Editorial.

• Author: Laboso, Edna Chepkurui

The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 56/183 (21 December 2001) endorsed the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in two phases. The first phase took place in Geneva, hosted by the Government of Switzerland from 10 to 12 December 2003, and the second phase will take place in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, from 16 to 18 November 2005.

The objective of the first phase was to develop and foster a clear statement of political will and take concrete steps to establish the foundations for an Information Society for all, reflecting all the different interests at stake.

At the Geneva Phase of WSIS, nearly 50 Heads of States and Vice-Presidents, 82 Ministers, 26 Vice-Ministers and Heads of delegation from 175 countries as well as high-level representatives from international organizations, private sector, and civil society provided political support to the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action that were adopted on 12 December 2003.

The adoption of a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action, set the stage for international cooperation to close the existing digital divide between developing and developed countries while involving all stakeholders in building an inclusive information society.

Heads of States and stakeholders from around the world recognized the need to create an enabling environment based on clear policies, laws and regulatory frameworks to enable universal, equitable and affordable access to the knowledge-based society. Capacity building activities, promoting ICT-based entrepreneurship, promotion of a multilingual, diverse and culturally appropriate content on the Internet, access for women, marginalized and vulnerable groups, internet governance including intellectual property rights and financing mechanisms to bridge the digital divide have been at the forefront of WSIS discussions and debates. The road to Tunis entails a process of monitoring and evaluation of the progress of feasible actions laid out in the Geneva Plan and a concrete set of deliverables that must be achieved by the time the Summit meets again in Tunis in November 2005. Efforts have been made to put the Plan of Action into motion and working groups have been set up to find solutions and reach agreements in the fields of Internet governance--Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), and financing mechanisms- Task Force on Financial Mechanisms (TFFM). These working groups will provide inputs to the...