Document Number : WSIS+10/3/74
Submission by: United States of America, Government
Please note that this is a submission for the Third Physical meeting of the WSIS +10
MPP to be held on the 17th and 18th of February.
Document Number:
Note: This document is the result of the second physical meeting of the WSIS+10 MPP
and reviews the points of consensus reached at that meeting with regard to the process of
developing its two output documents. It also provides a substantive proposal for the
“WSIS+10 Statement on the Implementation of WSIS Outcomes.”
This document is available at:
This document has been developed keeping in mind the Principles.
Please note that the Geneva Declaration and the Geneva Plan of Action still remain valid
until further decisions by the General Assembly.
INTRODUCTION
The United States appreciates the hard work of the Chairman and participants at the 2nd
Physical Meeting of WSIS +10 open consultation process in December. In this contribution
the United States reiterates points of consensus we believe the 2nd meeting reached with
regard to the process of developing its two output documents. We also provide a
substantive proposal for the “WSIS+10 Statement on the Implementation of WSIS
Outcomes” in order for the final document to more completely respond to
the mandates from Council Resolution 1334, “ITU Role in the Overall Review of the
Implementation of the Outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society”,
as well as,
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 67/195, which calls for reporting from
specialized agencies, including the ITU, on progress made in the implementation of
and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit; and to be consistent with the
agreed principles adopted for the development of output documents.
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PROCESS
The United States notes the capture of the agreement of the meeting (as stated in the
Chairman’s report @ 14 b.) that the Secretariat’s role in preparation of documents for the
3rd meeting would be limited to “a consolidation of comments and proposals only (without
preparation of consolidated text).”
Secondly, the United States supports the use of editorial notes to indicate where some
preliminary consensus exists for specific portions of text, however, we note that some
documents, such as S2.2/C “Follow up actions to the decisions taken at the Second Physical
Meeting of the WSIS+10 MPP” contain language such as “Text Agreed at Meeting on
18/12/2013” (@ 9). The United States reiterates the comments made by multiple
participants, and supported by the meeting, that the final documents will be agreed to in
their entirety. Accordingly, the entirety of the document should be understood to be “in
square brackets”.
PROPOSAL FOR “WSIS+10 STATEMENT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WSIS
OUTCOMES”
The United States notes that ITU Council Resolution 1334: resolved “to hold the ITU
coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level Event” and that “this ITU coordinated WSIS+10 High-Level
Event will be an extended version of the WSIS Forum to address the progress made in the
implementation of the WSIS outcomes under the ITU’s mandate”. The United States also
notes that the first “basic principle” to be used in the development of output documents is
to “Focus on the WSIS Action Lines and measurement of their implementation.” This focus is
essential to the overall UN review of progress on WSIS Action implementation. We note in
this regard, that the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/435 “Information and
communications technologies for development” states that the United Nations General
Assembly will determine the modalities for review of the implementation of the outcomes
of WSIS in accordance with paragraph 111 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society.
For the purposes of its review, the UN will need meaningfully specific information
regarding progress on the outputs of WSIS Action Lines including those for which the ITU
has a lead role in implementing. We further note that the United States was pleased to join
consensus recently on the United Nations General Assembly’s Information Communications
Technologies (ICT) for Development, Resolution 68/198, where the General Assembly
“recognize[ed] the role of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development in
assisting the Economic and Social Council as the focal point in the system wide follow up, in
particular the review and assessment of the progress made in implementing the outcomes
of the World Summit on the Information Society, while at the same time maintaining its
original mandate on science and technology for development.”
It is critical for the ITU to identify progress on WSIS Action Lines for which it has principal
responsibility and to make this task its first order of business at this meeting. We note that
the current draft of the “WSIS+10 Statement on the Implementation of WSIS Outcomes”
only contains an “Overview of the implementation of Action Lines”. The substantial
progress accomplished by the ITU on its specific Action Lines is almost completely missing.
