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Media and ICT Caucus Statement at the Asia-Pacific High-Level Meeting on Beijing + 10

in

By Media and ICT Caucus

Bangkok, Thailand, Jul 16

Media and ICT Caucus, APNGO Forum] - The Media and ICT Caucus wish to state from the outset our reaffirmation of the commitments of the BPFA and the Cairo Programme of Action, and their Plus 5 documents.

The BPFA is a milestone document that acknowledged the need for greater recognition and relevant strategies by all stakeholders to accelerate the advancement of women through a diverse range of media forms in its Women and Media Section (Section J). It further notes the under-representation of women in decision-making positions in the media and information and communication technologies (ICT), and the lack of gender sensitivity within media organizations.

It also calls for the need to eliminate negative, degrading and stereotypical images of women in the media, in order to reflect the realities and diversities of women’s lives and contributions to society.

Despite these Section J provisions, negative and stereotypical women’s images are still very common in the media. Women media practitioners are still denied the opportunities to advance to decision making positions within media organizations. Women continue to experience discrimination in various forms. The same pattern exists in the ICT spaces.

Since 1995, media have become more and more commercialised and globalized. Most public service media have also started operating as commercial media enterprises.

Another major development that has taken place after 1995 is the rapid growth of the new information and communication technologies. It has dramatically changed the ways by which media production and distribution take place. It has enabled women’s media, information and communication groups to advocate on critical issues such as the plight of women in armed conflict situations, the challenges they face in their conflict prevention and peacebuilding work, and the risks women human right defenders confront.

The World Summit on the Information Society recognises the importance of new ICT in development. However, an equitable and inclusive ‘Information Society’ must be based on the principles of gender equality, non-discrimination and women's empowerment as contained in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the CEDAW Convention.

We would like to draw the attention of delegates to the opportunities that community and independent media provides women that enable them to participate in media production and decision-making in the media. We also wish to underscore that women’s active involvement in the media ensures diversity and plurality of views and allows women’s and people’s organisations to promote the goals of gender equality.

Community and independent media are therefore enabling and relevant mechanisms that can address emerging issues highlighted in this conference. They provide avenues for dialogue with civil society organisations as well as governments on development and other issues that impact on their lives. However, many governments in the Asia-Pacific region have yet to recognise the crucial role and the potentials of community and independent media.

We therefore recommend that:

*Governments create more responsive regulatory frameworks to support all forms of community and independent media, and in particular community broadcasting.

*Universal Access is ensured to all women and men, communities and nations to ensure the right to access and effectively use the information and knowledge they need to address their development concerns.

*Governance and ICT Policies must enable full and equal participation of women. A gender perspective must be incorporated by all stakeholders involved in the process of planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating national ICT plans and programs.

*Historical patterns of gender segregation in employment within the ICT sector be countered.

*All stakeholders promote the maintenance and growth of the common wealth of human knowledge as a means of reducing global inequality and of providing the conditions for intellectual creativity and sustainable development.

*Policy and regulatory frameworks to address the use of the internet be developed inclusively and transparently with all stakeholders, particularly women, and be based on the international human rights framework encompassing rights related to privacy and confidentiality, freedom of expression and opinion and other related rights.

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls on behalf of the Media and ICT Caucus

World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)/Women’s International Network (WIN)
Isis International-Manila
FemLink Pacific
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
Antenna Foundation Nepal
Sancharika Samuha