huridocs-tech UNESCO Roundtable on Internet access and regulation (IFEX Communique #8-44)

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## author     : communique@ifex.org
## date       : 18.11.99
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International Freedom of Expression eXchange Clearing House
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COMMUNIQUE # 8-44                      16 November 1999

UNESCO ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSES INTERNET ACCESS, REGULATIONS

Participants at the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO) roundtable on "Social,
Ethical and Legal Issues of Cyberspace in the 21st Century"
in France on 10 November, discussed Internet regulations and
disparities of Internet access. Senegalese information
expert Amadou Top, cautioned that those populations who do
not have access to the Internet will be left behind in the
Internet and information revolutions. According to Top,
while "Africa, with 9.7 percent of the planet's population,
can only count 0.1 per cent of the world's Internet users...
the United States, with 4.7 per cent of the world
population, accounts for 26.3 per cent of Internet users."
Ronald Koven of the World Press Freedom Committee expressed
optimism that access to the Internet throughout the world
would increase. He stated also that "the new technologies
will allow Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights - calling for the right of all to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media - to become a
living reality."

Gil Santos of the Philippine Press Institute stated that
Internet regulation by groups in developed countries has
already led to a "new colonisation of developing countries."
In considering the creation of Internet regulations, Hervé
Bourges of the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel urged
UNESCO to play a central role and to "help peoples and
nations to fight standardised thinking, which will lead to
the dominance of the market, of technology over
communication, and of business over free-thinking."

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