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MEDIA: Tunisia Promoting Free Expression – But Not at Home

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 29 2005 (IPS) - A coalition of 14 international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has expressed “deep concern” over the upsurge in attacks on freedom of expression in Tunisia – a country which next month will host the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

“Tunisia should be requested to respect its international commitments in the field of freedom of expression,” the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a media watchdog group, was equally critical of Tunisia’s notorious crackdown on the country’s hamstrung press.

“Tunisia’s record on press freedom continues to be dismal,” CPJ’s Senior Programme Coordinator Joel Campagna told IPS.

“It’s ironic that with one hand, the government is welcoming international leaders to talk about free expression on the Internet, while with the other it continues to harass media critics attempting to express their viewpoints,” he added.

The international community cannot help but take notice of this “deeply troubling situation”, Campagna said.

The IFEX – which includes Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, International Federation of Journalists, Article 19, Journaliste en Danger based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters based in Canada, and World Press Freedom Committee of the United States – has asked Annan to “encourage the Tunisian authorities to act to put an end to these attacks, which in the minds of many call into question Tunisia’s suitability to host the WSIS in November”.

The letter catalogues a long list of “administrative sanctions”, “police harassment” of journalists and “documented attacks” on freedom of expression in Tunisia.

“We find it incredulous and deeply regretful that an international summit on the information society be held in a country that in its daily practice does not show respect for the very base of any information society, freedom of expression, and two of its subsets: freedom of the press and freedom to publish,” the letter added.

The decision to hold the summit in Tunis was endorsed by a resolution, unanimously adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December 2001, and based on a proposal made by the Council of the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva.

The summit was to be held in two phases: the first in Geneva Dec. 10-12, 2003, and the second phase in Tunis Nov. 16-18 this year. The final two-week preparatory meeting is currently taking place in Geneva and is due to conclude Friday.

But NGOs in Geneva have already protested the exclusion of civil society from groups finalising the summit documents.

“The General Assembly has chosen Tunisia and we are all looking forward to a productive meeting there,” U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor told IPS.

“I believe that in doing so, member governments were conscious of the need for the key issues of the information society to be related to the needs of the developing world – in particular the five billion people who are not connected to the Internet,” he added.

Tharoor said that holding the summit in Tunisia is “a powerful symbol of the world’s commitment to bring the benefits of the Information Revolution to the people of the global South”.

“I am confident that all member states, including Tunisia, are fully aware of the standards expected of a host country for such an international conference,” he added.

Nitin Desai, special adviser of the secretary-general for WSIS, said the Geneva phase of the Summit outlined an ambitious agenda for closing the digital divide and for the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) for development.

“The Tunis phase of the summit will share this commitment, for instance with a strong focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and at least begin the process of resource mobilisation, for instance through the (proposed) Digital Solidarity Fund,” Desai told IPS.

The second area that was left open at Geneva was on Internet governance, he said. The report of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) is now available. The Tunis summit must begin the process of change that is necessary to manage the Internet of the future, which will expand mainly in the developing countries where the focus will be mainly on public service applications, Desai added.

Asked if there is a deadlock at the Geneva meeting, he told IPS: “The main divisive issue remains internet governance. Hopefully, the report of the WGIG will help to find common ground.”

Responding to expressions of concern by NGOs, Desai said: “The WSIS at Tunis is a U.N. event and will observe all the standards of openness that U.N. meetings are expected to follow.”

In a media advisory released last week in Geneva, the United Nations said that many of those who participated in the Internet’s early development did not think of the Net as being “governed”, or even needing governance.

“However, when the invention of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s helped make it accessible to a wide range of users, its commercial potential and growing importance to business and government raised new issues and drew new actors into a debate about how the future of the Net should be managed,” it added.

At the same time, the United Nations said, the growing role of civil society in shaping the agendas of public and private organisations has put the spotlight on governance as an essential element in the ongoing development of the Internet, alongside technical standardisation and management of core Net resources.