The head of the United Nations Development Programme Thursday called the free flow of information essential to development and said press freedom is not an optional extra but a universal human right.
– By definition, central to building new knowledge societies is the need for the free flow of information, said Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, speaking in Geneva at the World Summit on the Information Society, WSIS.
– We have seen how information and communication technology (ICT) has helped new and alternative media emerge to enrich societies across the world. Freedom of the media is not an optional extra. It is a universal human right that must be protected, he noted.
He also said ICT offers new, powerful tools for fighting world poverty and advancing a range of development goals, but warned that failure to grasp these opportunities could lead to greater global inequality.
– Today we have an historic opportunity to help turn rhetoric into action and make ICT work for development. If we fail to act now, the information gap risks widening into an uncrossable gulf that increases global inequality and leaves the poor further behind, Malloch Brown said in his speech to conference delegates.
The UNDP Administrator also moderated a round table discussion with heads of state at the summit on the use of ICT as a tool to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, endorsed by world leaders at the UNs Millennium Summit in 2000.
UNDP, which is co-sponsoring several courses, panels and other events around the summit, has worked with private- and public-sector partners to help set up the first Internet nodes in 24 countries over the past decade.
Programmes co-sponsored by UNDP and its partners have enabled more than 25.000 organizations and institutions to train millions of men and women in basic computer skills. The UNDP focus now is on using ICT to improve governance and expand public access to information and services, including healthcare and education.
Malloch Brown stressed that nothing is automatic in the diffusion of ICT, saying that it is critical to have an enabling policy environment in place. – The ICT revolution has thrown up numerous examples of local initiatives and entrepreneurship that have flourished, not because of, but in spite of, the prevailing regulatory framework. It is essential that frameworks adapt to ensure that good initiatives can proliferate to the benefit of all, he said.
He added that ICT has a vital role to play not just in accelerating economic growth, but also in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. – Already we are seeing how ICT can be harnessed to improve access and expand basic services, cut transaction costs, improve government efficiency and make development possible, Malloch Brown said.
– But the potential of this revolution in development has still not been fully realized. With the right set of policies and practice, ICT could do far more to address the development challenges we face.
Examples of ICT projects backed by UNDP include a 12 million dollar Internet education network in China, a 7 million dollar civil service reform initiative in Lebanon, and expanding e-governance programmes in Albania and Mozambique.
UNDP has also established ICT partnerships with civil society organizations through its Sustainable Development Networking Programme as well as with leading global companies in the field, from Microsoft to Cisco Systems.
UNDP and its partners have organized several events at the summit. The topic of a UNDP-sponsored panel on Friday in Geneva will be the 2003 UNDP Arab Human Development Report, which focuses on Building a Knowledge Society.
The panel will examine ways to strengthen knowledge institutions in the Arab states and discuss efforts by the new UNDP Arab Region ICT programme to promote national e-strategies.
Harnessing ICT to help countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals is the theme of another panel, chaired by Benins Minister of Communications Gaston Zossou, and is the topic of a pioneering Regional Human Development Report covering nine countries in Asia: China, India Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.
The reports findings were previewed by a panel at the summit, chaired by Shahid Akhtar, the programme coordinator of the UNDP Asia Pacific Development Information Programme.
The BBCs Earth Report television series has broadcast two documentaries on “Communicating for Change,” examining issues confronted at the World Summit on the Information Society. The BBC has invited viewers to e-mail questions for a debate at the summit on “The Digital Divide” and will broadcast the debate to 267 million homes on 13 December.
UNDP is a co-sponsor of the ICT for Development Network, which offers online discussion and networking. UNDP is also a partner in ICT Development Showcase, an online venue where organizations can post online videos, documents, web cast archives, audio files and useful hyperlinks.
UNDP is the global UN development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. The organization is on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and its wide range of partners.
