The first phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) ended in Geneva last week, after more than 18 months of preparatory process. Its 2 outcomes are a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action, both enthusiastically adopted by government representatives, though hardly discussed until the last hour.

A major outcome is also the civil society (CS) alternative Declaration. Entitled 'Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs', this document was proposed by CS as part of the official outcomes of the Summit, after having collectively decided that "their voices and the general interest they collectively expressed are not adequately reflected in the Summit documents." CS has previously provided 'Essential Benchmarks' against which the outcomes of the WSIS process and the commitment of all stakeholders to achieve its mandate will be assessed.

Many observers said that WSIS has been much ado about nothing. As a matter of fact, the most contentious issues have been delayed by government representatives to the second phase of WSIS, to be held in 2005. Among these issues are internet governance and so-called digital solidarity. They remain on top of the 'wait and see agenda', with non binding calls to the United Nations Secretary-General to establish on the one hand a Working Group 'in an open and inclusive process ... to investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet' and on the other hand a Task Force to complete "a thorough review of [existing financial mechanisms] adequacy in meeting the challenges of ICT for development".

Even the declaration from the Civil Society is full of cautious - and sometimes contradictory - statements, showing how diverse the CS groups are that participated in WSIS, and how difficult it is to build a common vision of the information society.

The official Declaration of principles and Plan of Action will be assessed by many regional and thematic civil society groups. One group has already done that, the WSIS CS Human Rights Caucus. Set up and coordinated by EDRI members, this group has been very active since the early beginnings of the WSIS process, in order to put human rights on the agenda. Now including more than 45 organisations from all over the world, the caucus held a press conference at the end of WSIS to express its relief that in the end, the WSIS Declaration included many principles supported by the caucus, after even the simplest references to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights had been debated and contested right up until the last hour.

However, the WSIS CS human rights caucus deplores the absence of any reference to the fundamental principle of non-discrimination as well as to international labour standards. It further deplores the continuing emphasis on the creation of a 'global culture of cyber-security' which aims at enhancing trade instead of implementing human rights. The caucus remains concerned that the rule of law and the regulatory framework are expected to 'reflect national realities' instead of being consistent with the international human rights treaties. Moreover, the Plan of Action is devoid of any mechanism to advance the human rights agenda, while the human rights caucus had proposed the establishment of an Independent Commission on the Information Society and Human Rights to monitor practices and policies on human rights and the information society. This is particularly urgent given the tendency in many countries - both North and South - to sacrifice human rights in the name of 'security'.

However, beyond all these major problems, WSIS has been a true success in showing the whole world - be it through contradictions and lack of concrete outcome - that information society is not just about pipes, and that the so-called digital divide simply reflects the social, economical, and cultural divide among and within the nations. This success is the major outcome of civil society participation to the first ever held UN Summit on Information and Communication issues, but there is still a long way ahead to realise CS aspirations of building information and communication societies that are people-centred, inclusive and equitable and "where development is framed by fundamental human rights and oriented towards achieving a more equitable distribution of resources".

Finally, WSIS provided great opportunities for civil society networking. Among the huge number of side events organised during WSIS, the World Forum on Communication Rights attracted a large international audience of human rights activists and grass-root organizations. The WSIS CS human rights caucus, which co-organised this Forum, held a session on 'Communication and Human Rights: No Development without Democracy, no Democracy without Development'. In addition to Aminata Traoré's strong keynote speech, the caucus provided a forum for voices that have been silenced by authoritarian governments. Sharon Hom from Human Rights in China and Souhayr Belhassen from the Tunisian Human Rights League were given the opportunity to demonstrate that, while China and Tunisia are not the only countries with serious human rights problems, they prove that infrastructure alone is not enough.

WSIS official documents (English, soon available in all 5 UN languages)
http://www.itu.int/wsis/

WSIS CS documents (English, French, Spanish) and reports on WSIS (English, German)
http://www.worldsummit2003.de/

WSIS CS Human Rights Caucus actions, communications and documents (English, French)
http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/hr-wsis/

World Forum on Communication Rights (English, French, Spanish)
http://www.communicationrights.org/

(Contribution by Meryem Marzouki, IRIS and co-coordinator of the WSIS CS Human Rights Caucus)