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UNEDITED
Draft Resolution for adoption by the Council1
1. The Commission on Science and Technology for Development recommends to the
Economic and Social Council the adoption of the following draft resolution:
Assessment of WSIS-implementation 2008
The Economic and Social Council,
Recalling the outcome documents of the World Summit on the Information Society,
Recalling that access to information and sharing and creation of knowledge
contributes significantly to strengthening economic, social and cultural development,
thus helping all countries to reach the internationally agreed development goals and
objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals. This process can be
enhanced by removing barriers to universal, ubiquitous, equitable and affordable
access to information. We underline the importance of removing barriers to bridging
the digital divide, particularly those that hinder the full achievement of the economic,
social and cultural development of countries and the welfare of their people, in
particular, in developing countries,
Recognizing the efforts by all stakeholders to implement the outcomes of the two
phases of the World Summit on the Information Society,

Recognizing also the efforts of the UN agencies and programs and of all regional
commissions in implementing the WSIS goals, commitments and recommendations,
Recalling its resolution 2006/46 on the follow-up to the World Summit on the
Information Society and the mandate it gave the Commission on Science and
Technology for Development,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 57/270B and Council resolution 2007/29,
Taking note of the Report of the Secretary-General on Progress made in the
implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the
Information Society at the regional and international levels contained in reference
E/2008/48,
A. Evolving challenges and opportunities
1. Observes that the digital divide is changing in some respects: While overall the
digital divide may be shrinking, a new form of digital divide is emerging in terms of
difference in quality and speed of access to ICTs,
2. Observes the continuing relevance of assisting developing countries in their efforts
to overcome the digital divide, particularly with regard to both access and capacity,
1 This draft resolution is proposed to the CSTD by El Salvador, Finland, France, Latvia, Switzerland

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3. Observes that the disparity in cost and quality of access between developed and
developing countries continues: In developed, high-income economies, the average
cost of a broadband connection is significantly less than in developing countries,
both in nominal terms and as a percentage of the average monthly income,
4. Observes that the gender divide still persists in quality and variety of means of
access to the internet and ICTs in the building of the Information Society in both
developed and developing countries,
5. Observes further the strong growth of mobile telephony subscriptions, especially in
developing countries,
6. Notes with concern the growing number of incidents affecting global network
safety and security and provoking service outages in large regions of the world,
7. Observes that in many countries there is inadequate coherence and
complementarity between national ICT policies and national development and
poverty reduction strategies. Especially in poorer rural areas, the potential of the
Internet and ICTs in general for development is not yet fully utilised.
Recommendations
8. Calls on all stakeholders to increase efforts for funding of and investment in ICTs,
in order to advance broadband access, including wireless access, in areas and
countries where it is still limited or non-existent;
9. Calls on all States, in building the Information Society, to take steps with a view to
the avoidance of, and refrain from, any unilateral measure not in accordance with
international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impedes the full
achievement of economic and social development by the population of the affected
countries, and that hinders the well-being of their population;
10. Reaffirms that Intellectual Property protection is important to encourage
innovation and creativity in the Information Society; similarly, the wide
dissemination, diffusion, and sharing of knowledge is important to encourage
innovation and creativity. Facilitating meaningful participation by all in intellectual
property issues and knowledge sharing through full awareness and capacity building
is a fundamental part of an inclusive Information Society;
11. Calls on all stakeholders to increase efforts to reduce the disparity in cost of
access, through, for example, the establishment of Internet Exchange Points and the
creation of a competitive environment, both at the backbone and local levels;
12. Recommends all States strive for gender equality in access to the Internet and in
the building of the Information Society in both developed and developing countries,
including the gender approach in ICT policies in national strategies;
13. Calls further on all stakeholders to continue the development and spread of easy
to use applications and services for mobile phones and related devices, especially
those that are useful in rural areas and work with low bandwidth and high latency;

