The Tunisian authorities prevented foreign and Tunisian associations, including Front Line, from holding a meeting to organize a “Citizens Summit” in parallel with the UN World Summit on Information Technology (WSIS) in Tunis on Monday 14th November. Front Line, together with other NGOs, cancelled planned parallel events in the main conference centre which should have been held on Tuesday 15th November as a protest against the activities of the Tunisian authorities and the ongoing harassment of Tunisian human rights defenders. Over fifty policemen, who refused to identify themselves, prevented NGO members from entering the German Cultural Centre in Tunis. They shoved the participants and pushed one to the ground. The Citizen’s Summit on Information Society official website has also been blocked in Tunisia and is only accessible from The WSIS Media Centre.

Andrew Anderson, Deputy Director of Front Line, one of the participants said: "It is outrageous that the Tunisian authorities are using these bullying tactics at a world summit. They are showing a visible contempt for freedom of association and assembly."

Since the earliest of times, Tunis has been an area of struggle, invaded by first the Phoenicians and later taken over by the Romans, who were in turn forced out by maurauding barbarian hordes that swept through Europe in the 5th century and were followed by Arab and Turkish empires.

Later, when the Allies under General Eisenhower landed in North Africa in November 1942, the Germans and Italians seized Tunis as an operations base for the forces of Rommel. The area was the scene of fierce fighting between the Germans and the Allies, until the Allied forces triumphed in 1943. Following the war, the struggle for independence from the French gained ground, leading to bloody clashes and the eventual declaration of a republic in 1957 with Habib Bourguiba as first president.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ousted Bourguiba in a bloodless coup on 7 November 1987, promising to lead the country toward democracy and releasing political prisoners. But after January 1992, President Ben Ali started using the civil war in neighbouring Algeria as an excuse to stifle basic rights, mainly freedom of expression, says the Tunisian Monitoring Group, a body of freedom of expression organisations set up to monitor the human rights situation in Tunisia in the lead up to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Opposition and independent papers were closed down and journalists and hundreds of political activists, most of them Islamists, were imprisoned following unfair trials, particularly in the early 1990s, says a TMG report.

Later, the Tunisian government used the attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, to further restrict freedom of association, movement, and expression. A new law criminalizing freedom of expression was passed at the end of 2003 allegedly to support “the international efforts in matters of the fight against terrorism and money laundering.” As reported by TMG, The Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) said after the promulgation of this law, “the year 2003 has been marked by the promulgation of laws of an unprecedented serious character in terms of their violation of the right to information.”

In the days leading up to the official opening of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis on Wednesday, the Tunisian authorities blocked plans to hold an alternative civil society forum, harassed human rights activists, confiscated cameras, insulted and beat people, shut down a website and disrupted meetings at the official summit venue.

(See French version below)

The fiasco over the human rights attitude of the Tunisian authorities peaked on Tuesday morning, when civil society organisations took the decision to cancel their parallel events in protest and as a show of solidarity with Tunisian civil society who, once the summit shuts down, will continue to bear the brunt of abuses by the Tunisian government. In explaining the decision to cancel events, one civil society activist said: “The Tunisian organisations feel incredibly emotional and they want a show of solidarity. We can show solidarity and draw attention to basic violations which are a contradiction of what the WSIS is trying to achieve.” Not all civil society organisations holding events abided by the protest, with some feeling that airing debates about the free flow of information that they had scheduled was more important than remaining silent.

The day before, representatives of international civil society organisations had tried to meet with their Tunisian counterparts in order to organize an unofficial parallel civil society event – a standard occurrence at large international summits designed to give a voice to those who cannot be a part of the official summit. Several attempts to secure a venue for the Citizens Summit on the Information Society had failed because booked venues had been cancelled, even when they had been pre-paid, said R. Jorgenson, co-chair of the WSIS human rights caucus.