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The United States further notes that this progress has been well documented and recently
updated in the “10-Year Country, WSIS Action Line Facilitator's and Other WSIS
Stakeholders' Reports on the Implementation of WSIS Outcomes” at
http://www.itu.int/wsis/review/reports/. We specifically note, for instance, the extensive
detail reported in the ITU’s “Action Line: C2. Information and communication
infrastructure: an essential foundation for the Information Society.” It is expected that the
“WSIS+10 High-Level Event convened to address the progress made in the implementation
of the WSIS outcomes under the ITU’s mandate”, must, at a minimum, include elements
from these 10 year reports. Accordingly, the meeting output documents must reflect this
consideration.
Therefore the United States believes it is imperative that the ITU’s “WSIS+10 Statement on
the Implementation of WSIS Outcomes” contain an itemized section on the progress made
in implementing ITU Action Lines () in order for the meeting to perform a credible review
of WSIS Outcomes; as expected by UNGA, to respond to the mandates from Resolution
1334; and to be consistent with the agreed principles adopted for the development of
output documents.
To do this the United States proposes that an additional chapter, B.1 in the attachment be
included in the “WSIS+10 Statement on the Implementation of WSIS Outcomes” to itemize
progress made on an Action Line basis. As an example a section, C2, has been included to
capture the ITU’s progress made as lead facilitator of C2, and it is populated with an
abridgement of the ITU’s report: “WSIS+10: Overall Review of the Implementation of the
WSIS Outcomes, Action Line: C2. Information and communication infrastructure: an
essential foundation for the Information Society”; with a reference to the full report. We
believe a similar approach should be taken for the other ITU Action Lines.
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Attachment
United States Proposal for the Draft WSIS+10 Statement on the
Implementation of WSIS Outcomes
B.1 Progress made in the implementation of action lines
C1. The role of public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion
of ICTs for development
C2. Information and communication infrastructure
This section1 presents a review of the progress made in the implementation of Action Line
C2 since the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2003. It is based on
the 10-Years Review Report Template in the WSIS Forum 2012: Outcome Document.1
As Action Line facilitator, the ITU has supported eight WSIS Action Line C2 Facilitation
Meetings in the framework of WSIS Forums. The meetings have had Ministers, CEOs and
other high-level representatives as speakers and panelists, exchanging ideas on best
practices, emerging trends and recommendations. In addition, the Action Line facilitator
has promoted infrastructure development through various activities:
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Development of global standards, including IMT-2000 and IMT-Advanced for mobile
broadband networks, as well as relevant recommendations for broadband telephone
(ADSL), fiber optic and next generation networks.
Organized five "Connect Summits" aimed at mobilizing funds and new partnerships to
attain the WSIS goals, including the development of infrastructure and also supported
countries to develop national wireless broadband plans. Within the framework of the
Connect the World initiative, ITU, with its partners, is involved in several projects on
broadband wireless networks and developing ICT applications to provide free or low cost
digital access for schools and hospitals, and for underserved populations in rural and
remote areas. Within the context of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities, the ITU has developed guidelines and toolkits to mainstream access and use of
ICTs for the disabled.
Access to ICTs has improved dramatically over the last ten years primarily due to the
deployment of wireless technology. Nevertheless, there remain coverage gaps in many
This text is an abridgement of “WSIS+10: Overall Review of the Implementation of the WSIS Outcomes,
Action Line: C2. Information and communication infrastructure: an essential foundation for the Information
Society”. The full report can be found at
http://www.itu.int/wsis/review/inc/docs/ralfreports/WSIS10_ALF_Reporting-C2.v2.pdf
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developing nations, primarily in rural areas. A rising number of countries have adopted
universal service programs to extend coverage to commercially unattractive areas and
reduce the digital divide. Convergence has grown with voice, data and video services
increasingly shifting to next generation Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This has been
accompanied by the introduction of new access devices such as smartphones and tablets,
increasingly providing consumers the ability to access information anyplace, anytime and
anywhere. This trend is placing increasing strains on the existing capacity of ICT networks.
Broadband has emerged as a critical general purpose technology with powerful social and
economic impacts. International efforts are seeking ways to enhance broadband
connectivity in developing countries in order to support development goals.
C3. Access to information and knowledge
C4. Capacity building
C5. Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs
C6. Enabling environment
C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life
E-government
E-business
E-learning
E-health
E-employment
E-environment
E-agriculture
E-science
C8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content
C9. Media
C10. Ethical dimensions of the Information Society
C11. International and regional cooperation
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