Plenipotentiary Conference Research Articles

Resolution for Pandemics Approved by the International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference [Past Related Activities and Future Challenges

The ITU adopted a new resolution at its PP Conference held in 2022 in Bucharest, Romania to utilize ICT to combat pandemics and new infectious diseases. In this paper, we have investigated infectious disease-related contributions and declarations at the ITU-D up to the most recent resolution for pandemics, pointed out issues, and offered a concrete outlook. We are pleased that the new resolution on pandemics has been issued, but the specific details regarding infection detection, efforts to prevent infection (PP-22 Resolution 215), and technology content remain insufficient. The risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza infection and the global spread of Ebola virus disease cannot be eliminated. ICT plays a major role in social infrastructure, and its use in health care is rapidly expanding into fields of application. At the next PP Conference, we would like to request that ITU begin to focus on saving more lives by making full use of AI and ICT technology.

Report of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (PP-22)

Report of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (PP-22)

Results of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference 2018

Results of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference 2018

International Telecommunication Union — 150 years of history: adaptation to change and the opportunity for reform

Through its history the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has witnessed great inventions and has played an active role in the technology development that has been shaping the world of telecommunications. The ITU milestones are numerous. One of them is of particular importance because it symbolizes better than any other the need for harmonious worldwide development and desire for universal cooperation. It was established at the Atlantic City conference in 1947 when the entry of ITU into the United Nations (UN) family as a Specialized Agency for Telecommunications was decided. By the end of the 1980s the technology evolution and fresh regulatory dynamism announced global changes in the national and international telecommunication environment and consequently in the role of the ITU Constituencies. For different reasons, the Union has not adapted itself with sufficient speed to these processes and over the years the technical spirit of the Atlantic City conference has been weakening and political debates have been installed instead. Performance of the ITU mission has been suffering due to its increasingly weaker leadership and inefficient governing bodies. The most recent ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, held in Busan in 2014, was facing the challenge to address the need for reforms in order to ensure the sustainability of the Union into the future and reinforce its status as an advocate of global technical excellence. Unfortunately, the need for reform was not specifically recognized and reflected in the Objectives enunciated in the Strategic Plan for the Union for the period 2016-2019, and any reorganization of the structure and functioning of the Union, currently recognized as being archaic and conservative, was left in abeyance. The analysis made and the conclusions reached in this paper may assist future high-level discussions on the subject matter and may facilitate an early promotion of the ITU Reform Policies. The reform guidelines offered herein may also further reinforce the views of those Member States that are sincerely concerned and interested in creating a new paradigm for a better future of their Union.

International telecommunication union - Challenges for the plenipotentiary 2014 - The time for change

ITU is the oldest intergovernmental and world telecommunication organization and UN specialized agency for telecommunications. Its federal structure is historic property from those days when the political environment imposed it over any other, possibly more rational model. Together with the Union?s membership segmentation into five (5) politico/geographical zones (in 1947), the ?federalism? was fixed for several decades. It was perfect reflection of the emerging new world order as well as defense of strategic national interests. In the 90s, the political environment changed together with the telecommunication environment and the client? needs ? the Member States recognized it but it was too early to replace the archaic federalism with healthy pragmatism! The organizational reforms were put on ?standby.? With technology convergence and the need for streamlining the creative potential, the federal mechanism has become less appropriate and less responsive. The tension between the political and technical part of the ITU has led to regression of its credibility and loss of preeminence. Some Governments of Member States have noted that they are no more the leading architect of the ICT future. The political wisdom and courage are necessary to review the ITU corporate activities and to open debate on constitutional changes at the first next Plenipotentiary Conference in 2014 (Busan, Korea). It will be important in the future to preserve balance of interests contrary to the balance of power. Governments and non-governmental entities ? sector members ? should find in ITU a Forum where the national telecommunication policies get their international recognition.

