[WSIS CS-Plenary] statement by Media Caucus

[editor at it-telecomdigest.com]

Dear all,

The comment by the Media Caucus is apt; but it comes a bit too late.

Already the UN system, from Geneva, had decided who is and who is not a
journalist based on criteria just now thought up, which had never been there,
including asking for documentations that are outright unnecessary just so that
journalists, particularly of African origin, are kept away from the summit as
much as possible.

So, if the Tunisian authorities have acted in this way, they are only doing
the UN media accreditation unit's bidding.

Things were never nearly as bad as this in Geneva.

Many of us were there.

The idea is simple: they do not want an inclusive summit. So, whereas Yoshio
Utsumi calls it Summit of Solutions, they have all turned it into a summit of
problems - where exclusion is the word.

Mkpe Abang

Tracey Naughton <tracey at traceynaughton.com> wrote:

> Statement of the Civil Society Media Caucus
> 
> 14 October 2005
> 
> Civil Society’s Media Caucus at WSIS expresses its indignation over a  
> series of incidents in which Tunisian authorities have hampered the  
> freedom of expression of journalist and their freedom of association  
> as well as that of others attending the Tunis phase of the World  
> Summit on the Information Society.
> 
> In addition to problems involving denial of entry to Tunisia; the  
> following incidents have occurred in the days preceding the summit:
> 
> ·   Christophe Boltanski, a correspondent for the Paris daily  
> newspaper ‘Libération’, was beaten and stabbed and had his personal  
> effects stolen near his hotel in the embassy district. When he cried  
> for help, guards standing outside a nearby embassy did not intervene.  
> The attack took place a day after Libération published Boltanski's  
> report about clashes between police and activists protesting in  
> support of seven hunger strikers campaigning for the release of  
> political prisoners in Tunisia
> 
> 
> ·   Representatives of Tunisian and foreign media and human rights  
> organisations were prevented by a large number of Tunisian  
> plainclothes police from entering the Goethe Institute, the cultural  
> centre of the German Embassy in Tunis, for a meeting to plan events  
> parallel to the Summit.
> 
> 
> ·   A Belgian television cameraman approaching the Institute had his  
> camera seized by plainclothes police who forced themselves into the  
> TV crew’s vehicle. The camera was only returned after the film  
> cassette had been confiscated. The police stated that no pictures may  
> be taken in Tunisia without prior official authorisation and  
> prevented another reporter from taking photographs of the incident. A  
> Tunisian journalist approaching the site was beaten by police.
> 
> 
> ·   Various websites which have contained criticism of Tunisia are  
> available to the delegates at the official WSIS venue, but remain  
> blocked and censored in the rest of Tunisia.
> 
> 
> Such incidents call into question the seriousness of the Tunisian  
> government to allow full freedom of expression and association at the  
> WSIS.
> 
> The incidents show that prior concerns about the observance of human  
> rights in Tunisia have been justified, underlining the widespread  
> nature of official abuses in the country.
> 
> They also illustrate that concerns about holding a United Nations  
> Summit dealing with communication and freedom of expression in such a  
> country were justified.
> 
> To correct the situation the Tunisian government and the  
> International Communication Union as the relevant UN authority  
> organising the summit, must:
> 
> ·   Guarantee equal right to access information via the internet both  
> within and outside of the summit site.
> 
> ·   Guarantee that all journalists have the right to freely report in  
> Tunisia, without fear or intimidation.
> 
> ·   Guarantee that the international media and summit delegates have  
> the right to free movement and to meet with colleagues in the  
> Tunisian media and civil society, outside of the official summit  
> site, without threats or intimidation from the police or government  
> authorities.
> 
> ·   Ensure that Tunisian journalists and civil society members  
> meeting with the international community are not subject to  
> retribution and that free speech, press freedom and other human  
> rights are respected in Tunisia after Summit delegates have gone home.
> 
> 
> 
> Given the above incidents and the overall poor human rights record of
> Tunisia it seems to us that the UN system has contracted a moral  
> obligation to follow up. It should name a special rapporteur to  
> monitor freedom of expression and other human rights in Tunisia.