[WSIS CS-Plenary] Why WSIS-05 May Not Hold in Tunisia

[djilali benamrane]

Thanks for this analysis and proposals.
We discussed this item during the Geneva WSIS phase
with some participants, especially from Civile Society
and also from Tunisian Civile Society pro and against
the Tunisian Government.
Our conviction is : we don't help Tunisian People in
proposing to replace Tinis by another African Capitale
or ever else to held the phase WSIS 2005. It is the
best manner to stop any discussion regarding the
necessary promotion of the Democracy and free
expression in Tunisia.
We must gather our efforts to help the Tunisian people
to win the battle of the Democracy. Imagine if it was
decided to located the Summit in Algiers, Rabat, or
Ouagadougou or Bamako or Jobourg... All the medis will
concentrate their thinking out off Tunisia.
And why haven't discuss on the pertinence of Geneva as
the first phase of WSIS ? It has been demonstrated
that even Geneva was not the best model of Democracy
and free expression during the Summit ! and at that
time Geneva was not member of the United nations
Organization (even if it is the case now).
Let's mobilize our enegy and our discussions in
identifying condition to facilitate the organization
of the Summit in Tunis and we have 2 years to bring
support to the Tunisian people in order to make him
benefit of the Summit. If at the end of the process
things are not acceptable we can propose a counter
Summit somewhere.
Let's work with the Tunisian civile society in Tunisia
and out Tunisia and in Africa and let's leave to them
the leadership in the final decision on what are the
condition for accepting the Summit in Tunisia... Let's
try to discuss in French from time to time and so we
shall avoid the domination of English as we faced it
in Geneva. And please let's have more modesty in our
proposals.
Best regards
Djilali  
--- Ralf Bendrath <ralf.bendrath at sfb597.uni-bremen.de>
wrote:
> http://allafrica.com/stories/200401220684.html
> 
> Why WSIS-05 May Not Hold in Tunisia
> 
> Daily Champion (Lagos)
> January 22, 2004
> Remmy Nweke, Lagos
> 
> AS the campaign to cushion the lapses witnessed in
> the first-phase of
> World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) hots
> up, and the Tunisian
> Government warms up for the preparation of the
> second phase of WSIS in
> 2005, press freedom groups may scuttle the plans.
> 
> This is coming in the wake of alleged human rights
> and press freedom
> abuses by the government of Tunisia.
> 
> The Press Freedom groups under the aegis of World
> Association of
> Newspapers (WAN), Journaliste en danger (JED), along
> with World Press
> Freedom Committee, the Committee to Protect
> Journalists, Inter American
> Press Association, International Association of
> Broadcasting,
> International Federation of the Periodical Press,
> International Press
> Institute and the North American Broadcasters
> Association are urging
> summit organizers to cancel plans to hold the 2005
> follow-up summit in
> Tunisia.
> 
> According to them, "The second phase of the WSIS
> should not be held
> there because of the country's serious human rights
> abuses," a statement
> issued by the groups said.
> 
> "The Tunisian press is censored, journalists are
> jailed along with
> hundreds of other political prisoners, and
> organsiation of the Tunis
> summit has been assigned to a military general
> alleged to be responsible
> for the torture of political prisoners," the groups
> added.
> 
> They also called for the 2005 meeting to be either
> held in a country
> known for respecting press freedom or be put-off.
> 
> WAN which is leading the campaign, added that unless
> the Tunisian
> government improves its human rights records,
> holding WSIS-05 in the
> country would bring the WSIS process into
> disrepute.,This, the groups
> maintained would "completely undermine WSIS
> declaration's reaffirmation
> on the principles of free information and free
> expression".
> 
> Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last
> weekend, accused the
> Tunisian authorities of blocking the development of
> an independent press
> in the country after journalist Sihem Bensedrine
> failed in her attempt
> to register the weekly newspaper "Kalima".
> 
> Bensedrine was turned away when she tried to begin
> the registration
> process for the bilingual publication at the
> Interior Ministry's offices
> on 13 January 2004.,"This latest unsuccessful
> attempt to publish the
> newspaper 'Kalima' provides additional evidence of
> the Tunisian
> authorities' determination to keep the press under
> control," said RSF
> Secretary-General, Mr. Robert Ménard.
> 
> "President Ben Ali has publicly declared his support
> for freedom of
> information but deliberately prevents the creation
> of an independent
> press. Against this backdrop, the holding of the
> second phase of the
> World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis in
> 2005 is a scandal,"
> Ménard added.,This is the third time since 1999 that
> Bensedrine has
> attempted to file a "preliminary statement" for
> "Kalima" with the
> Interior Ministry. A home-produced version of the
> newspaper is currently
> published on an irregular basis and distributed
> unofficially. "Kalima"'s
> website, which is hosted abroad, continues to be
> blocked within Tunisia. 
> 
> Anticipating a setback at the ministry's offices,
> Bensedrine decided to
> invite witnesses to observe her request for
> registration. "Kalima"'s
> editorial committee, her lawyer, Member of
> Parliament Mokhtar Djalali
> and Tunisian Human Rights League President Mokhtar
> Trifi accompanied the
> journalist. 
> 
> She was once again able to show proof of President
> Zine el-Abidine Ben
> Ali's refusal to liberalise the press in Tunisia,
> RSF noted. On January
> 14, Bensedrine was subjected to a particularly
> thorough search at Tunis
> airport before boarding a flight to Germany, while a
> copy of "Kalima"
> was confiscated from her as well as three CD-ROMs
> containing personal
> data.
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=====
Djilali Benamrane : dbenamrane at yahoo.com
Tél/Fax : (331) 01 45 39 77 02 Paris - France
Page web sur l'Afrique et la globalisation : http://www.multimania.com/djilalibenamrane/
Groupe de discussion: http://www.egroups.com/list/afriqueglobalization

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