According to a report prepared by members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), violations of freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of association and other basic human rights are still rampant following the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in Tunisia in November 2005.
The report, entitled "Deception and Lies: Freedom of Expression in Tunisia Remains under Siege Six Months After the WSIS", is based on findings of the fifth IFEX-TMG mission to Tunisia undertaken from 18 to 22 April 2006.
The mission was composed of one representative each from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo), the World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC).
The principle findings of the mission were:
- The continuation of the imprisonment of individuals related to expression of their opinions or media activities.
- Blocking of websites, including news and information websites.
- Restrictions on the freedom of association, including the right of organisations to be legally established, and to hold meetings.
- Restrictions on the freedom of movement of human rights defenders and political dissidents together with political police surveillance, harassment, and intimidation.
- Press self-censorship and lack of diversity of content in the media, especially in the state-owned papers, radio and TV stations.
- Attempts to smear the reputations of activists, which are unlawful actions that are not being investigated.
- Official harassment of attorneys and judges who press for independence of the judiciary.
- Censorship of books through the legal submission procedure.
In light of recent escalating attacks against Tunisian activists and independent voices, members of the IFEX-TMG are concerned that the situation of freedom of expression and other related rights remain far below international norms and conventions to which Tunisia is a signatory.
Members of the IFEX-TMG thus urge Tunisian authorities to immediately release all prisoners of opinion, in particular Mohammed Abbou, and to terminate all forms of harassment perpetrated against activists and former prisoners of opinion. Members of the IFEX-TMG also recommend the Tunisian government to stop censoring books and blocking websites and Internet communications.
Members of the IFEX-TMG call upon the international community to work on revealing violations taking place in Tunisia and to pressure the Tunisian government to abide by its international obligations.
To download the full report, visit:
http://campaigns.ifex.org/tmg (English),
http://campaigns.ifex.org/tmg/fr_index.html (French) and
http://hrinfo.net/ifex/wsis (Arabic).
Members of the TMG are:
Arabic Human Rights Information Network (HRinfo), Egypt
ARTICLE 19, UK
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), Canada
Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), Egypt
Index on Censorship, UK
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Belgium
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA),
The Netherlands
International Publishers' Association (IPA), Switzerland
Journaliste en danger (JED), Democratic Republic of Congo
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Namibia
Norwegian PEN, Norway
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), Canada
World Association of Newspapers (WAN), France
World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), USA
Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC), UK
