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.