Human Rights in Tunisia: Mission Report

6 to 10 September 2005

Diana Bronson, Rights & Democracy’s Coordinator of the Globalization Thematic travelled to Tunisia from 6 to 10 September 2005 to attend the following meetings:

1. The 6th congress of the Ligue tunisienne des droits de l’homme (LTDH) scheduled to be held from 9 to 11 September 2005.
2. A seminar organized by the Ligue tunisienne des droits de l’homme (LTDH) on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held on 8 September 2005.
3. The Founding Congress of the Independent Journalists Union (Syndicat des journalistes tunisiens) scheduled to be held on 7 September 2005.

Two of these events (1 and 3 above) did not take place as scheduled due to a crackdown by the Tunisian authorities. The meeting on WSIS (2), attended by a large number of international NGOs did in fact take place for a half-day on 8 September.

1. The Prohibition of the Congress of the LTDH

Preparation of the Congress of the LTDH had been underway for many months and 116 delegates were expected in Tunis to attend the three-day event, in addition to a number of international observers, the Executive Committee and the National Council. The event was to be held at the union-owned hotel, just outside Tunis . The meeting never took place. The LTDH’s contract with the hotel was cancelled due to “urgent renovations”.

More significantly, a judgement that was delivered on Monday, 5 September, stated that the LTDH could not hold its Congress due to a matter that is still pending in court, specifically the restructuring of the LTDH. In fact, people who are close to the ruling party have been working for years to change the leadership of the LTDH, and thus many sections were created that had no real activities and which were not active in the struggle for human rights in Tunisia. These are the "members" who brought this matter to court and 5 September’s injunction stated that the League could not hold its Congress until the matter had been definitively resolved. Including inevitable appeals of the ruling expected on 1 October, such a resolution could take years. The Executive Committee of the League and its international partners considers these legal actions to be deliberate harassment and interference in its activities by the RCD, the ruling party. The Government portrays the Court case as an internal dispute or power struggle that it has nothing to do with and it has effectively forced the League once again into a defensive position, where the majority of its attention is focused on survival rather than on the many other pressing human rights concerns in the country.

The Executive Committee of the League was in emergency meetings for the better part of Rights & Democracy’s visit, attempting to figure out the best way to respond to this unexpected crackdown, understood by everyone to be provocative and unnecessary. People were very nervous, worried and fearful that authorities would confiscate their computers and their offices.

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