The 16th meeting of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council working group (WG) on implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) results was held last 2-4 February in Geneva.
The group went over the ITU’s activities with respect to implementation of the WSIS action lines, particularly C2, C5 and C6, for which the Union is responsible. During the discussions it was also suggested that a high level meeting be held on the occasion of the 2014 ITU Plenary Conference to assess the ITU’s results vis-à-vis implementation of the action lines.
WG-WSIS also examined the ITU’s participation in the last meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). It was noted that the Union had met the goal of increasing the visibility of its activities in the areas of access, climate change and cyber-security. Some members nevertheless questioned the importance of the ITU’s participation in the IGF and asked for same to be reconsidered.
The gathering also served to launch the new version of the WSIS Stocktaking platform, which gathers initiatives taken by member States to implement the action lines agreed on at the Summit. The WG also recalled the approach of the upcoming 2010 WSIS Forum and asked the players involved in the WSIS process for contributions on subjects they want to see dealt with at the forum, as well as other suggestions for that event.
The WG-WSIS subgroup on public policy issues associated to the internet also held a meeting, where it was noted that even though the ITU clearly plays a role in some of these issues, it should respect its mandate and bear in mind the activity of other organisations such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Also noteworthy was the debate around the internet’s future. Some countries, specifically the Arab ones, hold that the current internet model is already unable to accompany the high level innovation it stimulated, hence the need for a new model. For their part, the European countries and others such as the United States defend the evolution of the current internet.
WG-WSIS will next meet before the Plenipotentiary Conference (4-22 October 2010 in Mexico), most likely in June.
