Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Participating at UN World Summit on the Information Society

(Washington, DC) Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the oldest, largest and most diverse civil and human rights coalition in the United States, issued the following statement today regarding LCCR’s participation at the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) taking place this week in Geneva, Switzerland.

“The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) represents a unique opportunity for governments, industry and public interest organizations from all over the world to build a framework of cooperation to ensure the Information Society benefits us all.” Henderson continued, “As the deliberations continue to produce a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action, it is critical that organizations representing the public interest, and civil rights in particular, play a meaningful role in the process.”

The Geneva meeting is the first of three meetings leading up to the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) scheduled for 2003 in Geneva and 2005 in Tunis. Background information on the WSIS can be found at www.itu.int/wsis.

Representing LCCR at the meeting are Mark Lloyd, Board Member of the Leadership Conference Education Fund (LCEF), LCCR’s education arm and Brian Komar, Director of Strategic Affairs at LCCR and LCEF.

Mr. Lloyd stated, “The U.S. civil rights community has a long-standing tradition of advocating for public polices to address continuing problems of inequality. We bring a unique perspective to a summit focused on eliminating information inequality within nations and around the world.”



Mr. Komar added, “Just as government has played a leadership role in supporting policies and programs to promote equal opportunity, so too can and should the federal government play a leadership role in expanding equal opportunity in the Information Age. We look forward to working with governments, industry and public interest representatives from across the world to guard against the expansion of fault lines that continue to isolate people in the United States and around the world from the new economy and society in general.”

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The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) is the oldest, largest and most diverse civil and human rights coalition in the United States, comprised of over 180 national organizations representing people of color, women, children, labor unions, individuals with disabilities, older Americans, major religious groups, gays and lesbians, and civil liberties and human rights organizations. Over 50 million individuals belong to LCCR’s member organizations. For more information, visit www.civilrights.org.