Separated Together: The International Telecommunications Union and Civil Society

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is embarking on a cautious discovery mission to civil society. Presently, the organization’s interface with civil society is governed by different regimes depending on whether ITU is acting within its incumbent competences or as organizer and stakeholder of the WSIS. This paper concentrates on ITU’s incumbent competences in international spectrum management and standards-setting with its inherent public policy formulations. The central question to be addressed is how the organization will reconcile its membership and corporate culture with the effective participation of stakeholders from civil society. The paper analyses a study process, which ITU initiated with Resolution 141 of the Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, on the participation of all relevant stakeholders in the activities of the ITU emanating from the WSIS. This contribution will refocus global governance research on the valid claim for full recognition of civil society actors in ITU’s core activities. It will be shown, that the process in fulfilment of Resolution 141 is falling behind this goal because of the limited mandate of the study and the procedural rules applied. The outlook will present several scenarios on how ITU could resolve the process and places them in the context with the WSIS procedural principles of transparency and participatory inclusiveness.

Open doors and open questions: interpreting the results of the 1998 ITU Minneapolis Plenipotentiary Conference

The 1998 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-98 in ITU jargon) took place in Minneapolis from 12 October to 6 November. As well as electing a new team of officials to lead the organization and establishing a financial envelope for the next four years, PP-98 faced two main issues. The first was to conclude the work begun at the 1992 Geneva Additional Plenipotentiary Conference by amending the ITU Constitution to give greater rights and responsibilities to the ITU’s private sector members. The second was to adopt strategic policies and plans to guide the Union into the 21st century. After first situating the Minneapolis conference in the context of the ITU’s unique organizational structure, culture and working methods, the paper describes the main results of the Minneapolis conference with respect to these two issues. It highlights constitutional amendments made which open the ITU to greater participation by the private sector, as well as to give non-governmental actors a greater role in providing advice and making decisions on technical issues. The paper then outlines the five strategies adopted by the conference to guide the activities of the Union in the next four years. In conclusion, it attempts to assess the principal challenges facing the ITU in terms of policy and organizational development.

Should the UK play the ITU political game?

One of the consequences of the 1989 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference was the loss of the UK's seat on the Administrative Council. This article looks at the reasons why this occurred and suggests that, if it wishes to win back its seat, the UK will have to change the way it conducts its overseas telecommunications policy.

The International Telecommunication Union and its Legal Structure

At its recent Plenipotentiary Conference (Nice, May-June 1989) the ITU took steps to partially redress this legally imperfect structure. The paper attempts to outline these structural changes. After a brief description of the organizational structure of the ITU, attention will be given to international telecommunication convention the basic instrument, the Administrative Regulations, and the regime governing reservations in each case describing the present legal regime and the future regime, established at the Nice Plenipotentiary Conference.

THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION AT THE CROSSROADS

The authors were members of the Advisory Group of Experts on Telecommunications Policy whose report helped prepare for the Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU in Nice in June this year. This paper is based on the Group's report. It discusses the role of the ITU in the organisation of the world's telecommunications systems and suggests what changes will be required if the ITU is to be as influential in future telecommunications developments as it has been in the past. Particular attention is paid to the importance of information and computing technologies in modern telecommunications. While the ITU has begun to bridge the gulf between developed and developing countries in their approach to telecommunications, continuing insistence on secrecy in its deliberations may be an indication that the ITU has not yet come to terms with the difficulties it faces.

The changing nature of the ITU Plenipotentiary

The Plenipotentiary Conference is the supreme organ of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Since the Nairobi Plenipotentiary in 1982, there has been much debate about the role of the Plenipotentiary and even the future of the ITU in the continuing telecommunications revolution. This article explores the major attributes of the Plenipotentiary by comparing the Nairobi Conference with the five post-second world war Plenipotentiaries that preceded it. Criticisms are evaluated and suggestions for improvement are made.

ITU Plenipotentiary Conference and beyond: A case for serious foreign policy

The ITU Plenipotentiary Conference held in Nairobi in the Fall of 1982 was a significant international instrument for the conduct of telecommunication foreign policy. Growing demand for telecommunication services and products coupled with the economic and sociocultural impact of new technologies have resulted in greater global interest in the problems, issues and technical complexities of maintaining order in global telecommunication. A major theme of this article is that ITU deliberations and decisions are all part of the growing telecommunication foreign policy agenda and that the benefits of successful diplomancy are usually worth the costs of effective and coordinated domestic and international policy development.

