The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a United Nations (UN) conference managed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The aim of the WSIS is to develop a global framework to tackle the challenges posed by the information society. In accordance with how it was originally conceived, the WSIS differs from other UN conferences in that it is a two phase process culminating in two "world summits", the first of which took place in Geneva from 10-12 December 2003, with the second one in Tunis from 16-18 November 2005. In contrast to previous UN conferences, the idea was that the deliberations to take place at the WSIS should be of a consensual nature, incorporating the viewpoints of multiple actors (reflecting government, private sector and civil society interests).

The year 2003 found the WSIS process taking place against a backdrop of political changes in multilateral negotiation processes, marked by a new central role for countries from the South and a high level of involvement by organized civil society. Tensions between alliances of countries in the South and the North led to the collapse of the WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun in September 2003, coinciding with the third WSIS preparatory meeting and one of the most difficult moments in the intergovernmental negotiations. Furthermore, the Summit is led by the ITU, an organization that is attempting to recover its leading role through an agenda based on the expansion of telecommunications following the laws of the market, following a period of economic contraction and a drop in foreign investment, in particular in the telecommunications sector, where interest dropped sharply at the end of the 1990s. Justifiably, then, expectations around what could be achieved at the Summit were not high.

The first phase of the WSIS ended with the adoption of two official documents: a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action. Controversial issues such as ICTs financing in the South and Internet Governance went under a heat debate during the preparatory process but no agreements could be reached on them. Other politically hard issues such as intelectual property rights, trade of goods and services and debt swaps were hardly addressed. Delegations of Northern countries (the United States, in particular) put a lot of effort in keeping them out of the WSIS agenda, arguing that it was not the appropiate forum to address them. Some of the issues left out in Geneva are to be reexamined in the second phase of the summit in Tunis. Two working groups are to be created within the orbit of the United Nations to examine the issues of Internet governance and the creation of a Digital Solidarity Fund proposed by Senegal as a financial mechanism for ITCs in Southern countries.

The second phase of the WSIS took place in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005. While heated debates on the future of the Internet were taking place inside of the police-surrounded conference venue, citizens' demonstrations reclaiming the host country's compliance with international human rights agreements were being severly repressed in downtown Tunis.

The Tunis Summit, which was supposed to give an answer to unresolved issues that emerged during the first phase of the WSIS in 2003 in Geneva - in particular the democratization of the Internet governance system and the leverage of funding for the development of information and communication in the South - was closed with mixed emotions.

WSIS outcomes express good intentions but in no way provide concrete mechanisms to address the disparities in access to information and communication in developed and developing countries. The gap between what civil society organizations aimed for the second phase of the Summit (expressed in civil society's declaration at the end of the WSIS first phase) and the real outcomes of the official negotiations is almost as wide as the so-called digital divide between the North and the South.

In this report we aim to facilitate access to the most relevant information on this process, with special emphasis on the visions emanating from civil society. We include information on the regional and general preparatory meetings, as well as on the events that took place during the first phase of the WSIS summit in Geneva. The "News" section contains new and relevant information as it emerges.

The report is structured as follows:

In the "Geneva 2003" section:

    * Official website
    * Summit outcomes
    * Parallel activities
    * Reactions
    * Preparatory process
          o PrepCom-3
          o Intersessional PrepCom2-PrepCom3
          o PrepCom-2
          o Regional conferences

    * Meetings, seminars and consultations
    * Counter-initiatives

In the "Tunis 2005" section:

    * Official website
    * Summit outcomes
    * Reactions
    * Preparatory process
          o PrepCom-1
          o PrepCom-2
          o PrepCom-3
          o Regional conferences
          o Thematic conferences

    * Financing ICTs
    * Internet Governance
    * The fight for freedom of expression in Tunisia
    * Civil society participation
    * Towards Tunis 2005

Source: Global Knowledge Partnership