PARLIAMENTARIANS CONTRIBUTE TO WORLD SUMMIT ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

"As users, parliaments have an intimate understanding of the potential of information and communication technology (ICT) to enrich and renew democracy. As legislators, parliaments must play a proactive role in defining the shape of information societies" declared the IPU President, Pier Ferdinando Casini - who is also the Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies - at the World Summit on the Information Society, held in Tunis, in November 2005.

Access to information was at the heart of debates at the parliamentary meeting on the occasion of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, held in Tunis.

The second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) brought together more than 18,000 participants from governments, civil society, the private sector and international organizations. They inter alia sought acceptable solutions to complex problems such as how to govern the Internet and establish mechanisms to ensure that the benefits of information and communication technology (ICT) are spread equitably across the globe. In parallel, parliamentarians from 29 countries attended the parliamentary meeting on the WSIS organized by the IPU and the Tunisian Chamber of Deputies, in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The meeting focused on one of the core elements of the information society: access to information.

More than 60 countries have adopted laws on freedom of information

Information is a limitless resource that can be developed by people anywhere in the world, using no more than their personal creativity. However, to create new information and knowledge requires access to the store of information that already exists. Many of the structural and technological barriers to access to information are being challenged by the WSIS process. Panellists at the parliamentary meeting spoke of their experience in developing Freedom of Information Acts and set out the principles underlying such legislation. More than 60 countries have now adopted laws on freedom of information. Such laws are a formidable tool for increasing government transparency and accountability.

Participants also underlined the potential of the Internet to enrich and renew democracy. A whole generation sees the Internet as its natural means of receiving information and communicating with others. It was considered that parliaments need to continue their efforts to harness the potential of the Internet as an interactive channel of communication between citizens and their elected representatives. The Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, launched at the WSIS as a joint initiative of the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs and the IPU, is designed to offer a timely boost to parliaments' capacity to make effective use of ICT.

Time and again, parliamentarians returned to the issue of the digital divide between those countries that have access to technologies for information and communication and those that have limited or no such access. As information and knowledge are increasingly recognized as one of the motors of development and democracy, urgent action is needed to close this gap. The general feeling at the end of the meeting was that parliaments needed to be actively involved in the follow-up to the WSIS. Parliamentarians have a major role to play, both as legislators, and by holding their executives to account on the commitments made at the World Summit.

The full report and programme of the Parliamentary Panel on the occasion of the World Summit on the Information Society are available on the Parliamentary meeting dedicated page.