With WSIS starting on Wednesday, the issue of funding for the Digital
Solidarity Fund remains one of the unresolved issues from the Summit’s Draft
Declaration of Principles.
An initial Draft Action Plan was compiled on 21 March this year by the United
Nations to facilitate the Summit. This formed the basis for the Declaration of
Principles by the various role players of the Summit.
The document has to be changed to comply with the goals and principles of the
various nations involved in the Summit. It was therefore accepted as a
provisional document to be discussed at the Summit.
The Swiss Government facilitated negotiations that were held on 5 and 6
December during a PrepCom (Preparatory Committee) meeting to iron out the
issues surrounding the November Declaration of Principles. Most of the square
brackets, indicating issues to be discussed further, were removed from the
Declaration of Principles, except for those in the section on funding of ICTs.
‘Nothing is approved until everything is approved,” says WSIS spokesperson
Francine Lambert. ‘So this outstanding issue is what will determine how well
the rest of the declaration will do,” she says.
At Prepcom 3, also held in Geneva from 15 September to 26 September, Senegalese
president Abdoulaye Wade suggested that a Digital Solidarity Fund should be
established. This fund would be run separately from other funding mechanisms
that are already provided for by the UN, and it would channel funds to develop
ICTs in developing countries.
Developing countries in Africa, as well as China and India, were in favour of
the fund, but the European Union (EU) states and the United States of America
were reluctant to support the idea. ‘The developed countries wanted to examine
what the current mechanisms are for funding ICT development and if they work or
not. If not, they want to fix them, and then, if there’s an additional need for
funding, create another fund,” says Lambert.
The two opposing camps in the funding saga have been negotiating further to try
to resolve this issue before the Summit kicks off in two days. The negotiations
will run until 9 December, and both sides have been making good progress. ‘So
we’re confident that some arrangement that will be satisfactory to both groups
of countries will be found by the end of the morning,” says Lambert
Lambert also said that in order for an agreement to be reached, countries
wanted certainty that funding for developing ICTs would be provided if it was
needed. — Hana