Pan-European Forum on "Human Rights in the Information Society: Responsible Behaviour by Key Actors", 12-13 September 2005

Building an inclusive Information Society, based on respect for human rights, requires new forms of solidarity, partnership and cooperation among governments, civil society, the private sector and international organisations. Through open discussions and exchanges of information worldwide, a multi-stakeholder governance approach will help shape agendas and devise new regulatory and non-regulatory models which will account for challenges and problems arising from the rapid development of the Information Society.

- General report by Dr Rachel O'Connell and Dr Jo Bryce

- Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the Information Society, adopted on 13 May 2005

- List of participants

- Programme

- Webcast recording of the Forum proceedings:
To follow the live coverage click on the links here-below. To view the pictures, configure Real One

1. Opening
2. Presentation of the General Rapporteurs
3. Session 1: Industry
4. Session 2: Civil society
5. Session 3: States
6. Conclusions

- Post-Forum reflections by participants

- Pre-Forum preliminary comments by participants

- Information Documents

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Introduction

The Council of Europe invited interested representatives of states, industry (e.g. internet service providers, mobile phone operators, gaming industry, etc), civil society and the media, as well as other organisations, institutions and experts, to take part in the Pan-European Forum on “Human Rights in the Information Society: Responsible Behaviour by Key Actors” which took place at the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, on 12 and 13 September 2005.

In the light of a recent Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the Information Society and Council of Europe priorities regarding the protection of children and internet content, the Forum identified and discussed responsible and irresponsible behaviour by key actors in the Information Society and how states, industry and civil society can work together (inter alia through partnerships, policy making, greater awareness and education) to ensure the promotion and protection of human rights in the Information Society.

Programme

12 September 2005

08:30	Registration
	Chairperson: Mr Henry INGBERG, General Secretary, Ministry of the French speaking Community, Brussels, Belgium
09:30	Opening speech: Mrs Maud DE BOER-BUCQUICCHIO, Deputy Secretary General, Council of Europe See also the video
10:00	Risks and responsibilities: Stakeholders acting to protect and promote human rights in the information society Co-General Rapporteurs: Ms Rachel O’CONNELL and Ms Jo BRYCE, University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom websites: www.uclan.ac.uk/cru and www.fkbko.co.uk See also the video
10:40	Pause/coffee
11:00	Discussion
12:30	Lunch
14:00	Session one: Responsible behaviour by key Industry actors *Moderator:* Mrs Divina FRAU-MEIGS, International Association for Media and Communications Research (AIERI / IAMCR), website: www.iamcr.net *Panellists:* Mr Phil ARCHER, Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), website: www.icra.org Mr Rob BORTHWICK, Vodafone, website: www.vodafone.com Mr Patrice CHAZERAND, Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE), website: www.isfe-eu.org Mr Peter CORONEOS, Internet Industry Association (IIA), website: www.iia.net.au Ms Shereen MEHARG, MSN Europe, website: www.microsoft.com Mr Jan SOBCZAK, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland Mr Michael ROTERT, European Internet Services Providers Association (EuroISPA), website: www.euroispa.org Tour de table of the panellists followed by panel discussions Summary conclusions and recommendations drawn by the moderator See also the video
15:45	Pause/coffee
16:00	Session two: Civil society/media promoting responsible behaviour *Moderator:* Mr Vladimir POZNER, Journalist, Russian Federation *Panellists:* Dr Parry AFTAB, WiredSafety, website: www.wiredsafety.org Mr Ian BROWN, Internet Hotline Providers (INHOPE), website: www.inhope.org Mr Alexander CAMPBELL, Office of Communication (Ofcom), website: www.ofcom.org.uk Mr Stuart LAWLEY, International Foundation for Online Responsibility, website: www.iffor.org Mr Pär LUNDGREN, Alliance for a Media Literate Europe, website: www.allmediaeurope.se Mrs Meryem MARZOUKI, European Digital Rights (EDRI), website: http://www.edri.org and LIP6/PolyTIC-CNRS lab Ms Andrea MILLWOOD-HARGRAVE, Associate, University of Oxford, website: www.ntlworld.com Tour de table of the panellists followed by panel discussions Summary conclusions and recommendations drawn by the moderator See also the video
17:45	Close of day one
18:00	Reception in the Restaurant Bleu, Palais de l'Europe

