ISTANBUL - The international seminar organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNICEF) Turkish National Commission with the contributions of the Anadolu Agency (A.A), the Galatasaray University and Sisli Municipality on ''the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace'' ended.
The final statement, which was released at the end of the seminar held in Istanbul between May 29 and 31, 2003, stressed that there were structural inequalities within and among the countries, and this inequalities were getting deeper.
''There are inequalities in terms of production and distribution of the technology and technological products,'' it said.
The statement noted, ''access does not only mean to reach and use the finished products. Access should mean access to and capacity of production and distribution of the technology and its products, and thus, content. Content issues should be the issues of deciding on what, where and how to produce and distribute. Quantitative magnitude of the use of finished products and their content does not mean development. It rather deepens the existing inequalities.''
Referring to intellectual property rights, the final statement emphasized that these rights should be reconsidered and re-evaluated in order to guarantee the right of access to the information.
''UNESCO should play an active role in enhancing public participation in cyberspace via establishing discussion platforms. To overcome the diversity and clashes of interests, UNESCO should facilitate the ethical discourse by providing a global platform for discussion about the implementation of principles of e-ethics in electronic environments,'' it said.
In the recommendations part of the final statement, it was stressed, ''UNESCO should launch and develop a public service net. This would entail commissioning of articles, the moderation of debates and the promotion of its online presence as an essential part of building a global civil society that holds the new international order to account. UNESCO public service net should facilitate the production and dissemination of venues of local self-organized groups. To achieve this UNESCO's public service net should provide a multilingual translation facility that enables effective communication between public interest groups around the world. UNESCO's public service net should have as its objectives the production and distribution of alternative opinions and perspectives; encourage participation in democratic debate; the dissemination of scientific and educational information and the empowerment of global civil society.''
The statement stressed that UNESCO should promote a debate about the evolving legal management of cyberspace, including the provision of teaching packs about case law developments supplied to universities around the world.
''Efforts should be made within the United Nations system, and particularly through UNESCO in order to promote sharing of information and experience on the application of ICT-based networks and services in socio-economic development, including the promotion of open source technologies and an equitable network governance, as well as policy information and capacity-building in developing countries. Furthermore, measures should be taken to safeguard multilingualism, national identities, ethical values and cultural diversity,'' it said.
Noting that the development of a sustainable information society of the 21st century required a new understanding of 'one world-unified in diversity', the statement added, ''as a requisite of access to the resources of the information society, we need a good and fair balance model on a contractual basis. The inequities and disparities in the information society can be overcome through such concrete measures. Thus, one of the objectives of the Draft Action Plan of the WSIS should be the creation of an International Solidarity Fund. We encourage UNESCO to actively support this fund. It should be financed by g1overnments, private sector and interested parties. The Fund should produce a win-min situation for both the 'givers' (the leader states) and the 'takers' (the late comers) without forcing them to give up their cultural identity.''
(UK-MS) 01.06.2003