[WSIS CS-Plenary] Statement from Civil Society Organizations on Tunisia and WSIS

[Meryem Marzouki]

Please send individual organizations endorsements to: Rikke Frank 
Jorgensen: rfj at humanrights.dk
Thanks.

Le dimanche, 21 sep 2003, à 22:29 Europe/Paris, Rik Panganiban a écrit :

> Statement from Civil Society Organizations on Tunisia and WSIS
> www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/hr-wsis/petition-tunisia-en.html
>
> The civil society organizations present in Geneva for PrepCom 3 of the 
> World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) have learnt with stupor 
> and indignation of the appointment by Tunisian President Ben Ali of 
> General Habib Ammar as President of the preparatory committee of the 
> second phase of the Summit to be held in Tunisia in 2005.
>
> The signatory  organizations are already preoccupied by the decision 
> to hold the second phase of WSIS in a country known for its serious 
> violations of human rights and the rule of law. They consider that 
> naming this military man, a former Interior Ministry, who has been 
> denounced by the World Organization Against Torture for his 
> activities, presents a real risk of compromising the proceedings of 
> this Summit. This appointment has already tarnished the image of the 
> WSIS and risks undermining the legitimacy of its outcome.
>
> The civil society organizations consider that the two principal 
> objectives of the Summit, that is to say the struggle to overcome the 
> digital divide and the respect for human rights and fundamental 
> freedoms in the information and communication society, cannot be 
> dissociated from each other.
>
> Under point 11 of PrepCom3 agenda, we strongly urge that the Summit 
> organizers, including governments, to join in the growing 
> preoccupation of world opinion, so that the holding of the second 
> phase of the Summit in Tunis is subordinated to concrete signs by 
> Tunisia that it respects human rights and fundamental freedoms.
>
> We specially request the following :
> - the freeing of journalists and others held in prison for their 
> opinions in Tunisia
> - the appointment of a personality who is not the object of opprobrium 
> at the head of the organizing committee of the second phase of the 
> Summit
> - the commitment to allow all civil society representatives from 
> Tunisia and abroad to participate freely in the work of the Summit
>
> The signatory organizations will closely follow the responses of the 
> international community to these preoccupations.
>
> Statement proposed for signatures by the WSIS civil society Human 
> Rights Caucus
> www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/hr-wsis
>
> Press Contact in Geneva : Christine Ferrier, OMCT, cf at omct.org , Tél : 
> 00 41 22 809 49 39
> Send signatures to  Rikke Frank Jorgensen, DIHR, rfj at humanrights.dk
>
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