Council 2009 Highlights

N�8

Next �

• ITU and climate change

" Seal the Deal" campaign on the occasion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

1.  to transmit a message to the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 to be held in Copenhagen in  December, highlighting the unanimous decision by the 2009 session of the ITU Council regarding the important role of telecommunications and ICT in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change;
   
   
2.  to play an active part in the preparation of the UN Climate Change Conference, as well as in the conference itself, and provide the necessary information on ITU�s role and activities in this area; 
   
   
3.  to contribute to the development of the Global Framework for Climate Services, requested by the World Climate Conference 3 (WCC-3), held by WMO in Geneva from 30 August to 4 September 2009;
   
   
4.  to facilitate access to ITU publications of relevance to ICT and climate change.

The Resolution invites the representatives of Member States at ITU to liaise with their counterparts responsible for environmental issues, in order to provide information and develop common proposals related to the role of ICT in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. These common proposals would be offered for incorporation into a new agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
 

• Child Online Protection initiative (COP)

It emphasizes ITU�s commitment to connect the world responsibly to ensure cybersecurity, enable cyberpeace, and protect children online; its role to facilitate the implementation of WSIS Action Line C5 on building confidence and security in the use of ICT. It also stresses the Child Online Protection (COP) as a special initiative within the framework of the ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda.

It notes the agreement reached by participants at the ITU/MIC Strategic Dialogue on "Safer Internet Environment for Children" (Tokyo Communiqu�) on developing a basic framework for achieving safety, promoting voluntary initiatives in the private sector, as well as user-education initiatives.

It goes on to note the rapidly changing nature of the information society and the uneven development of child online protection measures and procedures throughout the world and the different risks facing children in different regions.

It instructs the Secretary-General to take the necessary steps for ITU to continue to play a facilitating role in coordinating international public policy issues, notably those related to protecting children online. In addition, the Secretary-General will play an active role towards international cooperation with United Nations agencies dealing with child protection issues as instructed by the Tunis Commitment.  He will report annually to the Council on the activities undertaken on these matters and submit proposals, as appropriate, within the framework of the �Child Online Protection Initiative� (COP).

The Secretary-General is invited to liaise with other United Nations agencies and entities concerned with child online protection in order to develop a global repository with useful, up-to-date information, statistics and tools in this area.

In addition, the Resolution instructs the Secretary-General and the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau to organize strategic dialogues providing a platform for policy-makers, regulators, industry representatives, research and academia and other relevant stakeholders to exchange views, experiences and best practice on key policy and strategy issues in the area of child online protection. Together, they will inform the World Telecommunication Development Conference on the activities undertaken and on achievements, including new proposals for consideration.

The Resolution resolves to establish a Council Working Group on Child Online Protection open to all Member States and Sector Members. The group will exchange views and promote work on child online protection. It will report to the Council annually on its activities. It will also report to the Plenipotentiary Conference in 2010 on the activities undertaken and on achievements,  including new proposals for consideration.

• Document 55

The Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) of the United Nations system had been requested to evaluate the effectiveness of ITU�s regional presence, according to Resolution 25 of the Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya in 2006. The resulting report was presented for Council�s consideration.

The report�s findings are that �some progress has been made in implementing Resolution 25, including better identification of regional priorities, improved information dissemination at regional and national levels, increased assistance to countries in implementing the Doha Action Plan and enhanced cooperation between ITU field offices and relevant regional and international organizations in the areas of telecommunications, development and finance.� However, it adds that �more efforts are needed� particularly as regards the empowerment of the regional offices to make decisions on certain administrative matters and the decentralization of certain responsibilities to facilitate greater autonomy for the regional presence.�

The report concludes that �the ITU regional presence continues to be an essential part of the Union,� and that the membership appreciates the activities of the Regional and Area Offices. �However, the human and financial resources allocated to the offices are not commensurate with the increasing number of activities that they are expected to undertake,� the report says. It suggests that �there is a need to streamline and strengthen the existing network of Area Offices by merging some of them and/or providing sufficient human resources.� The JIU also mentions the need for ITU�s Radiocommunication and Standardization Bureaux (BR and TSB) to have more input into the regional presence, in addition to the work of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT). 

