The Council of Europe Group of Specialists on Human Rights in the Information Society (CoE MC-S-IS) held its 4th meeting on 9-10 March in Strasbourg, with EDRI participating in its capacity of non governmental observer. Among the many issues on the agenda were:

- the analysis of answers to the questionnaire sent by the group to CoE member States on their implementation of the CoE Declaration of freedom of communication on the Internet (only 7 out of 46 answers received so far); -the review of the CoE Recommendation on media coverage of election campaigns taking into account new medias, the mapping of human rights issues and guidelines with regards to roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders; - the development of strategies promoting digital inclusion and Internet literacy;

In a public call to action released on 13 February 2006, Annette Muehlberg, European member of At-large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and co-chair network new media asked for public support in building up a regional structure to represent individual's interests and concerns.

The petition with the title "Help to strengthen Civil Rights and Consumer Protection in ICANN's policies! " considers that:

"The question of how Internet Governance is shaped is one of the central sociopolitical tasks of the coming years. It will be a matter of how consumers and Internet users can become involved in the policy making of ICANN.

There is, nevertheless, a civil society element in ICANN, the At-large Advisory Committee (ALAC), composed to represent Internet users, five regions in world each providing 3 representatives. At this point these

Following the agenda of the WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) in Tunis in November 2005, the stakeholders will attend a meeting in Geneva, on 16 and 17 February for consultations regarding the convening of an IGF ( Internet Governance Forum) for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue. The meeting in Geneva is meant to deal with the scope and priorities of the Forum, its programme and character. The Forum will be hosted by the Government of Greece sometime in 2006, probably in Autumn.

The Forum was proposed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to solve the mostly argued and controversial subject of Internet governance occurred in Tunis WSIS. ( see EDRI-Gram 3.23)

Although the Forum has no binding or decision-making power many expect it to bear a large influence and to result in solutions and best practices to

After the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunis between 16 and 19 November 2005, a large number of attending civil society organisations decided to write another letter to Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations. During the WSIS the Tunisian government committed serious attacks on human rights and the right to freedom of expression. These attacks included harassment of delegates, assaults on Tunisian and international journalists and human rights defenders, denial of entry to the country, the blocking of websites, the censorship of documents and speeches, and the prevention and disruption of meetings. See also the report on the disturbance of a panel on freedom of expression, in EDRI-gram 3.23.

In the letter they ask him to investigate the attacks on human rights experienced by the participants during the Summit. "We believe it is essential that lessons are learnt from what has taken place here this week and we therefore call upon you, the Secretary General of the United Nations, to launch a full investigation into the attacks on human rights and freedom of expression that we have witnessed in Tunisia both in the run-up to and during the World Summit on the Information Society. We ask you to closely monitor the follow-up period in Tunisia."

APC, the association for progressive communication, reports on the civil society press conference on 18 November. Civil society representatives from all continents lined up on a panel to deliver a stark closing statement. The civil society statement was not finalised, but four points are addressed: internet governance, human rights, financing and development, and follow-up. The press conference essentially driven by questions of the audience, revolved around issues of development through ICTs.

Renate Bloem of the Civil Society Bureau kicked off the conference by saluting some language used in the official Tunis Commitment such as multistakeholderism. She held up that civil society has become a force to be reckoned with. "We have moved to become a partner in negotiations," she

The day before official opening of the summit, delegates finally reached an agreement on the sensitive issue of global internet governance. Both the US and the EU claimed victory at the creation of a new Internet Governance Forum (IGF). The forum will be set up next year and decide upon public policy issues for the internet. It will be made up of governments as well as private and civil society, but it will not have power over existing bodies. There will not be any new oversight on ICANN. Governments will continue to discuss policy desires within the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of ICANN.

Today, e-zine The Register reports that the only dissonant came from ITU secretary-general Yoshio Utsumi. At the closing press conference he said that while it would continue to discuss issues in the newly created

While the Tunisian authorities did all they could to prevent civil society events outside the Kram exhibition centre, on Wednesday 16 November civil society activists succeeded in getting the upper hand against state repression. A press conference to announce the cancellation of the Citizens Summit transformed into a major human rights event.

When civil society activists and journalists moved from the official WSIS Kram centre to the offices of the Tunisian Human Rights League on Wednesday afternoon – the day of the opening of the WSIS summit – they didn't know what to expect. All earlier meetings and press conferences outside the official summit area had been forcefully prevented by Tunisian police and secret service. What they found, however, was a room packed with international journalists, civil society and government delegates,

As host country of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Tunisia has not lived up to the optimistic expectations of some UN officials, but in stead exceeded the worst expectations of civil society. Many individuals searched their souls whether to attend the Summit or not. But the promise of a Citizens Summit, dedicated to the human rights demands of civil society and inclusive of the Tunisian people and organisations purposefully excluded by the Tunisian government, convinced many of them to come to Tunis and mingle amongst the 23.000 official participants.

In an opinion article titled 'No place to talk about Internet freedom' for the International Herald Tribune, Kamel Labidi, the former director of Amnesty International-Tunisia, describes Tunisia as "one of the Arabs