Tokyo WSIS meeting begins with NGO flap

TOKYO -- THE right of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to play a part in discussions ahead of a major United Nations conference on the information society came into question Monday when several nations, led by China, tried to push them to the sidelines.

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The Asian Regional Conference, a regional preparatory meeting to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), kicked off in Tokyo on Monday. On the same day, the Chinese delegation unsuccessfully lobbied to have NGOs taken off a committee working on the draft of a declaration to be published when the meeting finishes on Wednesday.

The Chinese representative complained that rules of procedure previously agreed for WSIS meetings meant NGO groups could be present as observers but not participants. His call was backed up by delegates from Iran and India.

After support for the NGOs inclusion was voiced by Australia -- bringing applause from most NGO delegates -- a member of the WSIS executive committee said those rules did not apply to regional conferences such as the Tokyo meeting. The meeting moved on with an agreement to record the complaints.

An official from the Japanese government, which is organizing the meeting, later said a compromise had been reached under which the name of the group would be changed. "Drafting group means something very specific in the U.N. system and has to do with negotiations between countries," he said.

On the sidelines of the meeting, some viewed the protests as an attempt by China to get Taiwanese NGOs out of the process. Groups from Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province and which is not a U.N. member, were absent from a previous meeting in Geneva but were able to attend the Tokyo meeting because of lower registration requirements of the organizers.

Attempts to contact the Chinese delegation were unsuccessful by deadline.

The exchange served to highlight the continuing strain between national governments, which want to retain control over a process that has traditionally been theirs alone, and NGOs, which are demanding greater recognition and a louder voice at the international level.

Support for the participation of NGOs came from Yoshio Utsumi, secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU is organizing the main WSIS that will take place in December in Geneva. One of the goals of the WSIS is to raise awareness at the highest levels of government about the implications of cyberspace and the information society and Utsumi said he sees the increased importance of NGOs as part of this.

"Major players in society are quite important to discuss the issues, so from the beginning the participation of NGOs and private sector [has been] very much encouraged," he said in an interview with IDG News Service. "There is always a question about to what extent NGOs will be around to make speeches or to participate in the discussion. It's not a new problem but a very traditional problem in the process."

At the end of the process however, NGOs won't get a place at the table with national governments when final decisions are made."Since the summit itself is a meeting for heads of state and policy makers, there is a tradition that only those governments decide [on major issues]," said Utsumi.

At the Tokyo meeting, NGO participants outnumber those in all other sectors. According to information from the organizers, there are 412 registered delegates from NGO and civil society groups compared with 191 from governments, 182 from businesses and 84 from international organizations.