13 September 2005

09:30	Opening words: Opening words: Ms Elisabet FURA-SANDSTROM, Judge, European Court of Human Rights, website: www.echr.coe.int/echr
09:45	Session three: Responsible behaviour by States *Moderator:* Mr Mark KELLY, Human Rights Consultants, United Kingdom, website: www.HumanRightsConsultants.org *Panellists:* Ms Lynda BERGSMA, Alliance for a Media Literate America, website: www.amlainfo.org Ms Isabelle FALQUE-PIERROTIN, Forum des droits sur l'Internet, websites: www.foruminternet.org and www.droitdunet.fr Ms Elisabet FURA-SANDSTROM, Judge, European Court of Human Rights, website: www.echr.coe.int/echr Ms Kathrin HAHNE, German Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media, website: www.bundesregierung.de/en Ms Heleen JANSSEN, Legal Specialist, Ministry of the Interior, Department of Constitutional Affairs and Legislation, Netherlands Ms Monica MACOVEI, Minister of Justice of Romania, website: www.just.ro Mr Roberts PUTNIS, Transparency International, website: www.transparency.org Tour de table of the panellists followed by panel discussions Summary conclusions and recommendations drawn by the moderator See also the video
11:15	Pause/coffee
11:30	Session four: Conclusions and results of the Forum Making sense of responsible behaviour – reflections for the future: Round Table between the moderators and the chairperson, with questions from the audience.
12:00	Conclusions, results and next steps: Ms Rachel O’CONNELL and Ms Jo BRYCE, University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom; websites: www.uclan.ac.uk/cru and www.fkbko.co.uk See also the video
13:00	Close of Forum

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Information documents

Council of Europe background documents

- Human Rights and the Information Society: a preliminary overview by Karol Jakubowicz (MC-S-IS(2005)013)

- Final Declaration and Action Plan adopted at the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe Warsaw on 16 - 17 May 2005

- Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the Information Society, adopted on 13 May 2005

- Adopted texts of the 7th European Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy, March 2005

- Recommendation Rec (2004) 16 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the right of reply in the new media environment

- Political message from the Committee of Ministers to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), December 2003

- Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on freedom of communication on the Internet, adopted on 28 May 2003

- Recommendation No. R (2002) 2 on access to official documents (PDF version including Explanatory memorandum)

- Convention on Cybercrime (November 2001) and the additional Protocol to the Convention on cybercrime, concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems, January 2003

- Recommendation No. R (2001) 8 of the Committee of Ministers on self-regulation concerning cyber content and its Explanatory Memorandum

- Recommendation No. R (2001) 7 on measures to protect copyright and neighbouring rights and combat piracy, especially in the digital environment

- Recommendation No. R (99) 14 of the Committee of Ministers on universal community service concerning new communication and information services and its Explanatory Memorandum

- Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on a European policy for new information technologies, adopted on 7 May 1999

- Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, November 1950

Council of Europe Publications

- Handbook on Internet Literacy, January 2004

- Guarding the watchdog - the Council of Europe and the media, September 2003

- Highway to democracy - the Council of Europe and the information society, June 2003

World Summit on the Information Society Background documents

- Declaration of Principles, December 2003

- Plan of Action, December 2003

- Civil Society Declaration to the World Summit on the Information Society "Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs", December 2003

Other interesting Council of Europe links

- 2005 European Year of Citizenship through Education

- General report of the European Forum: Internet with a human face – a common responsibility, May 2004

- European Forum on harmful and illegal cyber-content: self-regulation, user protection and media competence, November 2001

OSCE background documents

- Joint declaration by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and Reporters Sans Frontières on guaranteeing media freedom of the Internet, June 2005

- Amsterdam Recommendations on Freedom of the Media and the Internet, 14 June 2003

Others

- Center for Media Literacy: CML MediaLit Kit™ - Literacy for the 21st Century: An Overview & Orientation Guide To Media Literacy Education

- Open Net Initiative

- European Internet Coregulation Network: Protecting Minors from Exposure to Harmful Content on Mobile Phones, Recommendation report, July 2005

- European Internet Coregulation Network: Internet Governance, Policy Paper, July 2005

- European Broadcasting Union: Position Papers: Freedom of Expression

- Pew Internet & American Life Project: The Future of Internet. In a survey, technology experts and scholars evaluate where the network is headed in the next ten years, January 2005

- Conference on Internet, Human Rights and Culture, Oegsgeest (The Netherlands), 4-5 February 2005

- Lynda Bergsma: "The Vital Role of Media Literacy When Seeing is No Longer Believing", Telemedium, Spring 2005

- International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH): contributions by INACH (members) to the OSCE Conference on the Relationship between Racist, Xenophobic and Antisemitic Propaganda on the Internet and Hate Crimes

- Ofcom on media lietracy

- Ofcom's Strategy and Priorities for the promotion of media literacy

- Ofcom: "The media literacy of children and young people"

- Ofcom "The media literacy of adults"

- The Ofcom Broadcasting Code

- Ofcom Broadcast Code Guidance

- The UK Children Go Online Project

- UK Children Go OnlineProject: Final Report of Project Findings

- Joint Vodafone/ National Family and Parenting institute mobile safety guide for parents

- Joint Comet / NCH web safety code for children

- Lynda Bergsma: "Empowerment Education: The Link Between Media Literacy and Health Promotion", American Behavioural Scientist, Vol. 48 No.2, Oct 2004

- "Statement on Human Rights, Human Dignity and the Information Society". International Symposium on the Information Society, Human Dignity and Human Rights, Palais des Nations, Geneva, 3-4 November 2003

- Ursula Owen, Index on Censorship, London, U.K.: "Free Speech, Human Rights & Western Values?" From a speech given on 28 October 2003 at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, London School of Economics

- Ursula Owen, Index on Censorship, London, U.K.: "Gateways to Freedom: Libraries and the New Millennium" Libri, 2000, vol. 50, pp. 3–10