[kictanet] APC Press release: Global Information Society Watch -- First report looks at ICT policy's impact]

[alice]

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW REPORT MONITORS POLITICAL WILL TO MAKE THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION
REALITY FOR ALL

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY, Thursday May 17 -- A new watchdog report monitoring
promises made by governments and the United Nations to ensure that
information technology is used to benefit millions of people, will be
launched in Geneva on May 22.

The fruits of the information technology 'revolution' are unevenly
distributed between countries and within societies. In the Democratic
Republic of the Congo it is claimed that as little as 2.5% of the
population owns a telephone, whereas neighbouring Nigeria has one of the
fastest growing IT markets in Africa. In India, a burgeoning technology
industry has failed to provide phones or internet to vast rural areas.

The gap is not only “digital”

The reasons for the inequalities are complex but, claim the editors of
the report - the Association for Progressive Communications and the
Third World Institute - “experience shows that the status quo prevails
unless citizens actively demand change from their governments. A ‘Global
Information Society Watch’ is needed to make governments and
international organisations accountable.”

Launch of first Global Information Society Watch report

The Global Information Society Watch 2007 report - the first in a series
of annual reports - looks at the state of the field of information and
communication technology (ICT) policy at local and global levels and
particularly how policy impacts on the lives of people living in
developing countries.

Studies of the ICT policy situation in twenty-two countries from four
regions are featured: Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda); Asia (Bangladesh,
India, Pakistan and the Philippines); Latin America (Argentina, Brazil,
Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru); and Eastern Europe (Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania), with one report from a
Western European country (Spain).

The report concludes that when it comes to ICTs for development, there
are some conspicuous similarities between countries. Excluding Spain,
the other twenty-one countries each show obvious evidence of the
“digital divide” which impacts on the majority of people negatively.
According to Brazilian authors RITS, the absence of a people-orientated
policy framework in Brazil runs the risk of condemning the vast majority
of people to “eternal disconnection”.

The report also includes provocative, analytical essays on five
international institutions (including the ITU, ICANN and the World
Intellectual Property Organisation) questioning the extent to which they
allow all stakeholders to participate in their processes. There is a
special section on how to measure progress.

 “This report is an important effort at a critical time,” says Markus
Kummer, executive coordinator of the Secretariat of the Internet
Governance Forum (IGF). “It is of utmost importance to know the extent
to which the people affected have a voice in the policy-making
organisations. Participation of all stakeholders in policy processes is
a key element of good global governance. In this sense, the report will
also be good input to the IGF in its continuing work on a development
agenda for internet governance and the special emphasis being placed on
capacity building for all stakeholders. More so, while so much attention
is being put on the effort to overcome the inequities in global
information access it is important to make sure that the people who need
this access are actually served by those efforts.”

"There is a lack of ICT-oriented indexes which focus on inclusion and
exclusion in ICT policy decisions. Global Information Society Watch is a
serious attempt to bridge this gap," says Rikke Frank Jørgensen, senior
adviser at the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

Connecting the dots to form the big ICT policy picture

Alice Wanjira Munyua is part of KICTANet, a citizen-coalition that has
worked critically with the Kenyan government to ensure issues of
universal access and consumer rights are being addressed in Kenya’s
first national ICT policy. “Rather than just publishing statistics,” she
comments, “this new report provides an opportunity to share examples of
the road travelled in policy-making, which will hopefully reduce the
risk of following inappropriate paths.”
“While international organisations and research institutions regularly
churn out reports packed with data about the diffusion of ICTs and offer
mainstream assessments of policy trends, they generally devote little
attention to what all this means for the global public interest. Global
Information Society Watch [...]  connects the dots between national and
global-level trends and gives readers a ‘big picture’ understanding of
where we are heading and the risks and opportunities that entails,”
explains Dr William J. Drake, director of the “Information Revolution
and Global Governance” project, Graduate Institute for International
Studies (Switzerland).

More citizen involvement in policy-making is key

“Increase in access to ICTs will not reduce poverty,” state APC and ITeM
in their introduction to the 2007 report. “But there is a real danger
that lack of access to ICTs can deepen existing social exclusion and
create new forms of exclusion. In this context we believe it is
essential for civil society networks to participate in and watch over
ICT policy processes at the global, regional and national levels.”

OBTAIN THE REPORT

Download or read online: http://www.GlobalISWatch.org

ABOUT THE EDITORS

In compiling this publication, the APC and ITeM are following up on
their long-term interest in the impact of civil society on governance
processes and their efforts to enhance public participation in national
and international forums.

The APC network has been involved in global, regional and national ICT
policy processes since 2000, with a focus on human rights and social
inclusion in the information society and on promoting “digital
inclusion”. Association for Progressive Communications (APC):
http://www.apc.org

ITeM has been active in researching and promoting the use of ICTs to
strengthen citizen involvement in decision-making processes. It hosts
international civil society advocacy initiatives such as “Social Watch”,
which monitors social development and gender policies, and
“IFIwatchnet”, which monitors the activities of the international
financial institutions. Third World Institute (known by its Spanish
acronym, ITeM): http://www.item.org.uy

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Pablo Accuosto
Third World Institute
Paullier 977
Montevideo 11200 URUGUAY
Tel: + 598 2 412 4224 ext. 110
Email: accuosto at item.org.uy

Karen Banks
Association for Progressive Communications
c/o GreenNet, Development House 56-64 Leonard Street
London EC2A 4JX UK
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7065 0935
Email: karenb at gn.apc.org