Ralf Bendrath of the Heinrich Boll Foundation served as one of civil society’s speakers during today’s first plenary, immediately prior to the lunch break. Bendrath said that the Geneva stage of WSIS was “a major step forward in developing a multi-stakeholder process.” Governments cannot address ICT challenges alone, he noted; mechanisms must involve civil society if they are to succeed. “Governments routinely acknowledge civil society…. We demand that a multi-stakeholder approach becomes a reality.” Bendrath noted that a multi-stakeholder process is working in regards to efforts surrounding the issues of Internet governance and financing mechanisms, but it hasn’t worked well in other areas.
Additionally, Bendrath pointed out that civil society, with only 15 minutes to speak today and tomorrow, is thus given the equivalent of only 2.7 percent of total plenary time. Plus, their speaking slot is separated from the actual periods of debate. “We need to be able to speak to the point [of a particular issue] at the time they are raised,” he said. Bendrath also noted that only a small number of civil society representatives are participating here in person, leaving most of the community without an active voice.
Bendrath laid out a series of civil society’s concerns. He said that governments must not fall back from previous levels of civil society participation. Regional meetings must be open to all interest parties. Mechanisms must guarantee that civil society is involved in the drafting and amending process. There must be modalities for civil society involvement in implementing the action plan. There should be creative use of ICTs for civil society members around the world to participate. Bendrath also said that civil society was happy to hear about Tunisia’s offer to contribute 400,000 dinars for a civil society participation fund; however, the funds must be used in transparent manner.
“We are not willing to play an alibi role,” he said in his conclusion. “The summit can only be a success if there is substantive civil society involvement.”