Globalization and ICT Divide (digital divide) Remarkable advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have led people to utter the phrase "ICT will change the world" more frequently.  Information instantaneously crossing borders has enabled everyone around the world to acquire intellectual, economic and spiritual wealth. The origin of the term "globalization" now in fashion is largely due to the recent progress in ICT.  The United Nations (UN) predicted such a phenomena over two decades ago. 

     The 64th UN General Assembly -convened in 1981- adopted the Resolution (36/40) declaring that "telecommunications technology is vital for developing countries to catch up with others" and thereby brought the attention of all parties involved on this issue. This led to the acknowledgement at the 1982 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Nairobi that "communications infrastructures are one of indispensable factors in achieving socioeconomic development in all countries." 

     It was under such circumstances that the sentiment addressing the need for further efforts on Japan's part gathered momentum.  Volunteers sharing the same enthusiasm to provide support to developing countries on a non-governmental basis gathered together, including people in the Japanese ICT sector such as former NTT executives, and established a voluntary organization called the "Basic Human Needs Association" in 1992. The association was designated in 1997 as a non-profit organization (NPO) and renamed "the BHN Association."  

　 Information and Communications Save Lives. The Association’s activities are categorized into these areas: providing communications technology-related support to medical facilities, ii) providing emergency relief to war refugees and victims of earthquake or other natural disasters, and iii) training people in the communications sector, mainly in Asian developing countries. 

　  Its support to medical facilities, based upon the tie-in of communications technology and medical practices, began with the construction of a microwave network connecting Moscow and Chernobyl, as part of the relief efforts for the victims of Chernobyl nuclear accident. From then on, the Association offered similar support in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Malaysia and other areas, including installation of PBX in hospitals, construction of wireless networks connecting clinics having no fixed telephone system, and installation of tele-diagnosis systems linking well-equipped city hospitals and those in rural areas lacking medical equipment. Introduction of wireless networks to rural areas, which gave local people easy access to a means of communications, not only helped protect their lives, but also relieved people, who were living in very remote areas with hardly any roads, from the sense of isolation. The Association unexpectedly received a positive response from people in Laos stating that a single radio communications device brought them a ray of hope for the future. The Association also received a report that the communications infrastructure installed by it helped to prevent a cholera outbreak through the quick dissemination of warnings. 

　   As emergency relief efforts, the Association has so far conducted relief activities in 11 countries, including India, Afghanistan, Jordan (Iraq), Iran, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Pakistan. People in disaster-stricken areas or refugee camps generally have no access to information and are leading their lives with a sense of insecurity. The Association has been conducting relief activities catering to the specific needs of such affected areas, for instance free-of-charge telephone services, installation of radio communications systems, construction of FM radio broadcasting stations and distribution of radio equipment. A person in an Afghan refugee camp expressed how thankful he was for free-of-charge telephone services, saying that he felt as if he had not been hungry because of the overwhelming happiness of having been able to contact his family again. 

　   As part of its human resources development initiative, the Association has been conducting annually the "BHN Human Resources Development Program" over the past eight years. The aim of the Program is to provide the next generation of Asian leaders with an opportunity to build up friendship and trust with other participants, while learning the world's most advanced technology from Japan.  From five years ago, the Association has been hosting training courses in Japan and Malaysia as part of the Program, in cooperation with the Multimedia University of Malaysia. 58 trainees in total have completed the training courses.

　   The Association's relief efforts in Afghanistan have shifted from emergency support to a recovery initiative. The Association is now providing training courses on ICT and radio communications technology, etc., and extending technical support for a direct dialogue project linking Afghanis with Japanese children via satellite TV conferencing systems.   

　   Towards Narrowing of ICT Divide Over nearly a quarter century since the adoption of the abovementioned Resolution of the UN General Assembly, the telephone diffusion rate and the number of the Internet users have increased dramatically. However, this increase has been largely due to wealthy "haves" who could afford mobile telephones and other high-tech devices, while the circumstances surrounding "have-nots" have remained unchanged. Furthermore, with circumstances worsening for the have-nots, the economic gap between the haves and the have-nots has been widening. 

　   At the inception of the Association, there were 800 million telephone sets installed around the world, with 90% of them in developed countries that accounted for 15% of the world population. In 2003 the number of telephone sets worldwide surpassed the 3 billion mark, with less than 50% of them installed in developed countries. In terms of these figures, the digital divide between the northern and southern hemispheres is seemingly narrowing. However, in fact, 95% of the Internet users are in developed countries. Even in developing countries, most users of such technologies are those living in urban cities. 

　   There is telltale evidence that out of 200 radio communications devices installed six years ago by the Association in clinics in Laos, only four have been replaced with telephone systems. 

　   Addressing the problem of poverty in developing countries, the UN adopted the "United Nations' Millennium Declaration" in September 2000 at its Millennium Summit, as the goal of the 21st century that the international community shall strive for. At the same time, the UN clearly indicated the direction to be taken from then on, by combining all the goals adopted in the past into the "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)." The MDGs is a common framework aimed at reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty by half. 

　   The Association also regards its activities as part of the MDGs.  In particular, the Association intends to contribute to the MDGs' achievement, by engaging in such activities as to lower the death rate of infant, to prevent the epidemic of infectious or other types of diseases and to provide the benefits of new ICT to medical facilities, under its slogan of "installing communications systems into every hospital." 

　   Since the last five or ten years, there have been such news reports that poor people in Asia or Africa walked across a border into a wealthier country. Such sad events were occurring when people in wealthy countries were checking what was inside the refrigerator using their mobile telephones, thinking about their dinner menu. 

　   MMe. Sadako OGATA , former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, this year addressed the people involved in Japan's telecommunications sector, saying "How can we overcome this apparently existing digital divide? How can we lower or remove this watershed? How can we ensure everyone on the globe equal access to information and communications networks? These are huge problems we need to address. I ask for your further efforts in offering international support utilizing ICT to developing countries, refugees and evacuees, with the aim of enabling such refugees, evacuees and people in poverty to lead much more secure and affluent lives." 

　   The Association intends to carry on its activities as long as there are people on this globe who are desperately in need of its support. Its activities will continue to aim at better catering to basic human needs of developing countries and at narrowing the ICT divide, with use of its accumulated technique and know-how in the fields of information, communications and medicine. It would be a great honor for the Association if it could contribute somehow to the establishment of a new world set-up, which does not tolerate any poverty or conflict.