Citizens’ Summit on the Information Society (CSIS)

A Citizens’ Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) will be held in Tunis,
on November 16-18, 2005, coinciding with the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS).

The CSIS will be another milestone in the long tradition of UN conferences
and Summits being complemented with events organized by citizen groups.
Previous such events met with great success, for example during the Cairo
Conference on Population and Development (1994), the Beijing Conference on
Women (1995) or the Monterrey Summit on Financing for Development (2002).

The CSIS objectives are twofold:
- To send a strong message of support and solidarity from international
civil society to the local civil society and citizens;
- To address the main issues being debated at the WSIS, from the
perspective of citizen groups and the public.

Based on earlier precedents, this event will offer an excellent opportunity
to promote the Information Society and the basic principles on which it
must be based, as articulated in the first phase of the World Summit on the
Information, namely: human rights and social justice.

Invitation and Call for support:
Citizen groups, Civil society organizations, National, Regional and
International Institutions, Government Delegations, and all other
interested parties and individuals are invited to participate in the
Citizen’s Summit on the Information Society. All are strongly encouraged
to express their support for and solidarity with the CSIS by, e.g.:
- Signing-on as a supporter,
- Offering a donation,
- Proposing a contribution to the CSIS program,
- Reading a statement of support to CSIS, in a WSIS parallel event they may
organize
- Disseminating CSIS news through websites and mailing lists,
- Or any other means of support they may suggest.

Practical information:
The Citizen’s Summit on the Information Society will begin on November 16th
at 16:00, with an opening ceremony, continue all day on November 17th, with
the closing session on November 18th morning. The CSIS program will consist
of a series of panels and conferences addressing main WSIS issues from the
public perspective.

The detailed program and practical information will be circulated by early
November, together with a list of CSIS supporters.

First list of CSIS organizers and supporters:
AMARC (World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters), ANND (Arab NGO
Network for Development), APC (Association for Progressive Communications),
ARTICLE 19 (Global Campaign for Free Expression), CJFE (Canadian
Journalists for Free Expression), Comunica-ch (WSIS Swiss Civil Society
Coalition), CPSR (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility), CRIS
Campaign (Communication Rights in the Information Society), FIDH
(International Federation of Human Rights Leagues), FrontLine
(International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders), HR
Caucus (WSIS Civil Society Human Rights Caucus) HRW (Human Rights Watch),
ICHRDD (Rights and Democracy), Index on Censorship, IteM (Instituto del
Tercer Mundo), Norwegian PEN, OMCT (World Organization against Torture),
WAN (World Association of Newspapers), WPFC (World Press Freedom
Committee), in coordination with independent Tunisian civil society
organizations.

CSIS International Organizing Committee:
Pablo Accuosto, Karen Banks, Roberto Bissio, Steve Buckley, Rikke Frank
Jørgensen, Wolf Ludwig, Antoine Madelin, Meryem Marzouki, Seán Ó Siochrú,
Chantal Peyer, in coordination with independent Tunisian civil society
organization representatives.

Contact:
Expressions of support:  support@citizens-summit.org
Press enquiries:  press@citizens-summit.org
General contact, questions:  contact@citizens-summit.org

Website: www.citizens-summit.org