[WSIS CS-Plenary] Fwd: HRW- Tunisia: Police Use Force to Block Rights Meeting

[Steve Buckley]

>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:HRWpress at hrw.org>Human Rights Watch
>To: <mailto:HRWpress at hrw.org>HRW Press
>Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 4:32 PM
>Subject: Tunisia: Police Use Force to Block Rights Meeting
>
>For Immediate Release:
>
>Tunisia: Police Use Force to Block Rights Meeting
>Government Brands Human Rights Group’s Gathering ‘Illegal’
>
>(Paris, December 14, 2004) — Tunisian police used force to block a human 
>rights gathering on Saturday, demonstrating once again the state’s 
>intolerance for independent human rights activities, Human Rights Watch 
>said today.
>
>On a day when Tunisia’s state-controlled newspapers headlined President 
>Zine al-`Abidine Bin `Ali’s achievements on the occasion of International 
>Human Rights Day (December 10), scores of police in Tunis surrounded the 
>headquarters of one of the country’s leading rights groups, the National 
>Council for Liberties in Tunisia (Conseil national pour les libertés en 
>Tunisie, or CNLT). Police blocked access to people hoping to attend the 
>organization’s general assembly, and also brutally assaulted two CNLT 
>members and another human rights defender.
>
>In recent years, Tunisian police have prevented independent human rights 
>gatherings on dozens of occasions, often using violence to disperse those 
>hoping to gain access to the building where the meeting was scheduled.
>
>The repression of human rights gatherings has occurred at a time when 
>banners around Tunis herald the U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the 
>Information Society (WSIS), which the city is hosting in November. The 
>summit is billed as a global discussion of the impact of the digital 
>revolution and how best to bridge the “digital divide” between rich and poor.
>
>“In hosting the U.N. summit on the information society, Tunisia wants to 
>be seen as a global leader in expanding access to information,” said Sarah 
>Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. 
>“But when it comes to its human rights record, the Tunisian government is 
>a leader in suppressing information.”
>
>In addition to preventing meetings of the CNLT, Tunisian authorities are 
>blocking local access to the organization’s website 
><http://welcome.to/cnlt>http://welcome.to/cnlt, as well to many other 
>websites that focus on human rights and politics in Tunisia. The official 
>and quasi-official media observe a complete blackout on the organization’s 
>activities and statements.
>
>A government official confirmed that police had prevented the December 11 
>gathering, saying the CNLT “is not a legal organization.” The official, 
>speaking anonymously to Agence France-Presse, denied that the police used 
>violence.
>
>Although Tunisia’s constitution guarantees freedom of association, 
>Tunisian authorities have refused legal recognition to every truly 
>independent human rights organization that has applied over the past 
>decade. In 1999, the CNLT appealed the refusal of its application by the 
>Interior Ministry, but five years later the administrative court has yet 
>to hear the case.
>
>In July, police in Tunis blocked another independent group, the 
>International Association for Solidarity with Political Prisoners 
>(Association internationale de solidarité avec les prisonniers politiques, 
>or AISPP), from holding its general assembly in its president’s law 
>office.  On June 15, authorities had denied the organization legal 
>recognition.
>
>In the case of two other rights organizations, authorities at the Interior 
>Ministry have refused even to accept the applications for legal 
>recognition by the Association against Torture (Association de lutte 
>contre la torture en Tunisie, or ALTT) and the Tunisian Center for an 
>Independent Judiciary (Centre Tunisien pour l’indépendance de la justice, 
>or CTIJ).
>
>Although legally recognized, the Tunisian Human Rights League (Ligue 
>tunisienne pour la défense des droits de l'homme, or LTDH) also faces 
>constant government harassment. On November 28, police massed in front of 
>the League’s office in Kairouan and set up roadblocks at the entrance of 
>the city to prevent people from reaching a conference on the recent 
>national elections. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that police 
>assaulted Hamma Hammami, head of the unrecognized Tunisian Communist 
>Workers Party, when he approached the League office. Tunisian officials 
>denied that any violence was used. One day before the thwarted meeting, 
>Interior Ministry officials in Kairouan had warned the League that the 
>meeting could not take place because its co-organizers included 
>representatives of unrecognized organizations.
>
>“Tunisian authorities boast that there are more than 8,000 legally 
>recognized associations in the country,” Whitson said. “But as long as the 
>government bans or harasses the handful of groups that dare to question 
>government policies, freedom of association cannot be said to exist in 
>Tunisia.”
>
>For further information, please contact:
>
>In New York, Sarah Leah Whitson (Arabic): +212-216-1230
>In Paris, Eric Goldstein (French): +33-145-406-251
>In London, Urmi Shah: +44-207-713-2788
>In Brussels, Vanessa Saenen (French, Dutch, German): +322-732-2009

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