ICTs must support Cultural Diversity

Member States of the United Nations fail to include vital provisions for Indigenous Peoples in the WSIS outcomes

Mililani Trask, a Native Hawaiian lawyer, also a member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, having reviewed the final language coming out of the World Summit on the Information Society by member states of the UN noted "the deletion of vital provisions for Indigenous Peoples."

"If the economic information and digital divide is to be bridged, information and communication technologies must support true cultural diversity and preserve and promote the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples."

Ms. Trask said Indigenous Peoples must be granted the right to self-determination.