Statement from Civil Society Organizations on Tunisia and WSIS

[Rik Panganiban <rikp@bluewin.ch>]

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@omct.org , Tél : 
00 41 22 809 49 39
Send signatures to  Rikke Frank Jorgensen, DIHR, rfj@humanrights.dk