Among the report�s recommendations, the JIU highlights the following five:

Recommendation 1
The ITU Council should rationalize and streamline the existing network of Area Offices, based on objective criteria, with a view to concentrating human resources in the Regional Offices, particularly given the financial constraints of the Union.

Recommendation 2
The ITU Council should periodically review the network of the Area Offices on the basis of objective criteria and in the light of the changing priorities of the regions and the conditions of operation.

Recommendation 3
The ITU Council should approve a consolidated and clearly formulated mandate for the ITU regional presence with specific objectives for the Regional Offices.

Recommendation 9
The ITU Council should ensure that any of its resolutions requesting an increase in the activities of the regional presence are matched with commensurate human and financial resources.

Recommendation 17
The ITU Council, in the framework of the adoption of the next strategic plan, should assess and articulate a clear vision of the development activities of ITU, including the content, form and volume of activities. The assessment should take into account the prevailing global trends of decentralization in development activities carried out by other United Nations system organizations operating at country and regional levels.

• Document 85

This contribution from Brazil analyses the JIU�s proposals for restructuring ITU Regional Offices, and the specific ideas for the Americas region.

The Brazilian document suggests that there should be debate on whether the Regional Offices �should be allocated within the General Secretariat structure, in order to assure that they are truly intersectoral�. Brazil also proposes increasing human resources and decentralizing decision-making to the regional offices, alongside making appropriate budgetary provisions.

In the Americas Region, there are three �one-man� Area Offices (in Barbados, Chile and Honduras) and a Regional Office in Brazil. The Brazilian Administration supports the JIU proposal to merge the Chile office with the Brazil office, and the Barbados office with the one in Honduras. 

• Document 82

This proposal from the Russian Federation is that the Area Office in Moscow should have its status changed to a Regional Office, serving member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and alongside the Regional Office for Europe sited at ITU headquarters in Geneva.

• Document 87

Turkey submitted the opinion that �the findings of the JIU report shall be dealt with due care and attention� by the ITU management team. To achieve this, it says in Document 87, �MBG could provide guidance in order to allow membership to contribute to the actions taken to fully implement Resolution 25 (Rev. Antalya, 2006).�

• Document 58

A status report on BDT�s implementation of Resolution 25 was presented by Yury Grin. It outlines the progress that has been made in such matters as staffing levels, training opportunities and in the use of experts at regional and Area Offices. Planning and assessment of projects is carried out in conjunction with BDT, while the regional and Area Offices take the lead in the identification of their localities� most pressing issues and are directly responsible for the implementation of projects in their respective regions. There are improved working methods, as well as strengthened cooperation with other regional organizations.

All councillors who spoke expressed their great appreciation of the JIU�s work and its report. The recommendations �require serious consideration,� said Australia, along with the financial implications. Mali found the JIU report �detailed, precise and comprehensive,� and emphasized the need to decide on a mechanism to implement its recommendations. More study is required, as there are long-term and strategic implications, as well as financial ones, the councillor said. Tanzania echoed these views and said that the ITU Strategic, Financial and Operational Plans should include relevant items; Ghana agreed that there must be improved linkage with planning at headquarters.

The United States, France and Canada agreed with Mali�s view that further study is needed. Malaysia made the point that decentralization means that �new models� must be found for the regional presence.

Cuba, supported by Spain, emphasized that the regional presence, from the very beginning, had development activities as its only focus � and all human and financial resources are from BDT. In addition, Cuba said that, because of the wide-ranging implications, the JIU report should be circulated beyond the Council, to all ITU Member States.

On specific regional concerns, Ukraine supported the proposal on a CIS Regional Office, outlined in Document 82. Australia supported JIU�s idea of creating an Area Office for the Pacific region (paragraph 47 of the JIU report), especially to assist small island developing States. For the Americas, concern was expressed, by Argentina and others, about the proposal to merge the Barbados and Honduras offices, because of the linguistic and cultural diversity of the central American and Caribbean sub-regions; also, removing an office from the Caribbean could present practical problems for the developing countries there.

