First WSIS+10 Review Meeting in Paris Is Over

 

2013-04-03

 

First WSIS+10 Review MeetingTowards Knowledge Societies for Peace and Sustainable Developmentwas heldat the UNESCO's headquarters in Paris from 25 to 27 of February 2013. After the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which took place in Geneva in 2003, this Review Meeting became the major international forum which addressed the humanitarian aspects of the application of information and communication technologies (ICT).

 

Hosted by UNESCO, this Review Meeting was co-organized with UNESCO and several agencies: ITU, UNCTAD and UNDP; it brought together almost 1500 political and public figures and experts in ICT development and application from 130 countries the world over.

 

The program of the Review Meeting with its 59 different sessions covered a broad range of issues: access to information; development and use of the Internet; ethical aspects of the information society; freedom of expression and independent media; open government; cultural and linguistic diversity; digital safety; electronic science and education, open software; international domain names; copyright; information literacy, etc.

 

The Meeting became a global platform for (a) discussing the recent and future transformations in the information technologies and knowledge; (b) formulating novel approaches to the vision of sustainable and fair knowledge society; and (c) ensuring a comprehensive review of the WSIS action line outcomes. The outcome report Technology, Broadband and Education: Advancing the Education for All Agenda was presented by the of the Broadband Commission’s Working Group on Education at the WSIS+10 opening. It addressed the advantages of using high-speed communication technologies in education, especially when drafting and disseminating open education resources as well as teaching and guidance materials written in local languages. The participants to various sessions expressed their understanding of and discussed possible measures against the current global crisis which they recognized not as a pure economic and/or financial crisis but as a crisis of values.

 

The Meeting was attended by Mr. Evgeny Kuzmin, Mr. Sergey Bakeykin and Ms. Tatyana Murovana, the executives of the Russian Committee of the Information for All UNESCO Programme.

 

First WSIS+10 Review Meeting final statement Information and Knowledge for All: An Expanded Vision and a Renewed Commitment, which was adopted after heated discussions about the outcomes of the WSIS' action plans and about the forecasts of the international policies and practices that are required for building a fair information society, feeds into the WSIS information society resolutions.

 

Additional information is available at:

• First WSIS+10 Review Meeting website   

 

 

 

At the WSIS+10 opening ceremony

 

 

At the press conference of the executives of the UN agencies - WSIS+10 co-organizers. From left to right: Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General, ITU; Ms. Irina Bokova, Director General, UNESCO; and Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

 

 

At the WSIS+10 opening ceremony

 

 

Mr. Evgeny Kuzmin, Chair, Russian IFAP Committee, and Ms. Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General

 

 

Boyan Radoykov (left) and Indrajit Banerjee, division directors, UNESCO Communication and Information Sector

 

 

H.E. Adama Samasseku, President, International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies; President, the MAAYA World Network for Linguistic Diversity; President, WSIS Preparatory Committee (Geneva)

 

 

Sergey Bakeykin, Deputy Chair, and Ms. Tatyana Murovana, Executive Secretary, IFAP Russian Committee

 

 

Executives of the Permanent Delegation of the Russian Federation to UNESCO: Ms. Eleonora Mitrofanova, Permanent Delegate, Mr. Аlexander Boldyrev, Deputy Permanent Delegate, and Mr. Ivan Kobzev, Third Secretary

 

 

 

The Meeting brought together almost 1500 leading figures from 130 countries