The organisations involved had met on Monday to discuss what to do about the difficulty of securing a venue, but security police had prevented the Tunisian representatives from entering the venue where the meeting was taking place, at the Goethe Institute in Tunis. When the international representatives had joined their Tunisian colleagues outside, they were pushed and harassed. “All of us were pretty stressed and frightened,” said Jorgenson at a press briefing later, adding that: “We are supposed to be discussing how to empower people and yet we are not allowed to meet people to discuss the issues.” The Association of Progressive Communications (APC) reported on the incident as follows: “Omar Mestiri, Director of the online magazine Kalima (http://www.kalimatunisie.com) and a founder member of the National Council for Freedom in Tunisia (Conseil national pour les libertés en Tunisie - CNLT) was seized as soon as he arrived at the site for the meeting of the coordinating committee of the Citizens' Summit on the Information Society (CSIS). Bombarded with blows and insults, Mr. Mestiri kept calm, before he was able to break away from the group of plainclothes policemen.”

The website of the Citizen’s Summit on the Information Society was subsequently blocked by Tunisian authorities. Reports also circulated about a blogger having his camera confiscated by security guards after taking pictures during the registration process.

In a brief presentation held before a scheduled panel discussion entitled ‘Human Rights in the Information Society’ on Tuesday morning, civil society representatives described events that took place the day before as an attack on the right to assemble and speak freely and the subsequent blocking of the alternative summit website as “the cyber removal of the rights of people”.

Earlier reports by the Tunisian Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of free expression organisations, have repeatedly raised concerns about the imprisonment of individuals related to expression of their opinions, the blocking of websites, restrictions on freedom of association, restrictions on the freedom of movement of human rights defenders and political dissidents together with police surveillance, harassment, intimidation and interception of communications and the use of torture by the security services with impunity.

The group has called on the Tunisian government to release prisoners of conscience, end arbitrary detentions, end harassment and assaults on human rights activists, stop blocking websites, end censorship of books and newspapers, open up the press and broadcasting, respect freedom of movement, assembly and association, and allow independent investigation of alleged cases of torture.

As the summit kicks into gear the host government of Tunisia is showing no signs of recognising the contradictions between their repressive policies on freedom of expression and the essentially free flow of information on the internet. And so while thousands of delegates meet to discuss issues of internet governance and bridging the digital divide, freedom of expression activists that have angered the Tunisian government will remain behind bars.

These include Mohamed Abou, a founding member of the International Association for Solidarity with Political Prisoners and the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. He is currently serving a three-year prison sentence after publishing an article in February 2005 on the banned web site www.tunnisnews.com, which protested President Ben Ali’s invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Tunisia. According to a Human Rights Watch report launched Tuesday at the WSIS ‘False Freedom: Online Censorship in the Middle East and North Africa’, his wife says that: “When I see him, his clothes are full of the blood of bugs from his mattress.”

The Human Rights Watch report also documents the arrest of youths in different parts of the country, accusing them of planning to join jihidist movements and preparing terrorist attacks. “In most cases the convictions were based heavily on the statements given to the police that the defendants later contested – without success – on the grounds that they had been extracted through torture or through threats of torture.” But as one of the report’s authors noted at the launch, increased repression associated with the internet is not only a Tunisian phenomenon – it is also a trend in the countries of Syria, Egypt and Iran also covered by the report.

The right to association and freedom of expression are basic rights that repressive governments have long tried to quash. What’s different is that the internet allows for new forms of organisation and association, so its no surprise that governments will attempt to crack down on this area also. As Charlie Lewis, from the Link Centre at Wits University explains, email and the internet allow new ways of organizing and so a website of an NGO, for example, becomes a way that people associate with and a point around which organisations assemble. One of the ways in which governments violate that right to freedom of expression and association is therefore not only through physical means, but also by blocking websites, for example.

But it is not only the right to freedom of expression that is being directly violated in Tunisia. The information society is fuelling other abuses of human rights that mostly go unrecognized. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, there is evidence that the mining of coltan – used in a wide variety of electronic devices - has fuelled the war that according to some estimates has claimed 1.8 million lives since 1997. Another example can be found in the dumping of defunct computers and other electronic equipment in Africa, which creates an environmental hangover for the continent.

As the summit moves into the rubber stamping stage, the actions of the Tunisian authorities over the last few days have raised awareness about the links between human rights and the information society, and made clear the contradictions of holding an event to discuss how to open up the internet to all in a repressive environment.

UPDATE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris reports that French international television station TV5 Monde announced the withdrawal of a two-person team in Tunis because it had been "subjected to close surveillance."

