26 July 2003 - German Government Lauds Cooperation with Civil Society
24 July 2003 - Lessons Learned from "Intersessional Meeting" in Paris
23 July 2003 - Governments topple Communication Rights
18 July 2003 - Meeting ends with contested draft declaration
17 July 2003 - New Draft of Summit Declaration is Being Debated
16 July 2003 - WSIS drafting process proceeding slowly
16 July 2003 - ICANN or ITU? Civil Society debates Internet Governance
15 July 2003 - Civil Society member in German Government Delegation

What is it about?
From 15 to 18 July 2003, a working conference took place in Paris at the UNESCO. There, the draft summit declaration and the draft action plan were substantially being negotiated for the first time.
This conference was taking place between the normal meetings of the preparatory committee (PrepCom2 and 3) and is therefore called “Intersessional”. The background is a huge delay in the preparatory process that – five months to the summit itself – created the fear of not getting everything negotiated and agreed upon at PrepCom3 in September.
The Paris conference was open for observers, as were PrepCom1 and 2.Civil society, the private sector and international organisations had one hour every morning to explain their points of view and their priorities before the plenary. A number of civil society groups again were there in order to influence the negotiations with their own contributions, by lobbying or with the help of publicity.

Timetable including Civil Society Activities

Reporting from Paris
Our team of http://www.worldsummit2003.de/ wasl in Paris and reported on a daily basis.

There were also daily reports at http://www.prepcom.net/wsis, which is run by the Conference of NGOs with Consultative Status at the UN. (CONGO), and by the CRIS campaign at http://www.crisinfo.org/.

General Information on the „Intersessional“ Conference

Location
UNESCO
7 Place de Fontenoy
F- 75007 Paris

Rooms for Civil Society
At UNESCO
• Room 9 for the Civil Society Plenary sessions
• Rooms 14, 15 and 16 in the adjunct building
• Room A12 for the „Content and Themes“ drafting group
• Wi-Fi connectivity
For further reservations of rooms: Natasha Denissova, room 13, Tel. +33.1.45.68.13.27, or accreditation desk

At the French Ministry of Economics
Adress: 20 avenue de Ségur (very close to UNESCO):
• A room accomodating 30 people (room 7101) on July 15th and 16th
• A larger room to accomodate SC plenary participants (not confirmed).
• Wi-Fi connectivity

Intersessional Documents
All documents since PrepCom2
Draft of the summit declaration and the action plan (5 June 2003)
Reference Document with all contributions and comments (13 June 2003)
"Reading Guide" (shorter version for quick overview and orientation) (18 June 2003)
Outcomes: latest working documents (18 July 2003)

Contributions by civil society groups
• Contributions by accredited NGOs
• Contributions by non-accredited NGOs, civil society caucuses etc.
Civil Society Priorities Document for the Intersessional Conference (Draft, 10 July 2003)
Civil Society Priorities Document for the Intersessional Conference (final version, 12 July 2003)
All statements of civil society before the conference plenary