ANNEX III

1997 DAKAR DECLARATION ON

THE INTERNET AND THE AFRICAN MEDIA

On 7-10 July 1997 the London-based Panos Institute and the Panafrican News Agency organized a seminar entitled The Internet: An Opportunity for the African Media?, held in Dakar (Senegal). The objectives of the seminar were to provide information and sensitize African media about the professional advantages and constraints in using the Internet. It also aimed to provide a forum for exchanging experiences and lessons on using the Internet in Africa, and to propose ways of overcoming obstacles to African media in obtaining and using the technology.

Some 50 people participated in the seminar from 19 countries in West, Central and Southern Africa and from France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and the United States. They included representatives of government, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions and news organizations.

Panel discussions addressed, among other themes, the Internet in Africa; problems and prospects of African media and the Internet; and the development and democratization of the Internet. Participants also released the Dakar Declaration on the Internet and the African Media, which is reproduced below.

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Dakar Declaration on the Internet and the African Media

“We, the participants in the seminar held July 7-10, 1997 in Dakar, Senegal, representing media organisations, non-governmental organisations and educational institutions from 19 countries in West, Central and Southern Africa, from Europe and the United States of America;

Reflecting on other initiatives promoting information pluralism and freedom of the press in Africa, such as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the Windhoek Declaration;

Recognising the role that new information and communication technologies can play in creating pluralistic news sources to foster a climate favourable towards democracy and development;

Considering the various initiatives of the United Nations agencies and of the international community to assist in the development of the Internet in Africa;

Noting that economic, political and legislative constraints still hinder the use of information technologies in Africa, but mindful of the rapid speed of connectivity of both media and civil society organisations throughout the continent;

We, the participants accordingly declare:

A culture of online communications should be encouraged and Internet access and use promoted.

Exchanges and cooperation on joint projects between different organisations of Internet users and regional groupings of such organisations should be facilitated so as to ensure a significant African presence and African content on the Internet.

Research projects on the developments of information technologies in Africa should be launched in the perspective of providing information to media organisations and academic institutions.

Training institutions should be encouraged and supported to include training on information technology in their curriculums.

Donors from the public-sector agencies of bilateral and multilateral cooperation—as well as from the private sector—should be sensitized to the critical impact that the Internet and other new information and communication technologies can have on the social, economic and political future of Africa.

Donors should be called to support the implementation of projects based on the use of the Internet and of other information and communication technologies to promote democracy, social and economic development.

African media organisations and non-governmental organisations should however dedicate their own resources to such projects and be mindful not to be solely dependent on outside funding.

The following projects should be initiated as soon as possible:

--            An electronic directory of African journalists;

--            A guide to Internet use;

--            An Africa-focused Internet search tool;

--            A pilot project for exchange of digital audio files;

--            A workshop on digital broadcasting in Africa;

--            An African media web site;

--            Electronic discussion forums on African media issues;

--            Model Internet press centres in two poorly-connected countries;

--            An award to encourage journalists to use the Internet to promote democratic and progressist ideals.

The Panos Institute and the Pan African News Agency (Pana) should identify funding sources, assist in proposal development and implementation of the above mentioned projects.

We, the participants call on African Governments to instill an environment conducive to the rapid development of the Internet and other information and communication technologies. We consider any absence of connectivity not related to technical problems as hindrances to the development of democracy.

We call on the African media, non-governmental organisations and all parties interested in the plurality and freedom of press in Africa as well as on the democratic development of Africa to lobby African governments on the critical impact of the Internet and the necessity for supportive legislation and fiscal policies.

We support and encourage the emergence and development of the Internet in Africa as a media free of government interference and control in the context of a pluralistic and independent press.”

Voices from Africa no. 9