The theme of the 2012 World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (WTISD) will be “Women and Girls in ICT” .
The NGO CSW Geneva welcomes this initiative and fully supports the ITU Secretary-General’s Call for Action:
“Women are the bedrock of our societies. They are the pillars of strength in every family and community. Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched. Women and girls are denied access to basic health care and education and to equal opportunities at work. They face segregation in economic, political and social decision-making and often suffer violence and discrimination. […]
Gender equality is a basic human right enshrined in the UN Charter, and it is one of the main objectives of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). ICTs are tools that can help accelerate progress towards achieving this target, and it is for this reason that ITU Council proposed that we focus our efforts this year on women and girls, using the power of ICTs to provide new digital opportunities to end discrimination and empower the female half of the world’s population to achieve their rightful place as equals in the world. […]
ITU calls upon Member States, Sector Members and Associates as well as academia and citizens’ groups to pull together every conceivable resource to ensure that women and girls in every community around the world have full access to ICTs in order to empower them with information and knowledge, to know their rights, and to seize the digital opportunities available.”
The full statement is on www.itu.int/en/wtisd/2012/Documents/circular-letter.pdf.
Please see also the message from UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, on http://www.itu.int/en/wtisd/2012/Pages/ki-moon.aspx.
More information on the WTISD can be found on www.itu.int/en/wtisd/Pages/default.aspx.