The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a two-phase United Nations intergovernmental conference. The Conference aims at the creation of a framework for an all-inclusive and equitable Information Society. In order to achieve this goal, WSIS incorporates a global vision and a global dialogue, bringing together a variety of world stakeholders.

The WSIS Summit in Geneva, December 2003, was the outcome of the first phase of WSIS, which started in 2000. The Summit established the foundations of the Information Society, leading to a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action. Participating governments, however, did not fulfill all the expectations from the civil society organisations present, those this organisations issued a separate statement calling for an Information Society clearly based on Human Rights. The second phase deals with the issues of Internet governance, of financing “to bridge the digital divide”, as well as on defining the implementation and follow-up process. This phase will end with a Summit in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005. Furthermore, civil society organisations have expressed deep concerns regarding the situation of freedom of expression in Tunis. Please see the Tunis monitoring Group report in http://ifex.org.

Community media recognition is an important factor in the development of a truly inclusive Information Society. AMARC is closely following WSIS and taking an active part in advocating for recognition of community media as new tiers of communication. Furthermore, AMARC is working with civil society partners, as well as those organized in the CRIS Campaign – Communications Rights in the Information Society -- for inclusion of the civil society agenda in the WSIS process. This agenda calls for a human rights approach to the Information Society and urges recognition of the existence of communication rights as the founding base of a truly democratic Information Society. Through participation in this global process, AMARC has been representing the interests of more than 3,000 community radio stations in over 110 countries. Please visit our Web site .