Public Knowledge Joins Letter to UN General Assembly to Secure Multistakeholderism

On June 9, Public Knowledge joined civil society organizations from around the world in a letter to the United Nations General Assembly President, Sam Kahamba Kutesa, and Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh and Ambassador Janis Mazeiks, two governmental co-facilitators of the World Summit on Information Society ten-year review (WSIS +10). The letter encourages meaningful, inclusive participation of multistakeholders throughout this preparatory process, culminating in the WSIS+10 UNGA High-Level Event in December 2015.

Carolina Rossini, Vice President of International Policy at Public Knowledge, said, "We encourage the UN General Assembly President to ensure that the preparatory process and the High-Level Event embody the spirit of WSIS and take into account the progress and growing recognition of inclusive approaches to Information Communication Technologies. This step is essential for the later implementation of the WSIS goals and the Sustainable Development Goals post 2015. We believe that only through this secured meaningful multistakeholder participation, fundamental human rights including the rights to expression, information, association, assembly and public participation will be fully integrated into the Post-2015 UN agenda. Development cannot be built without Human Rights.”