International outreach
2008
"Towards a code of good practice building on the principles of WSIS and the Aarhus Convention" Stakeholder Consultation on Public Participation in Internet Governance
23 May 2008, 14:00-17:00 – International Telecommunications Union, Geneva
The Stakeholder Consultation on Public Participation in Internet Governance discussed the results of the exploratory research into a “Code of good practice on public participation, access to information and transparency in Internet governance”, undertaken through a trilateral initiative of the Council of Europe, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), initiated at the scond Internet Governance Forum (November 2007).
The aim of the proposed “Code of good practice on public participation, access to information and transparency in Internet governance” would be to enable all the institutions which play a role in some aspect of governing the Internet to commit to ensuring transparency, public participation (of all stakeholders) and access to information in Internet Governance.
The objective of the consultation was to consider the purpose and scope of the proposed instrument and to discuss with panellists and participants its possible opportunities, limitations and risks. Related initiatives in the field of Internet governance, such as UN Working Group on Internet Governance and International Telecommunication Union consultation on public participation in ITU processes, were discussed and analysed in respect of their compatibility or complementarity with the proposed instrument.
The consultation also aimed to identify other interested stakeholders from different stakeholder groups with a view to associating them with the initiative. A representative from the UN Economic Commission for Africa announced that the initiative would be considered at the African Regional Meeting on follow up to WSIS in November 2008.
The consultation laid the groundwork for a proposed workshop to be held at the third Internet Governance Forum, in Hyderabad, India, from 3-6 December 2008.
Read the Report of the conference "Towards a code of good practice building on the principles of WSIS and the Aarhus Convention".
Click here for a list of speakers and discussants.
Participants attending the session were invited to intervene during the discussion, which following the presentations and discussants' interventions took the form of an open dialogue.
For background to the initiative, see the Council of Europe press release of 13 November 2007, report of the Council of Europe/UNECE/APC Best Practice Forum to the Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro, publication " Encouraging Implementation of the WSIS Principles" by William J. Drake and "Exploratory Report on...a Code of Good Practice" by David Souter.
Stakeholder consultation and background documents
Report of the consultation "Towards a code of good practice building on the principles of WSIS and the Aarhus Convention"
List of participants
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Information note on Stakeholder consultation on public participation in Internet governance (23 May 2008, Geneva)
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Council of Europe press release (dated 22 May 2008) announcing the stakeholder consultation
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Exploratory Report on the Concept and Possible Scope of a Code of Good Practice on Participation, Access to Information and Transparency in Internet Governance - Discussion paper for the Skakeholder Consultation on Internet Governance, 23 May 2008, Geneva
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Report of the IGF-2 Best Practice Forum (13 November 2007, Rio de Janeiro)
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Council of Europe/APC press release (13 November 2007)
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"Encouraging Implementation of the WSIS Principles" by William J. Drake, from The Power of Ideas: Internet Governance in a Global Multi-stakeholder Environment, Wolfgang Kleinwächter (Ed.), with a foreward by Nitin Desai, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Internet Governance, (Berlin, Marketing für Deutschland GmbH, pp. 271-280).
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For more information, please contact public.participation@unece.org.
OECD Task Force on PRTR - Eleventh meeting
12-14 March 2008, Paris
The Task Force discussed the utility of geographic information system and web mapping applications for future communication of PRTR information, within the context of the high-level portal on pollutant release and transfer registers launched in December 2007. The Nordic PRTR Group reported on a scoping study of chemicals in products. The International PRTR Coordinating Group reported on its planned contribution to reporting PRTR capacity building activities to the second International Conference on Chemicals Management, in May 2009.
2007
"Public Participation in Internet Governance: Emerging issues, good practices and proposed solutions" Best Practices Forum, 2nd Internet Governance Forum
12 November 2007, Rio de Janeiro
The Council of Europe and and civil society organisations proposed a self-regulatory mechanism to foster participation, access to information and transparency in Internet governance at the Internet Governance Forum, featuring the European practices under the Aarhus Convention.
To see the Council of Europe's press release of the event, click here.
OECD Task Force on PRTR - Tenth meeting
27 February - 1 March 2007, Copenhagen
The Task Force reviewed the design of a high-level portal on pollutant release and transfer registers provided byEnvironment Canada, among other topics addressing PRTR development.
2006
Symposium on public participation in environmental decision-making
15-17 August 2006, Beijing, China
The purpose of the symposium was to gather comments and to fine-tune a draft regulation for public participation in environmental decision-making under State Environmental Protection Agency of China. The symposium was part of a
6-month project to develop such a regulation for China.
PRTR Implementation Problems and Perspectives
5-7 July 2006, Volograd, Russian Federation
Representatives of NGOs and regional authorities, mainly from European part of Russia, discussed pollutant release and transfer registers in the workshop organized by Ecopress and European ECO Forum.
2005
Third Meeting of the Partnership for Principle 10
Committee of the Whole
4-5 October 2005, London, England
Co-hosted by Capacity Global and the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the meeting brought together 54 participants representing 11 governments, 7 international organizations (including the Aarhus Convention secretariat), and 21 non-governmental organizations committed to implementing Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration. It addressed strategies for moving the Partnership forward.
2003 - 2004
Human Rights and the Environment
A resolution on Human rights and the environment as part of sustainable
development was adopted by the Commission on Human Rights
in April 2003. It requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission at its sixtieth session in spring 2004 a report "on the consideration being given to the possible relationship between the environment
and human rights", taking into account the contributions that concerned international organizations and bodies.
The activities carried out under the Aarhus Convention are of great relevance
to this topic. To a certain extent, the Convention may be said to embody the link between human rights
and the environment, being an instrument which on the one hand aims to ensure better protection of the
environment, and on the other, attempts to achieve this goal by seeking to guarantee specific rights
of individuals. Hence a submission to the report was made recently by the secretariat, on behalf of UNECE.