The World Wide Web Foundation has joined hundreds of civil society organisations and campaign groups from around the world in calling for the next set of UN development goals to include access to information and freedom of expression. The statement includes 195 signatories from civil society organisations from 77 countries on all 5 continents.
The joint statement comes ahead of a meeting of the UN Open Working Group for Sustainable Development Goals, which takes place in New York this week – and will include further discussions on governance. Calling on the United Nations to put government accountability and independent media at the centre of a new framework for global development, the statement says:
‘Human development in the coming decades will depend on people’s access to information. Ground-breaking new media and technology are enabling major expansion of economic, social and political progress.
We believe that freedom of expression and access to independent media are essential to democratic and economic development. Freedom of speech and the media are means to advance human development and are ends in their own right.’
You call see the full statement and list of signatories at: http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/37435/en/post-2015:-access-to-information-and-independent-media-essential-to-development
agboola
February 11, 2014
This is a very good initiative
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Max
March 12, 2014
Following a report I have just read about the "web we want campaign" I feel very strongly in favour of its ideals. We are on the cusp of the biggest step in humanities cultural evolution and it is a step we must take for the betterment of all humanity.Humanities history has offen been scard with inequity, and the shear scale of online data connectivity could equate to horrendous misuses of power by governments and corporations.Sir Tim had two ideas that changed the world. The first was the creation of the idea of the interconnected world. The second was to give the ownership of the interconnected world to the people of the world. These ideas proclomate the best of human intentions. Without fear or greed, just the simple wish to connect. If we are to honour ourselves and others we must retain a platform of freedom in which both good and evil ideas can form, and allow our collective conscience to decide.Let us hope humanity is up to this task.Congratulation internet, 25 year. Please raise your glasses and be upstanding, all the best Max
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