World Summit on the Information Society
This report focuses on the provision of free internet access to communities in public libraries in South Africa. It has been prepared in response to a United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) review of the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Plan of Action commitments, with the aim of gauging the extent to which South Africa has met those commitments ten years after the second WSIS summit in Tunis in 2005.
What are the world’s governments thinking in the lead-up to the 10-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society? This report aims to inform stakeholder engagement by providing insight into 15 key government perspectives. The country chapter on South Africa was contributed by APC.
The contribution takes as a starting point the importance of aligning the preparatory process and outcomes of WSIS with the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The importance of this alignment has been highlighted by the United Nations ICT Task Force.
APC has participated extensively in the internet governance process at the World Summit on Information Society. Out of this participation and in collaboration with other partners, including members of the WSIS civil society internet governance caucus, APC has crystallized a set of recommendations with regard to internet governance ahead of the final Summit in Tunis in November 2005.
This document was originally produced in Spanish February 2004 for the publication The World Summit on the Information Society: A subject for all, produced by the Third Sector Information Network (RITS) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The present version offers an update related to the second phase of the WSIS.
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process culminated in the Tunis Summit in November 2005. We are now five months into the post-WSIS implementation phase. Civil society, in its final statement on WSIS, expressed its commitment to continue “its involvement in the future mechanisms for policy debate, implementation and follow-up on Information Society issues” by building on t...
Reflection from the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) at the conclusion of the World Summit on the Information Society.
Much progress been made on the vision of the people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society in the ten years since the WSIS. However, many challenges lie ahead, from adopting a sustainable development approach to advancing gender equality.
The 2005 UN World Summit on the Information Society set the tone for global discussions on internet and society that continue to dominate the sector. At the end of 2015, the UN General Assembly is holding a high-level meeting to review the WSIS, which again will profoundly shape the debate in the short and long term.
APC statement on the occasion of the WSIS+10 Informal interactive stakeholder consultation, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 2 July 2015 Introduction I am speaking on behalf of the Association for Progressive Communications a global network with members in more than 50 countries. APC has been mobilising the power of ICTs for social justice and development for the last 25 years. Our commen...

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