"Since 11 November, a 'Libération' journalist has been beaten and stabbed, a crew with the Belgian television station RTBF has been attacked and now, to cap it all, two TV5 journalists have been harassed," the press freedom organisation said.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

Répression à Tunis et Sommet Mondial sur la Société de l’Information

Patrick Burnett

Dans les jours qui ont précédé l’ouverture officielle mercredi du Sommet mondial sur la société de l’information (SMSI) à Tunis, les autorités tunisiennes ont bloqué tout projet de tenue d’un forum parallèle de la société civile. On a vu des activistes des droits de l’homme harcelés, des caméras confisquées, des personnes insultées et battues, un site Internet fermé et des délégués réunis en plénière perturbés.

Ce fiasco, dû à la position des autorités tunisiennes sur les questions de droits de l’homme, a atteint son paroxysme lorsque certaines organisations de la société civile ont pris la décision d’annuler leurs événements parallèles en guise de protestation et pour montrer leur solidarité avec le la société civile tunisienne qui, dès la fermeture du sommet, aura encore à supporter les abus du gouvernement tunisien. Suite à cette décision d’annuler les événements, un activiste de la société civile a déclaré : « Les ONG tunisiennes sont dans tous leurs états et ont besoin de solidarité. Nous pouvons faire montre de solidarité et attirer l’attention sur les violations qui sont contraires à l’esprit et aux objectifs du SMSI. » Toutefois, ce ne sont pas toutes les organisations de la société civile qui ont adhéré à ce mouvement. Certaines ont en effet jugé qu’il était nécessaire de tenir les débats sur la libre circulation de l’information, comme prévus, au lieu de rester silencieux.

Le jour précédent, des représentants des organisations de la société civile internationale avait essayé de rencontrer leurs homologues tunisiens en vue d’organiser un événement parallèle non officiel - ce qui est une pratique très courante lors des grands sommets mondiaux qui a pour but de donner une voix à ceux qui n’ont pas le luxe de prendre part au sommet officiel. Selon R. Jorgenson, co-président du caucus des droits de l’homme au SMSI, les organisateurs du Sommet des citoyens sur la société de l’information n’avaient pas pu trouver, malgré moult tentatives, un lieu de rencontre du fait de l’annulation de tous les événements prévus et des lieux où ils devaient se tenir, même ceux qui ont été payés d’avance.

Les organisations impliquées s’étaient rencontrées le lundi pour discuter des moyens de trouver un lieu de rencontre, mais la police tunisienne avait empêché les représentants tunisiens d’entrer dans la salle où la réunion devait se tenir, à l’Institut Goethe de Tunis. Quand les délégués internationaux avaient rejoint leurs collègues tunisiens dehors, ils ont été repoussés et harcelés. « Nous étions tous très stressés et avions peur, » a plus tard déclaré Jorgenson lors d’une conférence de presse. Il a aussi ajouté qu’ils étaient supposés discuter de voies et moyens de responsabiliser les gens, mais qu’on les avait empêché de les rencontrer pour parler de tout cela. Voici comment l’Association pour le progrès des communications (APC) en relate les faits:

« Omar Mesri, Directeur du magazine en ligne Kalima (www.kalimatunisie.com) et membre fondateur du Conseil nationale pour les libertés en Tunisie (CNTL), s’est vu empoigné dès son arrivée au lieu où devait se tenir la réunion du comité de coordination du Sommet des citoyens sur la société de l’information (SCSI). M. Mesri est resté calme, même après s’être fait rouer de coups et arroser d’insultes, et a pu s’éloigner du groupe d’ « hommes en tenue » qui l’a malmené. »

Les autorités tunisiennes ont par la suite bloqué l’accès au site Internet du Sommet des citoyens sur la société de l’information. On raconte également que la caméra d’un bloggeur a été confisquée par les gardes après qu’il avait pris des photos lors de l’inscription à l’entrée.

Dans une brève présentation tenue mardi en amont de la discussion autour d’un panel au programme sur la question des droits de l’homme dans la société de l’information, des représentants de la société civile ont décrit les événements de la vieille comme une attaque sur le droit de s’assembler et de parler librement et le blocage plus tard du site Internet du sommet alternatif comme « la cyber élimination des droits des gens ».

