draft letter to de Mello

[Meryem Marzouki <marzouki@ras.eu.org>]

Diana,

This is the draft letter proposed by Rik from WFM:

> [ Draft sign-on letter]
>
> June 2003
>
> Sergio Vieira de Mello
> High Commissioner for Human Rights
> United Nations
> Geneva, Switzerland
>
> RE: Human Rights and the World Summit on the Information Society
>
>
> Your Excellency Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello:
>
> The under-signed civil society organizations strongly encourage your 
> active participation in the preparatory committee and summit meeting 
> of the World Summit on the Information Society, taking place in 
> September and December 2003, respectively.  Human rights are an 
> essential requirement of the Information Society, as elaborated in the 
> draft declaration of the WSIS (WSIS/PCIP/DT/1-E):
>
>> 10. The essential requirements for the development of an equitable 
>> Information Society include: The respect for all internationally 
>> recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms. Notably the right 
>> to freedom of opinion and expression, including the right to hold 
>> opinions without interference and seek to, receive and impart 
>> information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers 
>> in accordance with article 19 of the UN Universal Declaration of 
>> Human Rights and to unhindered access by individuals to communication 
>> media and information sources…
>
> As the United Nations highest human rights official, your good offices 
> are needed to ensure that human rights language in the WSIS process is 
> comprehensive, strong and consistent with resolutions and decisions 
> adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and build upon human rights 
> language developed through the various UN world summits and 
> conferences.
>
> Like all scientific innovations, information communications 
> technologies in themselves are value-neutral. Civil society 
> organizations view ICTs as having both tremendous applications that 
> enhance human rights, such as through the rapid dissemination of 
> action alerts and instant access to human rights information, and 
> disturbing capacities to greatly diminish human rights, such as 
> through enhanced surveillance and monitoring functions of governments 
> facilitated by ICTs.
>
> Only through the active participation of governments, civil society, 
> and international human rights institutions such as your Office can 
> these ICTs be best harnessed to maximize the protection of human 
> rights worldwide.
>
> We thank you for your consideration of this request and look forward 
> to seeing you in September.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> [under-signed NGOs]
>