As we get to the final hours of the final Prepcom of the WSIS today, the final question remains: what is to be the follow-up mechanism to ensure that the commitments of Tunis are honored?
At the final Prepcom III, debate remains on para 24 of the Tunis Agenda for Action document (DT 26), which has a new formulation based on consultations led by Russia and Canada:
We invite UN agencies and other intergovernemntal organizations in line with UN GA reoslution 57/270B to facilitate activities among different stakeholders. [We request the UN Secretary General to establish with the CEB a UN group on the Information Society, chaired by the ITU] and consisting of the relevant UN organs and organizations with the mandate to facilitate the implementation [, evaluation] and the followup of the WSIS.
We further request the UN Secretary General to report to ECOSOC by June 2006, informing on the modalities of the interagency coordination of the implementation of WSIS decisions including recommendations on the follow-up process.
We request ECOSOC through its Commission on Science and Technology for Development to oversee the systematic follow-up of the Geneva and Tunis outcome of the WSIS.
We request ECOSOC at its substantive session of 2006 review the mandate, agenda and composition of the CSTD, including considerations of the strengthening of the Commission, including the multi-stakeholder approach.
Problematic parts of this text include:
- whether or not the CEB will be chaired by the ITU, which is opposed by Canada, the US and the EU.
- Whether or not the text will refer specifically to the Commission on Science and Technology for Development. This is currently only opposed by the Arab Group.
Para 4 and 5 of Tunis Commitment document (DT12) referring to human rights still needs to be cleaned up, but probably will be finished.