19.03.2004
Churches’ Participation Crucial in World Summit on the Information Society
LWF General Secretary Noko Says Challenge Now Is to Identify Follow-up Issues for WSIS 2005Churches and their related organizations have a crucial role to play in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), says Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). After the WSIS First Phase, 10-12 December 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland, the challenge now is to strategically identify issues for follow-up during the Second Phase in Tunis next year, Noko notes. The first phase of the WSIS addressed a broad range of themes including information and communication technologies and their impact on all aspects of life.
Noko says he is optimistic that the experience gained by church representatives in last year’s WSIS would facilitate churches’ active engagement in promoting an inclusive information society. The LWF Office for Communication Services (OCS) sponsored the participation of Lutheran youth in the WSIS, and was invited to participate in several panel discussions in the civil society program. With the World Council of Churches (WCC) Public Information Team, Catholic Media Council, Geneva-based International Catholic Center and World Association for Christian Communication, OCS co-hosted several encounters and networking opportunities for churches, church-related and faith-based organizations that have been actively following the WSIS process.
The WSIS Geneva summit adopted a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action. The Second Phase will be in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, 16 - 18 November 2005.
OCS Director, Ms Karin Achtelstetter, sees involvement in the WSIS process as a crucial contribution to the LWF’s wider engagement in the global debate on economic globalization. On December 9, the LWF and WCC communication teams jointly organized a seminar, “The World Summit on the Information Society and the Churches” to introduce the WSIS, and the concerns of churches and faith-based organizations to a wider audience, including Ecumenical Center staff. It was followed by a roundtable of churches and church-related organizations accredited to the WSIS at which related “core issues” were identified. This was the first time churches and their related organizations had met during the 18-month-WSIS process.
The Youth in Church and Society desk of the LWF Department for Mission and Development (DMD) and OCS have jointly prepared additional information about the WSIS on the LWF Web site: www.lutheranworld.org/Youth/WSIS-Index.html. (372 words)
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