LONDON: A group of human rights organisations have expressed grave concern over continuing denial of freedom for media groups and civil society in Tunisia. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Rights and Democracy, and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) expressed their concern over “the capacity or the willingness of the Tunisian authorities to respect their obligations under international law” ahead of the World Summit on Information society to be held in Tunis in November this year.

The report points to numerous practices of arbitrary detention, manhandling, judicial harassment of human rights defenders and their organisations, systematic repression of freedom of expression and association, and censorship and the control of the Internet. The report follows an attempt by the human rights groups to engage with the Tunisian authorities over freedom issues. “We asked three international experts to engage in a dialogue with the Tunisian authorities,” Antoine Madelin, secretary for the mission told IPS.

The report addresses both rights issues to come up at the summit, and the continuing issues Tunisian civil society faces. “It is up to the Tunisian authorities now to make the right efforts so that the summit takes place in the proper atmosphere,” Madelin said. “We are concerned both about the summit, and in general how the information society is being developed in Tunisia.” Tunisian authorities have over the past year given several assurances that they have lifted curbs on independent websites. “Despite their reassurances, it is not the case that they have lifted curbs; a lot of websites are still being censored,” Madelin said. “These include websites of Tunisian origin and also international websites. This very report is not accessible over the Internet in Tunisia.”

There is a clear atmosphere of repression, he said. “We are trying to engage with the Tunisian authorities, but there is some dissatisfaction with the way they are responding to our efforts. We remain concerned about the capacity of all of Tunisian civil society to participate in the summit, we fear that there are some groups that will not be able to participate.” Repression against lawyers also continues. “One lawyer was convicted last week for three and a half years for publishing information on torture cases, and another was sentenced to four months imprisonment for defending the first,” Madelin said.

But there is nevertheless some move forward, he said. “We wouldn’t say that all of our recommendations have not been taken into account,” he said. “The mere fact that our team could go there and come back is a sign of progress. Our team will return to Tunisia in September to make a final evaluation, to see what Tunisia has done, and judge progress.”

The three NGOs called upon Tunisian authorities to take several steps between now and the summit. Among these it listed the following:

—- To give legal recognition to all human rights NGOs that are not yet recognised, to drop all legal proceedings against them or against their members, and so to establish freedom of association in Tunisia on a lasting and permanent basis;

—- To allow free circulation of information, in particular accessibility to websites with a political or human rights content;

—- To allow all human rights organisations wishing to visit Tunisia in order to carry out independent and impartial enquiries, to do so. —Dawn/IPS News Service