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Africa: Digital Solidarity Gap, 2
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Dec 15, 2003 (031215)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
Meeting in Lyon, France just before the World Summit on the
Information Society, representatives of cities and local
authorities decided to take their own initiatives to address the
global digital divide. When the World Summit failed to make a firm
commitment to a new Digital Solidarity Fund, the mayors of Lyon and
Geneva joined with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade to commit 1
million euros to launch the fund themselves.
This issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a news report and press
release on initiatives from the first World Summit of Cities and
Local Authorities on the Information Society. It also contains the
Digital Access Index released by the International
Telecommunications Union in November with its World
Telecommunication Development Report, with rankings for 178
economies. Unsurprisingly, African countries dominate among
those in the "low access" section of the table. Significantly,
however, the authors of the report stress that their report may
underestimate internet access in many developing countries, due to
factors such as the spread of internet cafes and the absence of
reliable surveys on usage.
Another issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin today includes several news
reports on the World Summit from the Highway Africa News Agency.
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Visit http://www.africafocus.org for news, analysis, advocacy
Find recent book recommendations at Powell's, a unionized
on-line bookstore: http://www.solidarityresearch.org/powells
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Senegal, Mayors Bypass Nations, Set Up Digital Fund
By Traci Hukill, U.N. Wire
http://www.unwire.org
December 12, 2003
GENEVA Days after representatives from nearly 200 countries put
the idea on hold, two European cities and the government of Senegal
today launched a global digital solidarity fund to help poor
countries bridge the digital divide.
Dissatisfaction with what they described as the typical U.N. summit
process of talk followed by inaction led the mayors of Geneva and
the French city of Lyon to join in an unusual alliance with the
African nation.
"We wanted to make sure at this summit there would not only be
declarations of intent but also acts, and this is our way to ensure
that enhancement of human rights in this world can be helped in
this way," said Geneva Mayor Christian Ferrazino.
The two cities donated $395,000 and $368,000 respectively to the
fund on the final day of the World Summit on the Information
Society. The fund, initially proposed by Senegal's President
Abdoulaye Wade in the run-up to the summit, also received $500,000
from Senegal, bringing the total to the significant figure of 1
million euros. The three founders hope to solicit donations from
other cities, nations and perhaps even the United Nations itself.
Senegalese Minister of Communication Mamadou Diop, standing in at
a press conference for an unavoidably delayed Wade, seconded
Ferrazino's sentiments. "We thought we should not finish with the
usual resolutions, the usual commitments which are theoretical but
do not give rise to concrete action," he said.
For months, controversy has swirled around the notion of a
voluntary U.N.-administered fund to help technologically
disadvantaged countries build telephone lines and other
infrastructure in an attempt to keep the digital gap and its
inseparable twin, the wealth gap, from widening further. The need
to bridge the divide was obvious - half the people in the world do
not have access to a telephone but how to meet it was less so.
In a series of preparatory meetings before the summit, country
negotiators locked horns: developing countries wanted the fund,
while developed countries said it would be plagued by waste and
proposed instead using existing institutions to manage the effort.
On Tuesday, in what appeared to be a defeat for Senegal and its
allies, negotiators working on a draft declaration to be approved
at the summit decided not to decide yet. They would instead
commission a study on the subject to be completed by the second
phase of the WSIS, scheduled for November 2005 in Tunisia. The
agreed-upon text neither encouraged nor prohibited independently
established funds or bilateral agreements.
Wade was reportedly upbeat after Tuesday's decision, and today's
launch explains why. The three officials on the dais at the
conference were short on details about how they would manage their
digital solidarity fund details such as what criteria they would
use to dole out funding and how they would assure other potential
contributors that the fund was managed in a transparent manner
but they clearly believe they and their unorthodox alliance are
onto something big.
The two mayors especially seem to think their time has come.
Asked how countries would react to the establishment of a fund they
had just refused to create, Ferrazino shrugged.
"They cannot do anything about it," he said. "This is the way
things are going these days. Many people live in cities and
municipalities, and within 20 years 80 percent of the world's
population will be living in cities and municipalities."
"[U.N. Secretary General] Kofi Annan instructed the former
Brazilian president to reflect on the future of relations between
cities and municipalities with international and intergovernmental
organizations," added Lyon's Mayor Gerard Collomb. "Mr. Annan
knows full well that a number of large cities and municipalities
throughout the world would have economic, cultural and social power
that would ensure they can play a significant role as players at
the world level."
"At Rio, the cities were not involved," Ferrazino said, referring
to the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, also
called the Earth Summit. "But who was responsible for implementing
all this? The cities and local authorities."