Le Groupe de Contrôle de la Tunisie, une coalition d’organisations pour la liberté d’expression, a plus tôt soulevé des inquiétudes concernant l’emprisonnement d’individus qui n’ont fait qu’exprimer leur opinions, le blocage des sites Internet, les restrictions relatives à la liberté d’association et de mouvement des défenseurs des droits de l’homme et des dissidents politiques, ainsi que la surveillance policière, le harcèlement, l’intimidation et l’interception de communications privées et l’usage avec impunité de la torture par les forces de l’ordre.

Le groupe a appelé le gouvernement tunisien à remettre en liberté des prisonniers dits de conscience, à arrêter les détentions arbitraires, à mettre fin à l’harcèlement et les assauts sur la personnes des activistes des droits de l’homme, à stopper les blocages de sites Internet, à mettre fin à la censure des livres et journaux, à ouvrir les voies de presse (écrite et audiovisuelle), à respecter la liberté de mouvement, de rassemblement et d’association, et à ouvrir une enquête sur les cas de torture déclarés.

Pendant que la machine du sommet se met en marche, le gouvernement tunisien ne semble guère se rendre compte des contradictions qu’il y a entre les politiques de répression qui porte atteinte à la liberté d’expression et la circulation non-stop d’informations sur Internet. Et donc au moment où des milliers de délégués se rencontrent pour parler de la question de la gouvernance d’Internet et de la réduction de l’écart numérique existant, des activistes de la liberté d’expression, qui se sont attirés l’ire de l’exécutif tunisien, croupissent en prison.

Parmi eux, Mohamed Abou, membre fondateur de l’Association internationale pour la solidarité avec les prisonniers politiques et du Centre pour l’indépendance des juges et des avocats. Il sert, en ce moment même, une peine de prison de trois ans, suite à la publication en février 2005 d’un article sur l’interdiction du site www.tunnisnews.com, qui protestait l’invitation en Tunisie par Président Ben Ali du Premier Ministre israélien Ariel Sharon. D’après un rapport de Human Rights Watch intitulé « Fausse Liberté : La Censure Sur Internet Au Proche Orient et En Afrique du nord », présenté au SMSI, sa femme a déclaré : « Quand je le voit, ses habits sont tachetés de sang à cause de la piqûre des punaises qui infestent son lit. »

Le rapport de Human Rights Watch fait aussi état de l’arrestation de jeunes dans différentes parties du pays. Ils sont tous accusés d’avoir des liens avec des organisations jihadistes et de préparer des attaques terroristes. Le rapport dit que dans la plupart des cas, les accusés ont tous été condamnés sur la base de déclarations faites à la police ; déclarations qu’ils ont ensuite contestées – en vain – arguant qu’ils y ont été contraints par le biais de la torture ou par des menaces de torture. Mais comme l’a noté un des auteurs du rapport lors de la présentation de ce dernier, le regain de la répression liée à Internet n’est pas un phénomène purement tunisien, il existe aussi dans d’autres pays tels que la Syrie, l’Egypte et l’Iran, qui ont aussi été épinglés par le rapport.

Les droits à l’association et la liberté d’expression sont des droits essentiels que les gouvernements de répression ont longtemps essayé d’escamoter. La différence c’est que Internet permet l’émergence de nouvelles formes d’organisation et d’association, donc ce n’est une surprise pour personne si les gouvernements essaient de s’attaquer à ce domaine également. Comme l’explique Charlie Lewis du Link Centre à l’université de Wits, le courriel et Internet ouvrent de nouvelles voies de formation et donc le site web d’une ONG, par exemple, devient la face qu’on associe à une organisation, de même que son point de convergence et de ralliement. Un des moyens par lesquels les gouvernements violent cette liberté d’expression et d’association est l’usage de la force, mais aussi le blocage de sites web.

Mais ce n’est pas seulement le droit à la liberté de l’expression qui est directement violé en Tunisie. La société de l’information cite également d’autres cas d’abus des droits de l’homme qui passent inaperçus. À la République Démocratique du Congo, par exemple, on a la preuve que c’est l’exploitation du coltan, utilisé dans bon nombre d’appareils électroniques, qui a attisé le feu de la guerre, qui, selon certaines estimations, a fait 1,8 millions de victimes depuis l’année 1997. Un autre exemple est le dumping de vieux ordinateurs et d’autres appareils électroniques en Afrique. Ceci crée de graves problèmes environnementaux.

