraction
It is believed that driver distraction, for example, writing and sending
messages using the short message service (SMS) from mobile phones while
driving is going to be a huge problem — arguably bigger than drunken
driving. In the United States, an official government website has been
launched to help implement President Obama's Executive Order on
distracted driving, which came into effect on 30 December 2009. This
website (http://www.distraction.gov/)
is intended to get the word out on the dangers of distracted driving.
An introduction to the website says: “At the US Department of
Transportation, we heard America’s call to end the dangerous practice of
distracted driving on our nation’s roadways. Distracted driving is a
serious, life-threatening practice and we will not rest until we stop
it. We are leading the effort but you are the key to preventing
distracted driving.” The Department’s campaign message is simple: “Put
it down!” It also says that “The President’s Executive Order has
established a new way to approach driving — by putting your device down
and paying attention to the task at hand.”
Don't text and drive
Presenting Document
C10/63 to the Council, the United States also
underlined the importance of a recent resolution on improving road
safety worldwide, which was passed unanimously by the United Nations
General Assembly (UNGA) on 2 March 2010. In this document, the United
States proposed a draft resolution that would give ITU a role in ICT and
“driver distraction”.
The Council was informed that following the adoption by UNGA of the
resolution on improving road safety, the United Nations
Secretary-General issued a message “Don’t text and drive”. This message
says that drivers of UN vehicles should not use cell phones (including
hands-free units), text messaging and other data and search transmission
devices while driving. UN personnel are urged to use the same safety
measures while driving their private vehicles. Highlighting these
developments, Dr Hamadoun Touré told the Council that he had conveyed
this message to all ITU staff on 29 March 2010. Dr Touré added that he
is committed to carrying this important message forward in future
initiatives and in speeches.
In its draft resolution, the United States proposed to include the theme
of “driver distraction” among the themes to be addressed on the occasion
of the “2011 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day”. In
this regard, the secretariat pointed out that Council 2009 had already
approved the theme “Better life in rural communities with ICT” to mark
this Day (17 May) in 2011. It was suggested that the theme of “driver
distraction” would, instead, be among the themes to be addressed during
the WSIS Forum week in 2011. In addition, others said it could be
considered as a theme for the 2012 World Telecommunication and
Information Society Day. Others proposed to change the words “driver
distraction” to “improving road safety”.
While presenting Document 63, the United States asked that the following
text be added to its draft proposed resolution: “instructs the Director
TSB to bring this resolution to the attention of relevant groups in
ITU-T, in particular ITU-T Study Group 12 and its Focus Group on Car
Communication.”
Welcoming this addition, Malcolm Johnson, Director of TSB
noted that
intelligent transport systems (ITS) was one of the topics discussed at
this year’s Fully Networked Car @ Geneva International Motor Show event
and that it attracted a lot of interest. This topic, he said, will be on
the agenda again for next year's event. “We have consulted the Chairmen
of the Focus Group on Car Communications and of Study Group 12 on the
proposed resolution and they are very happy to take on this topic. If
the Council agrees to this resolution, this item will be added to the
agenda of the Focus Group. To facilitate greater participation of the
car industry in the Focus Group, future meetings are being held in
Germany, Detroit and Japan,” Mr Johnson added. He asked councillors with
contacts in the car industry to bring the work of the Focus Group to
their attention and encourage their participation.
Conclusion
Summing up the discussion, the Chairman said: “In view of the limited
time, I ask the United States to gather the specific edits to their
resolution and bring us back a final text tomorrow (meaning 22 April).
We do have agreement in principle on this important issue, but we will
see the final text tomorrow (meaning 22 April).”
Continuation of the work of the Council Working
Group for the elaboration of the Draft Strategic Plan and the Draft
Financial Plan, 2012-2015
As reported in Issue No. 1 of the Highlights, a coordinated draft new
Strategic Plan was to be produced at least four months before the
Plenipotentiary Conference (in accordance with No. 62A of the
Convention), making that deadline 5 June 2010. In its Resolution 77, the
Plenipotentiary Conference (Antalya, 2006) resolved that the World
Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-10) shall take place in
March 2010. But the Council, with the concurrence of the majority of ITU
Member States, decided that WTDC-10 shall take place from 24 May to 4
June 2010 in Hyderabad (India) — ending one day before the established
deadline for producing the final draft of the Strategic Plan. So, some
flexibility is necessary, in order to take into account in the Strategic
and Financial Plans the results of WTDC-10, especially the programmes
and regional initiatives this conference will approve for the next four
years.