BDT Director Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid thanked the JIU for a comprehensive report and very clear recommendations (especially the five highlighted). He emphasized that since the new team of Elected Officials had taken office, significant improvements had been made to the regional presence in terms of structure and working methods. Mr Al Basheer added that they would ensure, while bearing in mind the budgetary constraints, that there is follow-up action on those recommendations that might not yet have been implemented.

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Tour� concluded the discussion by thanking the JIU for �a very sound report�. He told the Council that �we have a real opportunity to get this issue resolved�, having had improvement of ITU�s regional presence on the agenda for so long. He said that ITU would report to Council 2010 with a practical strategy for implementation of the JIU recommendations. "We will already begin implementing those resolutions which do not have budgetary implications," the Secretary-General also said. Meanwhile, the JIU report will be circulated to all Member States, as requested.

The Council endorsed the JIU report, and took note of the issues in Documents 82, 85 and 87. It asked the secretariat to take steps to provide proposals to Council 2010 (and later to PP-10) on a detailed mechanism of implementation.

• Document 6

The secretariat introduced the Report of the Expert Group on review of the International Telecommunication Regulations (Document 6). The Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya approved Resolution 146 calling for a review of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR). This Resolution also calls for a World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) to be convened in Geneva in 2012, at which the ITR will be reviewed. It instructs the ITU Council to adopt by 2011 the agenda and exact dates for holding a WCIT.
 
In Document 6, the Council was invited to consider the final report of the Expert Group and to take necessary action, bearing in mind the past practice of ITU in planning and convening similar conferences.
 
The Syrian Arab Republic and the Russian Federation then introduced their proposals, contained in Documents 65 and 78, namely that a group be created by the present Council in order to progress the work on the International Telecommunication Regulations. Several Member States supported these proposals.
 
Other Member States took the view that this decision should be taken by the Plenipotentiary Conference, in the light of past practices, the importance of ensuring that all Member States could contribute to the discussions, and the need to consider the provisions of Resolution 156 regarding avoiding scheduling too many conferences in a single year.  Also, the financial issues need to be considered.
 
Since, on balance, Council was in favour of creating a group to further progress work on the ITR, it was decided to create such a group, as a Council Working Group.
 
It was agreed to create a drafting group, chaired by the Russian Federation, to consider the proposals and comments and to propose a Resolution for approval by the present Council, containing, in particular, the Terms of Reference for the newly created group.
 
The Director of TSB thanked the leadership team of the ITR Expert Group and its members for their dedicated work.

• Document 59

This document reports on the implementation of Resolution 141 (Antalya, 2006) on the participation of all relevant stakeholders in ITU activities related to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It was presented by the co-Chairmen of the group, Facundo Begni of Argentina and Thomas Schneider of Switzerland.
 
The group met five times between June 2007 and September 2008. It was agreed that the term �relevant stakeholders� should be taken to include not only civil society, but also other entities and organizations not currently participating in the activities of the ITU.
 
The group had issued a questionnaire to the ITU membership on this issue, but had received a very low response rate. It had also analysed the ways by which stakeholders now participate in ITU activities, as well as the situation in other United Nations organizations. There had also been discussion of what criteria should be used to decide which stakeholders could be allowed to participate, and on what terms.
 
The group proposed that no changes be made to ITU�s Constitution or Convention. Instead, the ITU membership could be further enlarged through the implementation of Resolutions 71 and 74 of WTSA-08, which aim to facilitate the admission of academia into the work of ITU-T, as well as Sector Members from developing countries.
 
The Council working group also said that consensus had not been reached on several issues (such as the criteria to define appropriate stakeholders), and that financial implications for ITU must also be considered.
 
The Council endorsed the report on the understanding that all items of concern, as expressed by certain delegations, would be deleted from the text. It was agreed that the work of this group was completed, and that its report (Document 59) would be revised to reflect the comments of the various delegations and transmitted to PP-10.
 
Visa problems for entry into Switzerland
The Council also noted concerns raised by Nigeria with regard to problems with visa delivery to Nigerian nationals registered to participate at ITU recent events in Geneva. South Africa expressed a similar concern. The Council requested the secretariat to follow up with the Swiss and national authorities to ensure that these problems are appropriately addressed in the future.
 