"The role of the state is changing," Ferrazino continued. "We have
the European Union, the African Union, organizations that are
regrouping states. The fund we're talking about is of course a new
initiative taking advantage of this new reality."
Copyright 2003 by National Journal Group Inc. Distributed under
terms of use of the United Nation Foundation's U.N. Wire.
World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information
Society
Press release
10 December 2003
http://www.cities-lyon.org
Geneva, WSIS: the cities and local authorities from around the
world present their Declaration and Action Plans for a fair and
sustainable information society
[For the declaration, see http://www.cities-lyon.org/en/declaration]
The success of the first World Summit of Cities and Local
Authorities on the Information Society organised at Lyon on 4 and
5 December (500 local authorities, 2,000 participants from all over
the world) marks a major turning point in international political
life. It responds to the desire of Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary General
of the United Nations, to associate cities, local authorities and
civil society in the UN?s projects and activities. Cities are major
actors that participate concretely in the daily lives of citizens
everywhere, whether in education, knowledge, culture, the combat
against social exclusion, participation or involvement in
democracy.
The Declaration of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information
Society was unanimously adopted at the end of the Lyon World
Summit. It asserts the basic rights of citizens that cities and
local authorities want to have taken into consideration at the
Summit in Geneva. The information society must strengthen:
- Democracy, freedom of expression and respect for human rights;
- Freedom to communicate and equal access to knowledge;
- Education, particularly in setting up universal primary
education;
- Access to knowledge, to facilitate research and for cultural
diversity;
- Digital solidarity to combat exclusion and the digital divide in
cities in developed and developing countries, with four possible
orientations:
- Develop the use of free software;
- Develop decentralised cooperation programmes between cities and
regions; o Support actions in favour of digital solidarity between
developed and developing countries;
- Relay the proposals of Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal and
Vice-President of NEPAD on digital solidarity.
The Declaration will be presented to Mr Kofi Annan on 10 December,
and to the Heads of State and Government on 12 December (WISI,
10-12 December, Geneva) by G�rard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon and
Christian Ferrazino, Mayor of Geneva.
Forever concerned with making proposals a reality, cities and local
authorities are now formulating an action plan, stemming from the
synthesis of the debates held during the Lyon Summit. This action
plan will be presented at the congress held to found the first
World Association of Cities and Local Authorities, "United Cities
and Local Authorities", at Paris in May 2004.
For Gerard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon, "The great success of the World
Summit of Cities relies on wide-ranging consultation, strong
mobilisation of local actors and authorities, and above all
concrete commitments to build a fairer and more united world,
particularly between developed and developing countries."
Christian Ferrazino, Mayor of Geneva declares, "The Lyon Summit
marks a major turning point in the history of international
relations. Our municipalities show that they can play an
international role, since they are the best placed to make known
the needs and hopes of their citizens."
Cities and local authorities from around the entire world have
developed international networks that permit collective expression
and actions. At the end of the Lyon Summit, Mercedes Bresso,
President of CAMVAL (Coordination of World Associations of Cities
and Local Authorities) announced the "creation of the first World
Association of Cities at Paris in May 2004 that we hope will be the
first representative organisation of cities and local authorities
to sit at the UN."
The exemplarity of cities and local authorities in the information
society: Several hundred projects, actions and initiatives were
presented at the Lyon World Summit and can be consulted on
http://www.cities-lyon.org. They are also exhibited at the WISI at the
City of Geneva/City of Lyon stand, Forum ICT4D, Palexpo Hall 4.
Press contact:
France: Agence Isabelle Dejeux - Isabelle Dejeux,
Cyril Chenu
T : 33 4 72 07 44 90 F : 33 4 72 07 44 99 - M : 33 6
08 16 91 28
[email protected] / [email protected]
Switzerland: City of Geneva, Philippe d'Espine
T : 00 41 22 418
29 11 [email protected]
Digital Access Index 2002
Source: International Telecommunication Union
http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2003/30.html
The full World Telecommunications Development Report 2003 is also
available on the ITU website.
