Third Parliamentary Forum on Shaping the Information Society - ICT and the Global Economic Crisis: Current Situation and Future Perspectives

  • warning: call_user_func_array() expects parameter 1 to be a valid callback, function '_stormtask_tasks_access' not found or invalid function name in /var/www/ictp2/includes/menu.inc on line 454.
  • warning: call_user_func_array() expects parameter 1 to be a valid callback, function '_stormtask_tasks_access' not found or invalid function name in /var/www/ictp2/includes/menu.inc on line 454.
Date: 
Mon, 03/05/2010 - Wed, 05/05/2010
Organization: 
Global Centre for ICT in Parliament
Focal point: 
Ana Carolina Kobe
Email: 
kobe@un.org

The Report of the Third Parliamentary Forum is now available!

The Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, Mr. Sha Zukang; the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mr. Anders Johnson; and the Secretary General of the ITU, Mr. Hamadoun Touré opened the Third Parliamentary Forum “ICT and the Global Economic Crisis: Current Situation and Future Perspectives”. The event was the third meeting of members of parliament focusing on issues relating to the Information Society and the aim of the Forum series was to further dialogue among legislators on parliamentary actions that can contribute to the shaping of the future Information Society in view of the WSIS implementation, follow-up and future 2015 review. It also intended to strengthen the interaction at international level between members of parliaments and representatives of international organizations working in this domain with a view to identifying good parliamentary practices for the advancement of ICT-related policies in favour of the internationally-agreed development goals.

The third meeting was co-organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), through the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It took place from 3 to 5 May 2010 at the Headquarters of the ITU in Geneva, Switzerland, and focused on the role that ICT can play in confronting the economic crisis and facilitating the economic and social recovery.

The Forum was structured around a series of plenary sessions with presentations by experts and legislators. In each session, ample time was reserved to allow interventions from the floor, interactive dialogues and open debates among participants.

Global Centre for ICT in Parliament

The Global Centre for Information and Communication Technologies in Parliament is a joint initiative of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and a group of national and regional parliaments launched in November 2005 on the occasion of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis.

The United Nations Secretary-General's reports on the implementation of and follow up to the WSIS make reference to the activities of the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament such as the World e-Parliament Conference 2007; the World e-Parliament Conference 2008; the Global Network of IT Experts in Parliament; the African Parliamentary Knowledge Network; the World e-Parliament Report 2008; the Parliamentary Forums on the Role of Parliaments in Shaping the Information Society and the Legal Repository of ICT legislation.

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

The World Summit on the Information Society, held in two phases, was the recognition that the digital revolution and the digital divide required a global discussion and was convened to “marshal the global consensus and commitment required to promote the urgently needed access of all countries to information, knowledge and communication technologies for development so as to reap the full benefits of the information and communication technologies revolution, and to address the whole range of relevant issues related to the information society, through the development of a common vision and understanding of the information society and the adoption of a declaration and plan of action for implementation by Governments, international institutions and all sectors of civil society” (General Assembly resolution 56/183).

The first phase of the WSIS took place in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003, and the second phase took place in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005.

In Geneva, the foundations of the WSIS where laid by reaching agreement on a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action. In Tunis, the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society were adopted, focusing on finding solutions and reaching agreements in the field of Internet governance, financing mechanisms, follow-up and implementation of the mentioned documents.

Location

ITU Headquarters
Place des Nations
Geneva, GE 1211
Switzerland
ukash