Alors que le sommet tire à sa fin, il devient clair que les actions du gouvernement tunisien au cours de ces derniers jours ont suscité une prise de conscience quant aux liens entre les droits de l’homme et la société de l’information, et ont montré par là même les contradictions d’une rencontre dont l’objet est de discuter de l’ouverture d’Internet à tous, dans un environnement de répression.

INFORMATIONS DE DERNIERES MINUTES : Selon Reporters sans frontières (RSF) basé à Paris, la chaîne de télévision française TV5 Monde, qui est internationale, a annoncé le retrait de son équipe de deux journalistes de Tunis pour cause de surveillance trop rapprochée de la part des autorités tunisiennes.

Et RSF d’ajouter que depuis le 11 novembre, un journaliste de Libération a été battu et poignardé, une équipe de la chaîne belge RTBF a été attaquée et maintenant, pour couronner le tout, on harcèle deux journalistes de TV5.

*Vous pouvez envoyer vos commentaires à [email protected].

The IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) has launched a protest against Tunisia's hosting of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in the wake of attacks on journalists and human rights activists in Tunis in the past few days. They note a serious deterioration in conditions related to freedom of expression in Tunisia, particularly with respect to independent organisations , harassment of journalists and dissidents, independence of the judiciary, and the imprisonment of the human rights lawyer, Mohamed Abbou, for voicing his opinion in articles on the Internet. Cumulatively these changes lead us to conclude that the Tunisian government is seeking to further stifle dissent on the eve of the WSIS. "In such conditions," they said, "Tunisia is not a suitable place to hold a United Nations World Summit." The coalition has cancelled plans to hold a WSIS side events, saying a series of incidents, including the stabbing of a French reporter, show how unfit Tunisia is to host a conference on freedom of expression and the Internet.

Ethan Zuckerman’s My hearts in Accra - (http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=256) is on his way to Tunis for the World Sumit on Information Society (WSIS). Like many others he says he is:

“attending with misgivings over the usefulness of the gathering, the absurd cost of the meeting, and the fact that it’s being held within a deeply repressive country with a history of detaining people who use the Internet to exercise their right to free speech”. (Last week I reported on a Tunisian blogger who after being detained for 18 months in prison, was released and suffered a heart attack)

Nigerian blogger Gbenga Sesan - Gbenga Sesan (http://www.gbengasesan.com/blog/?p=32) believes the most important issue to be discussed is Internet Governance.

“Just this morning, the BBC relayed the story of how the EU and the UN is trying to wrestle the control of the Internet from the US." Clearly, there’s a lot of interest in the issue of Internet Governance, and this is the best time for some countries that have taken the different issues around Internet Governance lightly to wake up before they sell their future to the best called ignorance.”

One of the problems with WSIS is that many participants will miss one of the most important factors of the conference which is not who governs the Internet but whether the internet as place of “free speech” can be respected by all governments. As Ethan mentions the conference is being held in a country where freedom of speech and media are held in contempt by the government. Andy Carvin’s Waste of Bandwidth blog - Waste of Bandwidth (http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/acarvin/view?PostID=7638) reports taking photos at the conference is banned by the Tunisian authorities and attempts will result in interrogation by security officials.

Friends of Ethiopia - Friends of Ethiopia (http://friendsofethiopia.blogspot.com/2005/11/better-beware-white-eleph…) posts a report from AllAfrica.com “Better beware the white elephant”.

“At the World Summit of the Information Society in Tunis from November 16-18, these ICT lobbyists will bemoan the "digital divide" and call for a Digital Solidarity Fund. Dazzled by the allure of e-commerce, the global information society, e-learning and other buzzwords, they believe that new technology will allow them to leap-frog decades of incompetence and corruption and achieve rapid development. But the barriers to technological development are exactly the same as the barriers to any economic development: market restrictions, lack of contract law, state controls, customs duties, bureaucracy, and corruption.”

