The woman in the information society and the ethics of the information society

Event report

[Read more session reports from WSIS Forum 2017]

The session, moderated by Mr Massimo Mallegni (Mayor of Pietrasanta, Italy) featured discussions on how to conciliate a global ethics, promoted by the ICT, in favour of the recognition of the women’s rights.

In his introductory statement, Mallegni presented Pietrasanta and highlighted some ICT challenges, such as access and privacy. He then introduced Mr Maurizio Incerpi (Founder and Legal Representative of the APS ‘PFC – persona famiglia comunità’ and pro tempore consultant on cultural goods and cultural activities of the Municipal Administration of Pietrasanta).

In his speech, Incerpi made a comparison between the declaration of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing in September 1995, and two United Nations documents: Res. A / 70/1 from 25 September 2015, and Res. A / 70/125 from 16 December 2015. He said that the two UN documents were realistic regarding the difficulties involved with the implementation of ICTs, but above all, in relation to the conditions people find themselves in today and in the times to come. He highlighted point 27 of Res. A / 70/125 and made the following observations:

• the criteria of the analysis which showed that only 41% of women have access to the Internet has not been indicated ;
• it reaffirms objective 5 with reference to WSIS;
• it reaffirms the commitment to ensure the full participation of women in decision-making processes related to information and communications technologies;
• it mentions nothing about cloning, either human or other living beings;
• it mentions nothing about androids that can be adaptable to their applications for various civilian and military purposes as well as to support health conditions;
• it mentions ‘drones’ and other robotic systems that are increasingly being used not only by civilians and the military, but also for space exploration.

At the end of the session, Incerpi reaffirmed the importance of multilingualism, since the two resolutions explicitly refer to the need to respect human rights for people both online and  offline,  and that the two previous resolutions of the UN and the Charter of Fundamental Rights declare respect for cultural diversity.

by Nathalia Sautchuk Patrício