Early in November independent experts from all regions of the world met in Geneva to discuss about the fundamental human rights in the information society. The meeting was supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the European Commission, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Government of Mali, Chair of the Human Security Network. The experts produced a paper that was distributed during one of the last preparatory conferences (PrepCom 3A) for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), that started on 12 November in Geneva. The paper calls on governments to protect all human rights related to the information society; ranging from freedom of expression and information to privacy to intellectual property rights, and from bridging the digital divide to good governance.
About freedom of expression the paper states: "Full respect for freedom of expression and information by States and non-State actors is an essential precondition for the building of a free and inclusive information and communication society. ICTs must not be used to curtail this fundamental freedom."
Statement in MS Word (12.11.2003)
http://www.pdhre.org/wsis/statement.doc