Call for Policy on Information Society, Focus on Communication Rights
LWF Member Churches Urged to Participate in WSIS
JERUSALEM/BETHLEHEM, 15 September 2005 (LWI) – At its August 31 –September 6 meeting, the Council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) requested the LWF Secretariat to develop in consultation with the member churches a policy on the Information Society with a specific focus on communication rights.
Acting on recommendations from the Program Committee for Communication Services, the LWF governing body also urged the member churches to actively engage in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) taking place in Tunisia in November 2005. Churches were equally encouraged to address the issue of communication rights at the national levels with their governments.
The Council at its 2004 meeting had requested the Program Committee for Communication Services to develop so-called talking points on issues related to the WSIS. The United Nations called for a WSIS in 2001 following an initiative by the Tunisian government. The aim is to put on the global agenda focus on access to information and knowledge as a prerequisite to achieving the Millennium Development Goals – or MDGs by 2015. The WSIS includes two phases—the Geneva Summit in December 2003, which laid the foundations with a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action, and the forthcoming Tunis Summit, which will monitor and evaluate progress on the action plan and devise an agenda that will target goals for achievement by 2015.
The LWF Council called also for communication rights to be included in LWF’s rights-based approach to development, and in the understanding of advocacy.
Communication Audit
The Program Committee for Communication Services had received an interim report on the secretariat-wide Communication Audit, requested by the LWF Council in 2004. The committee endorsed the objectives and methodology; the materials’ review measurement tools as well as the communication context questionnaire developed by the Office for Communication Services (OCS) in close cooperation with the Department for Communication of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the LWF Interdepartmental Committee on Publication (ICP). It expressed its appreciation for ELCA’s leadership and support in this process, and requested that all LWF regions be involved for the second phase of the audit.
Cost-Saving Measures
The committee expressed concern about the difficult funding situation for OCS’ core functions such as Lutheran World Information, LWF Publications, the LWF Web site as well as the LWF Directory, as the OCS is no longer receiving any A-budget allocations for these and other key communication activities since 2005. In view of the difficult financial situation, the Committee endorsed cost-saving plans, which include the discontinuation of the printed version of the LWF Directory.
It also strongly affirmed the establishment of the new “Communication Fund,” which aims to enable OCS respond in a flexible way to LWF’s communication needs, and called upon member churches to support this fund. (476 words)
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