WSIS+10 Overview – Internet Society

The United Nations and its 10-year Review of the World Summit on the Information Society in December 2015
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was the first major UN-sponsored event to discuss the implications of the emerging information society. In 1998, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) passed a resolution calling on the UN to convene a summit of world leaders to develop the emerging information society and utilize Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to bridge the global development divide. WSIS was held in two phases, in Geneva (2002) and Tunis (2005), with preparatory processes preceding both phases. WSIS developed a set of 11 goals, or “Action Lines”, to achieve the overall aim of building an inclusive Information Society.
In December 2015, the United Nations General Assembly will review whether sufficient progress has been made to achieving the WSIS goals over the past 10 years and will consider the future of the WSIS process beyond 2015.
In 2005, through the Tunis Agenda on the Information Society, UN Member States requested that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) make an overall review of the implementation of WSIS outcomes in 2015. As part of the request, the Tunis Agenda explicitly noted that the WSIS Action Plan was intended to initiate follow-on activities in support of the MDGs (paragraph 11).
As a result, a WSIS+10 Review High Level Meeting will be held during the UNGA’s session in December 2015. The goal will be to review the progress made in the implementation of the WSIS outcomes and provide a vision on what a post-2015 WSIS agenda may look like.
The exact scope of the Review remains to be defined, and governments are expected to bring a range of issues to the table, including security, human rights, and development-related issues to enable greater access to ICTs. At a minimum, it is expected that the discussion will focus on the following issues:
Two of the lead UN agencies identified to implement the Tunis Action Plan are the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The UN’s Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) also has a key role, having been tasked with assisting the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as the focal point for the system-wide follow-up of WSIS. These UN bodies have been collaborating with others on a series of events intended to fulfill the requirement of the final UN-wide review:
All three processes have been open to contributions from all stakeholders in the WSIS process. Collectively, these preparatory activities in the lead-up to the final UNGA WSIS+10 review are known as the “WSIS+10 process”.
The UNGA passed a resolution on the general modalities of the two-day High Level Meeting to be held in December 2015. Following this resolution:
Before the UNGA preparatory process begins, there are key events to follow:
As one of the organizations involved in the WSIS since its inception, the Internet Society is following the process closely and participating to the greatest extent possible. In particular, the Internet Society is:
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Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

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