A view from the United Nations
September 2006
Digital Divide or Digital Solidarity: Bridging the gap between the information-rich and the information-starved
By Vicente García-Delgado, CIVICUS´ UN Representative
At the UN DPI NGO 59th Annual Conference held in New York September 6-8, Oscar A Avalle of the World Bank related a funny personal episode: Along with a team of Bank experts, Mr Avalle was meeting with members of a rural community in a remote region, the purpose of which was essentially to inform and educate the local people on the uses and benefits of ICTs. An elderly woman came forward and asked Mr Avalle and the other experts whether they knew how to “raise pigs scientifically”. The experts were taken aback by the question, exchanged blank looks, and had to admit that, no; they did not know how to raise pigs scientifically. Whereupon she told them to let her know when they find out.
Ironically, if the woman had internet access, she might be able to find out right away… Just click on a search under “raising pigs scientifically” and presto!
My google search provided 10 pages of entries on the subject. And there’s always Wikipedia as a source of last resort.
But like so many millions of people in developing countries, particularly in rural and remote areas of poor regions of the world, this woman did not have internet access. And if she did, she probably wouldn’t be able to afford the costs, or know how to operate a keyboard, let alone a personal computer. And, of course, she would have to be reasonably fluent in English. I do not think we would find many entries in her local language.
In 2006, access to information and communications technology may mean the difference between having a last shot at community development or falling further into economic and social stagnation, leading to yet a deeper reality of exclusion from the world outside. With increased migration from rural areas to the megacities, it may even mean the end for many communities in the developing world.
In the developed world, where more than 50% of the population has internet access, life without internet is now simply unimaginable. From business and commerce, search engines and email communications, to keeping in touch with your friends or finding your future husband or wife online, life without the internet has become unthinkable. Can anyone imagine for a moment how the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston would continue to contribute, as it now does, as an essential source of scientific knowledge for the entire world, without access to the internet?
With SMS messaging, local timber producers deep in the Amazon can check the current price of their commodities in stock markets around the world, and this information empowers them for their price negotiations with middlemen. It is such a brazen example that information and knowledge is power!
But in the 50 poorest countries of the world, less that 1% of the population has internet access. Local agricultural producers often fall prey to inequitable price conditions offered by unscrupulous buyers, and the community is thereby denied the economic benefits that could help its development. Poverty continues to thrive, inequalities remain, new and old – but preventable – diseases continue to take their toll, and migration to the cities accelerates a process of exclusion. It’s the Digital Divide.
The benefits denied these rural communities are not just of an economic nature. Without access to ICT, these communities cannot self-organize with other communities, near and far, that find themselves in similar predicaments or share the same challenges and objectives. Citizen action and participation are far more difficult (if not impossible) without the ability to find information, acquire and disseminate knowledge, or organize joint efforts with other like-minded civil society organizations toward achievement of their legitimate common goals.
The current situation of exclusion in effect condemns many such poor communities to a life without access to the information and knowledge that can save them. Doing everything possible to make access widely available to these communities, should be a priority of the international community. Indeed, a profound ethical question is involved here – a human rights question: At the beginning of the 21st century, realization of a citizen’s right to development and a life in dignity requires access to ICT technologies. It’s time for Digital Solidarity.
What is being done about it? The starting point for us, as many of you know, is WSIS; the UN-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society, and its implementation and follow-up http://www.itu.int/wsis/index.html. WSIS took place in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005).
Quoting from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Summit_on_the_Information_Society , “In 2003 at Geneva, delegates from 175 countries took part in the first phase of WSIS where they adopted a Declaration of Principles. This is a road map for achieving an information society accessible to all and based on shared knowledge. A Plan of Action sets out a goal of bringing 50 percent of the world's population online by 2015. It does not spell out any specifics of how this might be achieved. The Geneva summit also left unresolved more controversial issues, including the question of Internet governance and funding.
When the 2003 summit failed to agree on the future of Internet governance, the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) was formed to come up with ideas on how to progress.
The second phase took place 2005-11-16 to 2005-11-18 in Tunis, Tunisia. It resulted in agreement on the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, and the creation of the Internet Governance Forum.”
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is due to meet in Athens next month. According to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, “The overall theme of the meeting will be "Internet Governance for Development". The agenda will be structured along the following broad themes:
• Openness - Freedom of expression, free flow of information, ideas and knowledge
• Security - Creating trust and confidence through collaboration
• Diversity - Promoting multilingualism and local content
• Access - Internet Connectivity: Policy and Cost
Capacity-building will be a cross-cutting priority. “
Alongside the official WSIS process, there are many civil society, government and private sector initiatives and partnerships already underway. Following are the links to just a few of them:
The Association for Progressive Communications: www.apc.org
Global Alliance for ICT and Development: www.un-gaid.org
Taking IT Global: http://about.takingitglobal.org
Center for Media & Community: http://cmc.edc.org/index.html
Digital Divide Net: www.digitaldivide.net
Global Knowledge: www.globalknowledge.org
We are at the very beginning of this process, designed, among other essential issues such as freedom of expression, to achieve universal access to ICT. And the pressure is on as too many of our sisters and brothers are denied their right to gain liberating information and knowledge through the ICTs – information and knowledge that to so many of them means the difference between the beginning of development and inclusion, or the final descent into economic stagnation and exclusion.
In solidarity,
Vicente García-Delgado, CIVICUS´ UN Representative
Please send your comments to CIVICUSUN@aol.com or kumi@civicus.org or editor@civicus.org
Below you will find all previous columns of Vicente García-Delgado, CIVICUS UN Representative (New York):
• The UN: Limping along
• The last thing the world needs: Dismantling the UN
• The world needs a more democratic United Nations
• UN Management Reform hits a nerve: roadblock or power grab?
• A UN Secretary-General for “We the Peoples”: Civil society calls for a more democratic selection process
• Charting new ways of participation: Is it time for a Parliamentary Assembly at the UN?
• Changing the tone: General Assembly President Jan Eliasson reaches out to Civil Society
• Changing the tone: General Assembly President Jan Eliasson reaches out to Civil Society
• Argentina: Thriving without the IMF
• The Big Letdown: UN Summit shortchanges the poor
• The World Summit : UN Reform will mean little unless poverty eradication tops the agenda
• Millions roar but the G8 whispers - Let the Millennium+5 Summit make up the difference
• “Global Justice - Northern citizens have a special responsibility to make it happen”
• Letting the United Nations be all that it can
• “Appointment with History: The world looks up to John Bolton to help achieve the MDGs”
• “We are rolling!: Civil society’s call for poverty eradication impacts the World Economic Forum and the Group of Seven”
• No more excuses!: The Tsunami must not be allowed to wash away the Millennium Development Goals
• A Call To Action 2005: Global Civil Society mobilizes to demand an end to poverty and the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals
• TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: Should civil society and the Global Compact live under the same UN roof?
• The UN Global Compact: A big red herring disguised in UN blue?
• Happening now: A global revolution of consciousness
• Lasting security for all: Shifting from state security to security of the people
• The UN – Permanently relevant or temporarily relevant?
