ECOSOC HOLDS DISCUSSION ON UN-PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS PROMOTING ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE FOR DEVELOPMENT

ECOSOC HOLDS DISCUSSION ON UN-PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS

PROMOTING ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE FOR DEVELOPMENT

Majority of World's Inhabitants Shut Off from Digital Revolution, Panellist Says

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 3 July (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) this afternoon held a panel discussion on the role of United Nations-private sector partnerships in promoting access to knowledge for development, with a panellist saying that it was not surprising that the majority of the world's inhabitants had been shut off from the digital revolution when half of those people had yet to make their first phone call.

Introducing the panellists, the moderator, Sarbuland Khan, Director of the Division for ECOSOC Support and Coordination, said that the panel would discuss "United Nations-private sector partnerships in promoting access to knowledge for development:  potential, current status, the way forward".

The panellists were Roberto Blois, Deputy-Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU); Duncan Campbell, Chief of the World Employment Report Team of the International Labour Organization (ILO); Philippe Queau, Director of the Information Society Division of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and Michael Scholtz, Special Representative of the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Mr. Blois said that the development of infrastructure needed to be recognized as one of the primary objectives of all "digital divide" initiatives, and it was not surprising that the majority of the world's inhabitants had been shut off from the digital revolution when half of those people had yet to make their first phone call.

Mr. Campbell said the ILO's technical cooperation activities focused on human-capital formation and a key application of information and communication technologies was in the area of distance learning, in which the organization already had extensive involvement; and ILO technical cooperation activities to a certain extent transcended the resource constraints of the pre-digital era.

Mr. Queau said that there was an unequal distribution of knowledge among the world's population, and economic intellectual property rights and patents had limited accessibility to basic needs such as the production of medicine.

Mr. Scholtz said the WHO had launched a "Health InterNetwork", as well as a WHO Web site that received about 15 million hits per month; however, the lack of connectivity in developing countries, and rural areas especially, was a problem.

Following the panel discussion, the representatives of Mexico and the United Kingdom raised a number of points.  It was said that the big problem which the developing countries faced was that part of their population did not know how to write and read, and did not have any telephone installations.  Access to Internet services was an unknown concept to that part of the population.  The closing of the gap of the “digital divide” was, therefore, essential in that regard.  The need for an infrastructure for the use of the information and communication technologies was also stressed, including the political will to promote the construction of the required infrastructures.

When the Council reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 4 July, it will hold a second panel discussion on "United Nations-private sector partnership in meeting the challenges of development".

Panel Discussion

ROBERTO BLOIS, Deputy-Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said the true information and communication technology (ICT) gap was not in hardware or software but "brainware" -- technology for technology's sake was not enough.  More skilled workers with more diverse skills were needed.  The ITU had the specific mandate of assisting developing countries in building their institutional and organizational capacities, and was increasingly focusing on promoting the extensive use of ICTs for learning activities in developing countries.  The ITU was carrying out numerous activities in the field, among other things, through its five Centres of Excellence:  two in Africa, one in America, one in the Asia-Pacific region, and one in the Arab region.  Also of note were its Global Telecommunication Training Institute and its Global Telecommunication University.

Infrastructure development needed to be recognized as one of the primary objectives of all "digital divide" initiatives, Mr. Blois said; it was not surprising that the majority of the world's inhabitants had been shut off from the digital revolution when half of those people had yet to make their first phone call.  One of the principal missions of the ITU was the promotion, development and extension of communications networks and services, as well as ICT, throughout the world.  Another important ITU contribution to digital divide initiatives was to provide ICT indicators, so that policy-makers and researchers could more effectively measure the gap between haves and have-nots.  And the ITU, as well, had been designated lead organization for preparation of the upcoming World Summit on Information Society.

DUNCAN CAMPBELL, Chief of the World Employment Report Team of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said the ILO was the only United Nations agency that had an important segment of civil society within its very structure -- in addition to governments, its membership included representatives of workers and employers, and so the concept of public-private partnership could not be said to be new for the ILO.  The organization's main comparative advantage lay in the provision of specialized information for which it now had, among other things, Web sites.  Its publication "World Employment 2001:  Life at Work in the Information Economy" took a comprehensive look at what the Internet and other networking technologies meant for labour markets; had involved extensive cooperative work with private-sector organizations to produce; and was not merely a physical product but a digital one.

The ILO's technical cooperation activities focused on human-capital formation, Mr. Campbell said, and a key application of information and communication technologies was in the area of distance learning, at which the organization already had extensive involvement.  ILO technical cooperation activities, to a certain extent, transcended the resource constraints of the pre-digital era.  For development goals, this was particularly important since the marginal gains from access to learning and knowledge were greater in developing countries that had not previously had such access.  The ILO also had an "Infocus" programme on development of skills and had established an International Network of Vocational Training Providers.

PHILIPPE QUEAU, Director of the Information Society Division of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said that there was an unequal distribution of knowledge among the world's population.  About 70 per cent of  intellectual property had been contested because of its inaccessibility to the majority of the world's inhabitants.  Further, the right to economic intellectual properties of patents had limited people to access to basic needs.  For instance, in South Africa, the economic intellectual property on the production of certain medicines did not allow the availability of cheap medicine to the population.  No one should be left out of access to knowledge; and the exchange of knowledge should enable people to raise their living conditions.  The freedom of access to information should also be encouraged among governments and the private sector. 

In order to protect world heritage, the North-South transfer of knowledge should be harmonized.  The principle of knowledge should be implemented on an equal basis to embrace the interests of all people.  In addition, a public cyber centre should be constituted and a large library should be made accessible as a measure to strengthen the freedom of information.  The bilingual cyber system should also be stressed to allow many people to understand it in their own languages.

MICHAEL SCHOLTZ, Special Representative of the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the WHO had a United Nations Action Plan Health InterNetwork, as well as a WHO Web site that received about 15 million hits per month.  The Health InterNetwork had been launched by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan following the Millennium Summit.  Lack of connectivity in

developing countries, and rural areas especially, was a problem; furthermore, it was necessary to provide viable and useful content for health centres and hospitals in such areas -- the language in which information was provided had to be appropriate, and the information itself should be the sort that could be used: all sorts of wonderful drugs might be described on the Internet, for example, but were unavailable or unaffordable in developing countries.

The Health InterNetwork was aimed at providing useful content based on a needs assessment, Mr. Scholtz said.  There was a goal to provide some 10,000 to 14,000 new connectivity sites where they were most needed.  Initial participants were intended to be health service providers, researchers and scientists, and policy-makers at all levels.  One clear need, based on information provided to date, was for scientific and medical information as contained in professional journals which currently were simply too expensive for health providers in many developing countries.

There were a number of partners in the InterNetwork project aside from the WHO, Mr. Scholtz said, including other United Nations agencies and the Bretton Woods institutions, as well as academic centres and university health centres.  The InterNetwork was non-profit and did not take a top-down approach, but rather sought to look at what would be most useful at the grass-roots level, and to share expertise and best practices at that level.  On the other hand, monitoring was necessary to make sure that the information provided was accurate; and it was important to keep the information available at affordable prices -- low-cost deals were being sought, among other things, for the necessary computer hardware and software.  Currently, the Health InterNetwork was in its pilot phase; after six to 12 months, the project should be expanded to the phase of development of precise project descriptions for various parts of the world, after which the InterNetwork should begin to function in a practical sense, assuming a shortage of funding was overcome.

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