• Document 11 (Resolution 68)

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2010 will be celebrated at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China. The theme of the Expo is �Better City, Better Life�. The Council in 2008 had approved "ICTs for a better life for all" as the theme for World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2010. However, to better align this theme with that of the Expo 2010 Shanghai and provide a clear message on the role of information communication technologies for better cities, the secretariat proposed that the Council amend the theme approved in 2008. 
 
Highlighting these developments, Doreen Bogdan-Martin presented the following themes for the years 2010 and 2011:

•  �Better city, better life with ICTs� for World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2010.
  
• �Better life in rural communities with ICTs� for World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2011.

The Council approved these themes.

• Wireless Broadband: In early 2008, BDT secured USD 4 million from the Craig and Susan McCaw Foundation and added another USD 2.4 million from the ITU ICT Development Fund to start wireless broadband projects. ITU is now working closely with the African Development Bank to build on this foundation to help meet the demand of Member States in the region, and has begun discussions with the Islamic Development Bank. Missions have been organized to a number of countries and concrete implementation is under way.
   
• Capacity Building: ITU is implementing ICT capacity building projects for Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in Africa, including a centre of excellence, Internet exchange points and youth scholarships. The Government of Spain has provided financial support for each of these projects. The Government of Portugal has also assisted by providing financial support for the centre of excellence.

Connect CIS Summit
This event will take place in Minsk, Belarus, on 25-27 November 2009 and is expected to bring together some 300-500 participants.  The Summit will be held in conjunction with the CIS Regional Preparatory Meeting (23−24 November 2009) for the World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2010 (WTDC-10).

ITU is organizing this Summit in partnership with the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications, the Commonwealth of Independent States Executive Committee, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development among others.

Global Flagship Initiatives
BDT also launched, early this year, four global Connect the World flagship initiatives:

• Wireless Broadband Partnership: High-speed connectivity for developing countries, with extra capacity for public uses, including schools and hospitals. This initiative builds on the wireless broadband project in Africa mentioned above.
  
  
• Connecting Villages: Low-cost solutions for basic connectivity in rural areas.
  
  
• Connect a School, Connect a Community: This is a partnership effort to promote broadband school connectivity to serve both students and the communities in which they live, with a special emphasis on groups with special needs.
  
  
• ITU Academy Partnership: Training and courseware on cutting-edge ICT innovations in areas such as NGN and mobile.

The Council noted Document 27 (Rev.2)

• Document 103

The Chairman of this group, Italy�s Fabio Bigi, presented his report in Document 103. The group is open to Member States and, when addressing the draft Strategic Plan, also to Sector Members. Mr Bigi reported that the group had held two meetings and approved its working methods and an �Outline of the Draft Structure and Format for the Strategic Plan�. A SharePoint portal has been set up to support the work of the group. Access to the discussion materials require registration to the portal, which can be obtained by sending an email to strategy@itu.int.
 
Provisional participation of entities dealing with telecommunication matters in the activities of ITU

• Document 42 (Rev.1)

Since Council 2008, five �entities dealing with telecommunication matters� requested to become Sector Members and three to become Associates (see tables). The Secretary-General accepted to provisionally include these entities in the lists of Sector Members and Associates. The Council confirmed the action taken by the Secretary-General.

Request for exemption from any financial contribution to defraying expenses relating to participation in the work of the ITU    

• Document 62

A request from the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) for exemption was approved by the Council on the basis of mutual advantages for ITU and CBU.

CBU was formed in 1970 with a view to stimulating the flow of broadcast material among the Radio and Television systems in the Caribbean region. Its membership includes representatives from Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and Europe. Some of its members are also members of ITU, including most international broadcasting organizations.

CBU is the only Pan-Caribbean medium, reaching over 4.8 million people in that region. ITU participates regularly in its meetings. Another advantage is that ITU could participate in CBU�s Annual General Assembly free of charge. ITU has previously received relevant documentation from CBU and there has been good collaboration in terms of exchange of information. CBU could bring a unified Caribbean broadcasting perspective to ITU.