Tunisian blogger, Neila Charchour Hachicha - Blog de Neila Charchour Hachicha (http://plmonline.blogs.com/plm/2005/11/citizens_summit.html) reports on the Citizens Summit for Information Society (CSIS) which is also meeting in Tunis from 16-18 November as a side event. However the Tunisian government is trying its best to prevent the CSIS from meeting by obstructing their efforts to find a venue in Tunisia.

“The CSIS builds on a long tradition of civil society events linked to United Nations conferences. More than 80 international civil society organizations and coalitions have pledged their support and plan to take part in the three-day Citizens Summit, but a venue previously confirmed for the event was withdrawn at the last minute for reasons that CSIS organisers believe to be in response to political pressure from the Tunisian government.”

Ghanian blog, the Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen - Fresh-Arrived Denizen (http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com) has a different take on the WSIS where he seems to be somewhat in awe of Tunis and Tunisians:

“Goodlooking—nay, gorgeus-looking—women pass with their boyfriends, friends, etc, passing a poster that says 'KILL BILL. Cette Semaine au Cinema'...The information society may be lost to many people. In the beginning, even I couldn’t get my head round the utility of a conference round it, but now having back-pedalled and seen the bigger picture, I am beginning to think that it’s pretty cool being here. Especially in Tunis. We are treated like royalty. We, being those delegates going to the WSIS. These people are far friendlier than I ever anticipated or expected. Many of them after they ask me where I am from say 'bienvenue. Tu es chez toi.' Alright so they are tutoieing me, that is not using 'vous' since they do not know me, but I am not bothered. They seem to like me, and I certainly find them personable.”

Finally a return to Egyptian blogger, blogger Abdolkarim Nabil Seliman who runs the blog Kareem Amer. Last week I reported that he had been detained by the security forces since the 26th October. The Big Pharaoh - The big Pharaoh
(http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/2005/11/abdolkarim-released-egyptian-blo…) reports that he has now been released.

“He posted a short entry on his blog saying that he will tell us about what happened to him and that he thanks everyone who stood beside him even if he/she didn't share his thoughts. Of course, those who helped Abdolkarim include a lot of non-Egyptians who took the time to email or call the Egyptian embassies around the world.” If you can read Arabic you should go directly to his blog - Karam903 (http://karam903.blogspot.com) otherwise check Big Pharaoh or Freedom for Egyptians - Freedom for Egyptians (http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/2005/11/freedom-of-expression-a…) for his report.

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

* Please send comments to [email protected]

They are five letters you have probably never heard of: Icann, acronym for the hitherto obscure Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a public-private, non-profit organisation based in the pleasant Los Angeles suburb of Marina del Rey, and operating under the very loose supervision of the United States Department of Commerce. But that obscurity is about to end, says this article in the United Kingdom's Independent newspaper, which explains the battle over internet governance set to take centre stage in Tunis at the World Summit on the Information Society.

After sending a representative to Tunis to pay a visit to seven political opposition and civil society members who began an indefinite hunger strike on 18 October, Reporters Without Borders urged the Tunisian government to listen to their demands. "The Tunisian authorities must heed the legitimate demands of these hunger strikers," the press freedom organisation said. "They are demanding just one thing, more freedom. President Ben Ali must stop turning his back and begin listening to them."

On 7 November, members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) will call on Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to intervene to end the persecution of journalists and Internet users in advance of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). In particular, the group is concerned over the official response to the continuing hunger strike by human rights defenders and journalists and says the date of 7 November, the anniversary of the day President Ben Ali took power, is traditionally marked with the release of prisoners.

Citizens' Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) will be held in Tunis, from 16 to 18 November 2005. The event coincides with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The UN- summit WSIS aims to ensure that benefits from the digital revolution in information and communication technologies are accessible to all by filling the gap between developed and developing countries in this field.

Reporters Without Borders has urged the Tunisian authorities to take account of the demands of eight opposition figures who began an indefinite hunger strike on 18 October to demand respect for freedom of expression and association in Tunisia and the release of all prisoners of conscience. The hunger strikers include Lotfi Hajji, the head of the Tunisian Journalists Union (SJT). One of the aims of the “18 October Movement” is to draw the international community’s attention to the many violations of basic freedoms in Tunisia although the country is hosting the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) on 16-18 November.