High Access
Sweden 0.85
Denmark 0.83
Iceland 0.82
Korea (Rep.) 0.82
Norway 0.79
Netherlands 0.79
Hong Kong, China 0.79
Finland 0.79
Taiwan, China 0.79
Canada 0.78
United States 0.78
United Kingdom 0.77
Switzerland 0.76
Singapore 0.75
Japan 0.75
Luxembourg 0.75
Austria 0.75
Germany 0.74
Australia 0.74
Belgium 0.74
New Zealand 0.72
Italy 0.72
France 0.72
Slovenia 0.72
Israel 0.70
Upper Access
Ireland 0.69
Cyprus 0.68
Estonia 0.67
Spain 0.67
Malta 0.67
Czech Republic 0.66
Greece 0.66
Portugal 0.65
UAE 0.64
Macao, China 0.64
Hungary 0.63
Bahamas 0.62
Bahrain 0.60
St. Kitts and Nevis 0.60
Poland 0.59
Slovak Republic 0.59
Croatia 0.59
Chile 0.58
Antigua & Barbuda 0.57
Barbados 0.57
Malaysia 0.57
Lithuania 0.56
Qatar 0.55
Brunei Darussalam 0.55
Latvia 0.54
Uruguay 0.54
* Seychelles 0.54
Dominica 0.54
Argentina 0.53
Trinidad & Tobago 0.53
Bulgaria 0.53
Jamaica 0.53
Costa Rica 0.52
St. Lucia 0.52
Kuwait 0.51
Grenada 0.51
* Mauritius 0.50
Russia 0.50
Mexico 0.50
Brazil 0.50
Medium Access
Belarus 0.49
Lebanon 0.48
Thailand 0.48
Romania 0.48
Turkey 0.48
TFYR Macedonia 0.48
Panama 0.47
Venezuela 0.47
Belize 0.47
St. Vincent 0.46
Bosnia 0.46
Suriname 0.46
* South Africa 0.45
Colombia 0.45
Jordan 0.45
Serbia & Montenegro 0.45
Saudi Arabia 0.44
Peru 0.44
China 0.43
Fiji 0.43
* Botswana 0.43
Iran (I.R.) 0.43
Ukraine 0.43
Guyana 0.43
Philippines 0.43
Oman 0.43
Maldives 0.43
* Libya 0.42
Dominican Rep. 0.42
* Tunisia 0.41
Ecuador 0.41
Kazakhstan 0.41
* Egypt 0.40
* Cape Verde 0.39
Albania 0.39
Paraguay 0.39
Namibia 0.39
Guatemala 0.38
El Salvador 0.38
Palestine 0.38
Sri Lanka 0.38
Bolivia 0.38
Cuba 0.38
Samoa 0.37
* Algeria 0.37
Turkmenistan 0.37
Georgia 0.37
* Swaziland 0.37
Moldova 0.37
Mongolia 0.35
Indonesia 0.34
* Gabon 0.34
* Morocco 0.33
India 0.32
Kyrgyzstan 0.32
Uzbekistan 0.31
Viet Nam 0.31
Armenia 0.30
Low Access
* Zimbabwe 0.29
Honduras 0.29
Syria 0.28
Papua New Guinea 0.26
Vanuatu 0.24
Pakistan 0.24
Azerbaijan 0.24
* S. Tom� & Principe 0.23
Tajikistan 0.21
* Equatorial Guinea 0.20
* Kenya 0.19
Nicaragua 0.19
* Lesotho 0.19
Nepal 0.19
Bangladesh 0.18
Yemen 0.18
* Togo 0.18
Solomon Islands 0.17
Cambodia 0.17
* Uganda 0.17
* Zambia 0.17
Myanmar 0.17
* Congo 0.17
* Cameroon 0.16
* Ghana 0.16
Lao P.D.R. 0.15
* Malawi 0.15
* Tanzania 0.15
Haiti 0.15
* Nigeria 0.15
* Djibouti 0.15
* Rwanda 0.15
* Madagascar 0.15
* Mauritania 0.14
* Senegal 0.14
* Gambia 0.13
Bhutan 0.13
* Sudan 0.13
* Comoros 0.13
* Cote d'Ivoire 0.13
* Eritrea 0.13
* D.R. Congo 0.12
* Benin 0.12
* Mozambique 0.12
* Angola 0.11
* Burundi 0.10
* Guinea 0.10
* Sierra Leone 0.10
* Central Af. Rep. 0.10
* Ethiopia 0.10
* Guinea-Bissau 0.10
* Chad 0.10
* Mali 0.09
* Burkina Faso 0.08
* Niger 0.04
Note: The composite indicator is based on infrastructure (fixed
telephone lines and mobile telephone lines per 100 inhabitants),
affordability (internet access price as percent of national income
per capita), knowledge (adult literacy, and formal school
enrollment), quality (international internet bandwidth per capita,
and broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants), and usage (internet
users per 100 inhabitants).
AfricaFocus Bulletin is a free independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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