It took less than an hour for the first argument to erupt over press freedoms to break out during the morning civil society plenary. Steve Buckley of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) gave an overview of yesterday’s media caucus breakout session, and summarized a letter the group has submitted to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking for guarantees that press freedoms will be protected during the Tunis phase of WSIS. Then, a Mr. Achour from Tunisia’s Doctors Without Borders stood up and gave a monologue on how he knew of no journalists who have been put on trial in Tunisia, and said the media caucus had been plotting in secret meetings. Immediately, Buckley then stood up and started to distribute documentation to people in the audience countering Achour’s arguments.
The Tunisian chair of the plenary called for a point of order, as did Renate Bloem, but Achour kept talking. Eventually, Rik Panganiban intervened and said that this plenary is solely for reviewing the caucus meetings from yesterday, and not for debating. The chairwomen then invited Achour to participate in the scheduled media caucus and human rights caucus, open to all attendees, in which he could feel free to debate the issue. Interestingly, Buckley’s call for openness and press freedoms were then reaffirmed by the Swiss government representative during his opening remarks of the Prepcom plenary, going on right now.
Posted by acarvin at June 24, 2004 05:38 AM | TrackBack