The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
would like to thank the WSIS organisers for providing the opportunity
for our organisation to make comments on the Draft Tunis Commitment.
The Summit, and Information Society in all its modern senses
is of very great importance to the International Federation
and our worldwide network of National Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies. The initiatives which have emerged during preparations
for the Summit are of real value to programs for the eradication
of poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals.
It is in this spirit that we propose three specific areas where
the commitment can be built and enhanced for the benefit of
communities and the information society in which they are the
most important participants. It is, in our view, imperative
that the references to volunteers now in various parts of the
text should be retained and even strengthened.
We have submitted our comments and proposals on the different
paragraphs, but it is important to stress the reasons for them
today.
The first suggestion is in the paragraph relating to
Development Orientation, paragraph 11. This issue has attracted
a lot of comment from different delegations and stakeholders,
but in our view it is imperative that it should provide broad
recognition of the need for access to information for everyone,
especially to those living in difficult conditions, without
any form of discrimination. We would like the paragraph to be
all-encompassing in this respect.
ICT is an essential component of preparedness, and Red Cross
Red Crescent experience shows that information is an equally
essential ingredient in response to situations which challenge
development, like natural disasters. Information can also mitigate
the worst effects of challenging situations and contribute to
their psychosocial wellbeing.
The second proposal relates to the opportunity to propose
further commitments.
We propose two commitments. The first relates to ensuring that
further advances in the area of ICT are people-centred. While
advances in information technology provide exciting opportunities;
ICT development alone is not enough. We must promote capacity
building, including training and education, to extend the benefits
of information and communication technologies.
A further proposed commitment is to develop an early warning
system for and within communities to reduce risk and suffering,
and to increase community resilience to all hazards.
Participation of the community is essential for needs assessment
and development planning. In addition, building awareness from
the bottom up is as valuable as transmitting information from
the top down. Only with community's participation, can we build
an all-inclusive Information Society and achieve Millennium
Development Goals.
The third and final proposal relates to commitments
for mobilising resources. We propose that resources should be
committed to ICT capacity building as a means for disaster preparedness,
disaster response and relief. These will contribute towards
overall development and as such need to be at the top of the
agenda within the international community.
The deep involvement of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
at the community level in response to the tsunami catastrophe
and the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, amongst many others, has
given unique insight into the opportunities and pitfalls of
ICT in disaster situations.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
believes that a specific e-strategy on disasters is required.
We propose that this be called e-preparedness.
A focus in this area is necessary to ensure that disasters do
not continually destroy development progress, so threatening
progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
Once again, our thanks go to the International Telecommunications
Union, as the organizers of the World Summit on the Information
Society, for presenting us with the opportunity to submit our
position for consideration by the highly esteemed panel.
We look forward to taking this forward at the Summit, where
the International Federation will also be concentrating on the
full integration of Youth into all aspects of the realisation
of Information Society for the world.
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