Agreement was reached following the inclusion of the word “balanced”
draft financial plan in resolves 2 (see Resolution 1316, Document
C10/83 when it
becomes available) and the new dates for completing these plans. In this
regard, the resolution instructs the Director of BDT to send the
contribution on ITU-D’s outputs, objectives and goal to CWG SP-FP
as soon as possible after the end of WTDC-10, and not later than 11 June
2010. The Council has also instructed the Chairman of CWG SP-FP, with
the assistance of the Secretary-General, to produce on its behalf, a
coordinated draft new Strategic Plan for 2012-2015 not later than 15
June 2010 and a draft Financial Plan for 2012-2015 not later than 30
June 2010.
Activities on strengthening the role of ITU in
building confidence and security in the use of information and
communication technologies
The Council noted the activities described in Document
C10/12 and
requested that additional information be provided on the full range of
organizations with which ITU is cooperating in the area of building
security in the use of ICT.
“ITU's role with regard to international public
policy issues concerning the potential misuse of satellite images for
criminal or terrorist purposes”
Algeria presented a draft resolution contained in Document
C10/77 which
would call on ITU “to organize strategic dialogue meetings between all
stakeholders, including concerned Member States and the representatives
of the satellite images industry (developers, providers, distributors)”.
The document says that such meetings would help “find solutions that
allow the protection of sensitive sites and critical infrastructure of
Member States from terrorist or criminal attacks, while taking into
consideration commercial interests of the satellite images industry”.
The draft resolution goes on to state that ITU would be called
upon “to provide technical assistance for developing countries in order
to promote better understanding of the legal, technical and
institutional challenges and implications of the misuse of resources and
information and communication technologies, including geospatial
technologies, and to assist these countries in establishing sound and
effective legislation against the misuse of ICT for criminal and
terrorist purposes, including activities intended to affect the
integrity of national critical information infrastructure”.
The Council noted the document, and concluded that the comments made
during the discussion will be reflected in the summary record. In
addition, the matter will be raised at WTDC-10 and at PP-10.
Child Online Protection
The Council Working Group on Child Online Protection (CWG-CP) is chaired
by Dr Sherif Hashem of Egypt. It was set up in accordance with Council
Resolution 1306 on “ITU’ s role with regard to International Public
Policy Issues concerning Creating a Safer Internet Environment for
Children”.
The group’s Vice-Chairman Jane R. Coffin of the United States presented
Document
C10/44 summarizing the main results of their first meeting,
held on 17-18 March 2010. Some 60 participants, representing ITU Member
States and Sector Members, attended the meeting.
Among other things, the group's report underlines that social networks have risen over the
last few years as an important medium for youth communication and
interaction, as well as a platform to share user-created content, such
as video clips, pictures, and so on. Some of these social networking
sites, the report says, “often introduce, in their membership terms and
conditions, a paragraph stating that any user-uploaded content will be
further owned by the social network, so it may remain cached on their
servers indefinitely. Furthermore, user information may sometimes be
shared with other entities for marketing or advertisement purposes,
without the clear consent of the users”.
One of the proposals in the report is that CWG-CP should “work to
encourage social networking service providers to self-regulate in
relation to ownership of user-created content, as well as to draft and
publish their terms and conditions in plain language that can be easily
understood by young people”. In undertaking such work, CWG-CP would also
have to take into account existing initiatives at the national and
regional levels.
In addition, it is proposed in the report that those running ITU’s Child Online
Protection (COP) should “follow up and publish an updated list of the
social networks service providers that have adopted appropriate policies
regarding ownership of user-created content, including the option of the
removal of user-created content at the user’s request”.
The Council noted the report and endorsed the proposal to invite
external experts (non-members) to contribute to the work of the group, including written contributions. It was also agreed that the
group would meet on 11 June 2010.
