(Compiled by maxigas, edited by Frederick Dubois. This is only the first part, the second part is in production.)

Jeanette Hofmann (Member of the German Civil Society Coordination Group): The U.S. is not willing to talk about internet government oversight. Most likely the Summit will ask Kofi Annan the Secretary General of the U.N. to set up a Forum on internet governance and the U.S. is expected to participate. The Forum would take up a range of issues including Information Technology for Development and political oversight.


Rikke Frank Jorgensen (Civil Society Human Rights Caucus):

Many have asked about the human rights situation. Status is that in September during PrepCom 3. in Geneva some civil society partipants, in cooperation with Tunisian NGOs, decided to arrange a Citiens' Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) as a side-event to WSIS. This is not unusual, this has been done in a series of U.N. Summits in order to connect people that cannot participate in the official process. We have booked several spaces for this event in Tunis and these were repeatedly cancelled, sometimes even after prepayment.

Ten-fifteen of us were to hold a coordination meeting at the Goethe Institute yesterday. The Tunisian civil society people were not allowed to enter, and were kept out by men in civilian clothes who introduced themselves as "security personel". I am not sure what kind of police it was. When myself and other members of the international civil society stayed outside in solidarity, we were forcefully removed. Then we walked around the city to find another place to peacefully gather - to exercise our right for peaceful assembly. Each time we were removed again, we were pushed, and some people were even tried to be taken into cars and taken away. In the end the German ambassador arrived and tried to enter these premises with his guests of his own choice but he was not allowed. After that each of us contacted our respective delegations, and asked for support from the governments to basically provide for a space where we can have this Citizens' Summit.

Large number of NGOs decided to cancel their events in order to call attention to local conditions.

CSIS would not be on Tunisia specifically but to address perpectives that are addressable in the diplomatic negotiations of the official WSIS and concern people everywhere.

Parmindeer Jeet Singh (Coordinator of the Civil Society Caucus for Follow-up and Implementation):

I am presenting the specific disappointment of the civil society. The Tunis round was presented as a "Summit of Solutions" by its organisers. We did not find any effective solutions to the problems that brought us here, of using the new communication opportunities for more adequate development in the developing countries. Countries of the North did not show the political will to getting forward with the policy of internet governance and did not establish any follow-up process. Financing ITC4D (Information Technology for Development), which is a very important issue, was not addressed at all and no commitments were made. At present the governments are trying to cover up the possibility of a complete failure of the implementation of the WSIS process. As for the plan to give the ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) Commission on Science and Technology for Development a mandate to follow-up, it represents a deductionist and technology-centered view. Even if the ECOSOC is to take up this task its structure have to be completely changed and its name changed to reflect this new mandate to the Commission on Internet Society. Thank you.