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14. Calls on all stakeholders to cooperate more closely in making global networks
more stable, resilient and secure and in overcoming outages, incidents and attacks on
these networks;
15. Calls on International and regional organizations to assess and report regularly on
universal accessibility of nations to ICTs, with the aim of creating equitable
opportunities for the growth of ICT sectors of developing countries;
16. Recommends the mainstreaming of ICT-policies into national development
and/or poverty reduction strategies, in accordance with countries priorities;
17. Recommends increased international cooperation at all levels and amongst all
stakeholders, to help rural areas access to and benefit from the Internet and ICTs in
general;
B. Successes and shortcomings in the implementation of WSIS outcomes so far
18. Takes note with appreciation of the ongoing work in the Internet Governance
Forum, its multi-stakeholder approach and its innovative platform and thanks host
Governments for their contributions,
19. Acknowledges progress towards developing multilingual capabilities on the
Internet,
20. Acknowledges the work of the Partnership for Measuring ICT for Development
to develop indicators for further consideration and decision by the UN Statistical
Commission,
21. Observes the lack of indicators to measure progress towards achieving the targets
as set out in part B of the Geneva Plan of Action,
22. Takes note of the efforts of the Regional Commissions in the coordination of
WSIS-implementation, including in developing e-strategies, capacity building and
measuring of ICTs,
23. Acknowledges the efforts of all WSIS Action Line Facilitators, especially ITU
and UNESCO in their role as lead Facilitators,
24. Observes that the architecture for WSIS implementation as defined in the Tunis
Agenda for the Information society is rather complex and has also presented
limitations in involving participation of all stakeholders, in particular those from
developing countries,
25. Takes note of the letter from the United Nations Under Secretary General, on
behalf of the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG), to relevant organizations
responsible for essential tasks associated with the Internet requesting them to report
on the steps they have taken towards enhanced cooperation in accordance with Art. 71
of the Tunis Agenda for Information Society, and looks forward to the UNSG's report,
which may contain recommendations on how the process should be pursued; also
notes that all stakeholders, in their respective roles, will be included in this process,
26. Reaffirms the relevance of decisions on Internet Governance in their entirety as
outlined in the Tunis Agenda,

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Recommendations
27. Recommends that the Internet Governance Forum, as a multi-stakeholder
discussion forum, shall retain its focus on public policy issues related to Internet
Governance;
28. Encourages the collaboration among all stakeholders, including international
organisations, consistent with their mandate and existing budgetary resources, with
regard to multilingualization of the Internet;
29. Recommends that the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development considers
the creation of benchmarks and indicators, including impact indicators, for further
consideration and decision by the UN Statistical Commission, in order to track
progress towards the attainment of the specific goals and targets set out in WSIS
outcome documents, particularly part B of the Geneva Plan of Action;
30. Recommends that Action Line Facilitators, in cooperation with all stakeholders,
should establish milestones, deadlines and calendars for their Action Lines, taking
into account the WSIS outcome documents;
31. Recommends that Lead Facilitators conduct open multistakeholder consultations
on the way to improve the effectiveness and coherence of the annual clustering of
WSIS related activities;
32. Recommends that UNGIS organize focused open multistakeholder consultations
on the implementation of part B of the Tunis Agenda " Financial Mechanisms for
Meeting the Challenges of ICTs for Development";
33. Recommends the introduction in the facilitation process of electronic
collaboration tools like mailing lists, web 2.0 applications, observatories and clearing
house models in order to enhance multi-stakeholder participation, in particular from
developing countries;
34. Recommends further that in the reporting process to the CSTD Secretariat as set
out in Resolution 2007/8, Action Line Facilitators bring to the attention of the
Commission obstacles and difficulties encountered, by all stakeholders on the
commitments and recommendations contained in their respective Action Line at
regional and international level and make proposals for possible action to the CSTD,
whenever deemed necessary;
35. Invites all actors and institutions, involved in the implementation and follow-up
of WSIS to further clarify their respective roles, improve coordination, information
sharing and build synergies to make the most effective use of available resources;
36. Invites the international community to make voluntary contributions to the special
trust fund established by UNCTAD to support the review and assessment work of
CSTD regarding WSIS follow-up; and
37. Recommends that all stakeholders should redouble their efforts to implement the
Summit vision of a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information
society, so as to enhance digital opportunities for all people in order to help to bridge
the digital divide.

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