The chronicle interview.

On WSIS 

The World Summit on the Information Society is the first of a new generation of summits organized by the United Nations. WSIS has a new and unique architecture: it is an intergovernmental process open to the participation of civil society, the private sector and international organizations. National governments will provide the legal framework of the Information Society, and international organizations will establish the standardization, norms and connection to intellectual rights, while the private sector will contribute to building and exploiting networks. Lastly, civil society will provide core content in all realms of human activity, through artists, university members, the media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private associations.

On the two-phase structure of WSIS

After the unique combination of the four big stakeholders--heads of State and Government, private sector, civil society and international organizations the two-phase structure is the second characteristic that makes WSIS unique. The first phase will occur in the North (Geneva) in December 2003, and the second in the South (Tunis) in November 2005. This structure hints some themes Of the Summit, including not only the Information Society and ICT for development but also the digital divide between the North and the South. In Geneva, heads of State and Government will adopt the Declaration of Principles and the Action Plan. The Tunis Summit is envisioned to focus on the position of the citizens of the Information Society. We also expect it to focus on the ethical considerations for these citizens and on benchmarking the decisions taken in Geneva two years before. The idea is to create a bill of rights for the inhabitants of the planet, adapted to the new conditions created by ICT. This bill of rights would create legal mechanisms to safeguard freedom of expression, protection of privacy and confidentiality, and maybe even a protection against spam.

On the "architecture" of the Summit

The new architecture of the Summit is more or less like a flower: the heart of the flower is the world assembly of heads of State and Government; the petals are the Summit events, such as the World Electronic Media Forum, organized by the UN Department of Public Information, the European Broadcasting Union and Switzerland; and the junctions between the petals and the heart of the flower are the round tables, where the four big stakeholders will have a real opportunity for dialogue.

On the preparation for the Summit

The preparatory process is following a "bottom-up" process, successively running on the national, regional and global levels. During the first and second Preparatory Committees, or PrepComs, held in July 2002 and February 2003 in Geneva, the 191 national delegations of UN Member States discussed the procedures and substance of the Summit. The coming months preceding the Summit will concentrate on the hard core of WSIS, i.e. the political points, and will bring the political leadership into the game. Indeed, the Summit not only aims to adopt the draft Declaration of Principles and Action Plan but also seeks to discuss problems and controversies that must be resolved politically: the digital divide, the free flow of information, freedom of the press, etc. Heads of State and Government will try to profile their visions of the information Society for their country, their region and the world, and make a decision about the means to resolve these problems.

On the WSIS role for development

In the Declaration of Millennium Development Goals, ICT is referred to as a "tool for development" with reference to the questions of the digital divide and contents gap. The digital divide refers to the fact that 91 per cent of Internet users are living in parts of the world where you have 19 per cent of the total population. In other words, more or less 80 per cent of the world population do not have access to the Internet and knowledge online. There is a threat of a widening content gap. The capacities of technologies to generate and distribute contents increase progressively, but they remain unknown or inaccessible to most

Poverty is the product of ignorance and isolation, and one can fight isolation through access to the networks, and ignorance through access to knowledge. It is why one of the objectives of the Summit is to create Internet access in all primary and secondary schools, with a five-year benchmarking and close cooperation among national governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations. Another idea is to find a new business model with North-South cooperation, with the emerging South helping the less advanced South. President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal has suggested the development of low-cost computers, produced by Brazil or India, to be brought to new markets in less advanced countries. India has developed a prototype called the "Simputer"--battery-run pocket computers that read aloud in local languages and enable even illiterate users to access the Internet. Brazil already produces the "Computador Popular"--extremely simple but affordable "people's computers" that allow users to connect to the internet.

On controversial issues up for discussion

WSIS will discuss issues such as regulation of cyberspace, the free flow of information, freedom of expression and cyber-terrorism These are difficult issues because they involve finding a balance between liberty and security, which has taken a new dimension, especially for the United States since 9/11 (11 September 2001). Heads of State and Government will discuss ways to solve these kinds of transactions between principles and interests--in this case, transactions between freedoms of opinion, expression and speech, cyber-terrorism and cyber-crime, etc. Certain countries argue for national regulations, which is possible but very difficult to do on the Internet. Others propose a cyberspace treaty focused on security. This is the case of the United Nations ICT Task Force, but it remains a disputed issue. Another controversial point is finding a transaction between freedom of the press and the right to communicate, for example through cultural diversity and contents diversity. Indeed, there is growing concern shared by people and Governments in the North, as well as in the South, about the possible expansion of a new global standardized culture through the Internet.

On how ICT can benefit health and education

It is a mistake to believe that WSIS in Geneva is a summit about ICT and how they work. Though it is an important question, it is a technical one and the Summit will focus on the political aspect, i.e. the purpose of their use It is possible to use ICT for development through education and sharing certain information You can improve the quality of health of the population through e-health by having telecentres for medical purposes. It is possible to improve e-business by introducing macro-credits. Today, there are dozens of success stories in Mongolia, Africa and India for example, but a general policy with ideas, priorities and benchmarking is still lacking. One of the goals of the Summit is to establish those general policies; for example, one of the propositions suggested during the preparatory process is to equip every school--primary and secondary--with internet access within five years. Benchmarking is crucial because it creates competition and stimulation. Equipped with the Internet, schools can be used as telecentres for e-health; for example, the University Hospital of Geneva has an e-medicine network established with West Africa. Not only the people in Geneva contribute to improving the health of West Africans, but Africans also teach Swiss students about tropical diseases. This is useful for tourism as well as organizations like the Red Cross or humanitarian NGOs, which send students in the field. These kinds of network foster dialogue and partnerships that create a two-way street of communication.

On Switzerland's role as a full-fledged member of the United Nations

Switzerland is the oldest democracy in the world, and it knows well that freedom of speech, democracy and transparency are the ways to measure the efficiency of a political system. It has always been a little shy as far as foreign policy and international community are concerned, and was pretty slow in making its decision to join the United Nations. Now, as a full member of the world Organization, Switzerland needs to learn how to behave like a member, by developing a flexible system of coalition with different States and regions of the world in diverse contexts. Joining the United Nations with these images of a federalist and humanitarian country giving great importance to the rule of the law, Switzerland's statements and promises are generally credible. However, it is only through those coalitions that its voice will be really heard ... and this still has to come.

Guy-OLIVIER SEGOND is Special Ambassador for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), responsible for high-level contacts with Governments and UN agencies. As a member of Switzerland's Federal Parliament, Mayor of Geneva and President of the State Council, Ambassador Segond has always been committed to international relations and to the United Nations. With a keen eye on human rights, sustainable development and the digital divide, he has participated in numerous conferences and meetings at which the focus was on putting information and communication technology (ICT) to work in the service of human development.

Horst Rutsch and Sarah Cattan of the UN Chronicle spoke with Ambassador Segond before the Summit.