We, the representatives of the engineering and
technology community gathered in Tunis October 14-
16, 2003 as part of the preparatory process for the World
Summit on the Information Society by the World
Federation of Engineering Organizations, with the active
participation of representatives from :
- The Tunisian, Swiss and Senegalese governments ;
- The International Telecommunications Union ;
- UNESCO, the World Bank, the United Nations
Economic Commissions for Africa and western Asia,
The International Satellite Organization, the Technical
Park of Trieste, the World Innovation Foundation ;
have agreed upon the following principles :
- Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) offer enormous potential to generate and
distribute wealth and contribute to the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals and World
Summit for Sustainable Development Plan of Action.
- It is essential that the digital gap between the
« info rich » and the « info poor » be closed. The
digital gap contributes to the widening of the
economic gap and aggravates exclusion and
marginalization.
- We express our strong concerns regarding the
growing disparities of network access. The disparities
extend beyond the North-South and exist within
countries, between generations, and different social
classes.
- We are convinced of the potential importance of
the World Summit on the Information Society as a
forum for debating the issues and advancing viable
solutions by engaging the public/private sector in
partnerships.
- We emphasize the proven ability of innovation and
research-development to find solutions to problems
generated by the new Information Society.
- The development of technology must not be
guided solely by profit ; science, engineering and
technology must serve the needs of people.
- We affirm our determination to actively work as
partners to reduce the Digital Divide. Engineers are
on the front lines, their fundamental role is to adapt
science for the benefit of people, in particular the
poor.
- We affirm our vision of the Information Society : a
society which is open and inclusive promotes the
diffusion of knowledge and facilitates the sharing of
information. A society that values the development of
human beings above all else, one that respects cultural
and linguistic diversity.
- We call on governments to agree to commit
resources to create a vehicle for financing low
cost high speed network access that enables the
sharing of knowledge and technologies meeting basic
human needs for water, food, energy and health. We
also call for using the Solidarity Fund created by
United Nations in order to meet above mentioned
goals.
Carthage Declaration of WFEO on the Digital Divide
World Congress on the Digital Divide
Tunis, October 16, 2003