Citing reported violations of freedom of opinion and expression in Tunisia as the North African country prepares to host the World Summit on the Information Society next month, a United Nations human rights expert has called on the Government to release unconditionally all press- and opinion-related prisoners. “I have also been alarmed by the polarization of opinions and the lack of dialogue with the Press, two elements which could seriously jeopardize the progress of media freedom in the country,” the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Ambeyi Ligabo, said in a statement, calling on the Government to allow the full exercise of those rights.

With just six weeks to go before the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, a number of key issues remain unresolved, including the highly debated questions of Internet governance and civil society participation. The future of the Internet will now supposedly be decided at a meeting to be held in the Tunisian capital immediately prior to the Summit itself, which is taking place Nov. 16-18. Other matters also left pending will be addressed in coming weeks at meetings held in this same Swiss city, ahead of the gathering in Tunis.

"Tunisia is not a suitable place to hold a United Nations World Summit" according to the latest report of the Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) released two months before the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), scheduled to take place in Tunis, 16-18 November 2005. The 18-page report is an update of TMG's first report "Tunisia: Freedom of Expression Under Siege" published in February of this year in preparation for the World Summit. The report highlights serious deterioration in conditions related to freedom of expression in Tunisia, particularly with respect to attacks on independent organisations, harassment of journalists and dissidents, and the independence of the judiciary. It also calls attention to the imprisonment of the human rights lawyer, Mohamed Abbou.

"African journalists also expect from all WSIS stakeholders, active participation in the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action, including paragraph 24 related to Media. This involves acting to create conditions conducive to increasing the availability and effective mobilisation of the necessary resources to finance the implementation of this specific part of the Plan of Action. This is of crucial need for the rapid and full integration of African media into the Information Society and the international media landscape."

International and Tunisian non-governmental organisations have expressed their outrage at the rapid deterioration of the human rights situation in Tunisia just two months prior to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to be held in Tunis, November 15-18, 2005. After prohibiting the founding congress of the Tunisian Journalists' Union (SJT) on September 7, authorities prevented the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) from holding its 6th Congress.

Freedom of expression organisations are calling on the Tunisian authorities to halt their harassment of Lotfi Hajji, President of the small independent Tunisian Journalists' Syndicate (SJT). He was summonsed again to appear before police on 9 May 2005, once more without a given reason. In the few days before and after this month's World Press Freedom Day Hajji was summonsed by police, detained, had his books confiscated at Tunis airport, and was threatened with prosecution after the authorities found out that he planned to publish the syndicate's own report on Tunisian media repression.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is deeply concerned about the health of imprisoned Tunisian journalist Hamadi Jebali. Jebali has been on a hunger strike since April 9 to protest his treatment in Sfax prison, about 142 miles (230 km) from Tunis. According to his lawyer Noureddine B'hiri, Jebali's health is deteriorating quickly. He is very faint and weak, B'hiri said, adding that Jebali's wife, Wahida Trabelsi, is demanding that an outside doctor be allowed to examine Jebali's condition.

On 9 April 2005, journalist Hamadi Jebali started another hunger strike. He has been jailed since 1991. "We are concerned about Hamadi Jebali's deteriorating health. He is getting weaker with each successive hunger strike. It is deplorable that he is not given the food brought for him by his wife. Once again, we urge President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to see to it that the journalist is released immediately and unconditionally," Reporters sans frontières (RSF) said.

The World Summit on the Information Society that Tunisia will host in November 2005 will feature a number of side events in addition to the official summit program, due to take place from November 16-18 at the El Kram exhibition hall, near Tunis. Side events will include debates, workshops and exhibitions, from November 14 -19 at Le Kram exhibition hall. The deadline for the submission of applications for the organization of side events is April 30, 2005. Applications are available online at www.wsistunis2005.tn

On 31 March 2005, the worrying state of freedom of expression in Tunisia was highlighted at a panel discussion organized by the International Publishers' Association (IPA) and International PEN in Geneva during the annual session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. Panelists included Tunisian writers, journalists, publishers, activists, a former judge at the French Cour de Cassation and representatives of international organizations, including the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters and the World Association of Newspapers.