ITU Reaches Out to Civil Society
GENEVA -- ITU member countries agreed Wednesday to take a first step toward giving nonmembers a bigger role in ITU work to the 2006 World Summit on the Information Society.
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Swiss and Argentine proposals at a 2006 ITU conference urged studies on involving small businesses, private entities, and academics. The focus has narrowed to groups interested in ITU WSIS work, officials said after ITU Council working group meetings Friday through Wednesday on the summit. Concerns emerged over demands on resources, politicizing ITU technical work and fiddling with the organization’s revenue model.
The ITU has an elaborate system for business involvement, but few openings for other entities. Membership fees feed the organization’s bottom line, said Thomas Schneider, a Swiss Ofcom information society specialist. Changes need not undo the existing system, in which businesses, universities and individuals pay fees for benefits they get, Schneider said. Nonmembers work with ITU in many ways, including invitations to be on national delegations.
A Wednesday compromise calls for open consultations in which groups might take part in ITU activities related to the summit. The question is how to organize consultations for more participation, said Bertrand de la Chapelle, French Special Envoy for the Information Society.
A spring questionnaire will begin a more open examination of nonmembers’ roles. Part of the questionnaire is for ITU member countries, the other is other ITU members, including businesses. The second will be published online.
Conflict emerged at the meeting over how wide to set the target audience. Some countries want it open to everyone. Though no country opposed public consultation, others wanted to query only WSIS-accredited groups. Differences of opinion nation by nation. Some countries feared setting a precedent that might be used to take an unwanted policy direction.
The long-term aim is criteria for picking organizations relevant to ITU’s WSIS work, officials said. Debate over the rules of participation will come later. New procedures for participation could be informal or they require difficult changes to ITU’s constitution and convention.
Data from the consultation will go into a preliminary report expected in September. A final report is to be ready for the 2009 ITU Council meeting for consideration at the next policy conference, in 2010.