After informal participation to the last meeting of the Multidisciplinary Ad-hoc Committee of Experts on the Information Society (CAHSI), EDRI was granted observer status to the Council of Europe group of Specialists on Human Rights in the Information Society (MM-S-IS).
On behalf of European Digital Rights, Meryem Marzouki from the French digital rights organisation IRIS presented EDRI activities at the CDMC (Steering Committee on Medias and Communications, under the CoE Human Rights DG) plenary meeting on 23 June 2005.
The CAHSI was an ad hoc committee, which mandate ends in 2005. Its main role was to prepare a political statement on the principles and guidelines for ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law in the information society (see EDRI-gram 3.8). This statement was adopted by the CoE Summit of heads of states on 13 May 2005. It will be the main CoE contribution to the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).
The MM-S-IS mandate is larger, both in scope and in duration, as set by its terms of reference. In participating to MM-S-IS work, EDRI aims at promoting its views for the respect for human rights in the context of the information society, not least regarding freedom of expression and privacy, and how these rights translate in this specific context. With two of its members (IRIS, France, and Digital Rights, Denmark) co-chairing the WSIS civil society Human Rights Caucus, and with its unique features of global approach of the issue, expertise in the field, worldwide civil society partnership, and already established relations with other intergovernmental organisations, EDRI feels its added value to the CoE development in the information society sector has been acknowledged.
Next steps for EDRI are participation to the CoE Pan-European Forum on "Human Rights in the Information Society" and to the second meeting of MM-S-IS, both to be held in the 'Palais de l'Europe' in Strasbourg, mid-September 2005.
EDRI-gram 3.8: Council of Europe draft statement on human rights and
Internet (20.04.2005)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.8/CoE
Group of Specialists on Human Rights in the Information Society (MM-S-IS)
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Human_Rights/media/1_Intergovernmental_Co-opera...
CoE Pan-European Forum on Human Rights in the Information Society
(12-13.09.2005)
http://www.coe.int/T/E/human_rights/media/
(Contribution by Meryem Marzouki, EDRI-member IRIS)