The politics of relevance and the ITU

Ruben Näslund has done the telecommunications community a service by stimulating debate on the issues facing the ITU in the wake of the Nairobi Plenipotentiary Conference. The Nairobi Conference was important for both what was said and resolved and what was unsaid and unresolved. When sovereign nations meet for six weeks there is an interplay of emotions and perceptions which imperceptibly mould policy formulation well after the event. A Plenipotentiary Conference is a political event, however much the engineers, technicians and PTT administrators of the telecommunications community prefer or pretend that is not. The purpose of this article is to examine some of the outstanding ITU issues in light of certain basic facts which structure the interests of member countries.

ITU conference in Nairobi: Confrontation or mutual understanding?

This article discusses decisions taken at the Nairobi Plenipotentiary Conference on the technical cooperation activities of the International Telecommunication Union, and relates them to other important ITU activities. Proposals for a new regulatory framework for telecommunication services to be considered at the forthcoming World Administrative Telegraph and Telephone Conference are also examined.

The Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union, Nairobi, 1982 A Summary of Results

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International standards for telecommunications

As soon as telegraph and telephone services extended beyond local or national boundaries the need for coordination became imperative. It is not surprising that the International Telecommunications Union, the forum for world-wide cooperation, is the oldest of the inter-governmental agencies which now form the specialized agencies of the United Nations. Through the various levels at which it operates, from the plenipotentiary conference to the study groups and working parties of the consultative committees, the I.T.U. exercises a profound influence on the development and evolution of all branches of telecommunications. Increasingly, the distinction between international and national services is diminishing and all services are coming under the direct control of individual customers and often of their machines. Intervention by specially trained operators has to be exceptional. Simplification and standardization of terminals and procedure is essential. Other factors are operating outside the formal arena of the I.T.U. and influence the progress of standards. Manufacturing industry that looks to world markets is concerned that the purchasing specifications that define its markets should have basic compatibility; this concern is complemented by the purchasing authorities in countries without indigenous industry and who have to buy on world markets. Regional standardization may proceed faster and more deeply than world-wide standardization; this is evident in Europe where the Conference of European Telecommunications Administrations provides a natural forum and has undertaken a programme of ‘harmonization’ activity in cooperation with the Commission of the European Economic Community. Maintaining coherence between regional and world standardization will be an intricate but necessary task for the participants.

European Economic Community: Plenipotentiary Conference on the Community Patent

European Economic Community: Plenipotentiary Conference on the Community Patent

International Plenipotentiary Conference to Conclude an International Convention on Trade in Certain Species of Wildlife: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

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International Plenipotentiary Conference to Conclude an International Convention on Trade in Certain Species of Wildlife: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

International Plenipotentiary Conference to Conclude an International Convention on Trade in Certain Species of Wildlife: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

Agrarian Reform in Latin America

JUST a decade ago, was anathema through out most of the Western hemisphere. Only visionaries, revo lutionaries and a few staff members of international agencies paid it any heed. Latin American governments spurned it, and the U.S. Government ignored or disapproved of it. In the two countries where it had taken place, Mexico and Bolivia, it was the product of violent revolution. In i960 a government of the democratic Left in Venezuela fulfilled a long-standing campaign pledge by pushing through an agrarian reform law and pressing its application. From Cuba, Fidel Castro, professing his be a peasant movement, called upon the other hemispheric societies follow his revolutionary lead. The United States moved counteract his disrupting im pact throughout the two continents and, at a plenipotentiary con ference in i960, the Act of Bogot? was constituted, incorporating the call for reform and the promise of U.S. funds. Agrarian reform achieved full respectability at Punta del Este in August 1961. The delegates, many reluctantly, signed the declaration, which included a commitment to encourage... pro grams of comprehensive agrarian reform leading the effective transformation, where required, of unjust structures and systems of land tenure ...