In a bold and surprising move, Canada read out a statement in the name of 37 countries (all of the 25 EU members, plus Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia Montenegro, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, Monaco, Australia, the USA, and Canada) that called upon the Tunisian government to assure that freedom of expression and other human rights are protected during the Summit in November.
In the statement, which was read out in the final plenary of Prepcom III, they call attention to several incidents of represssion of human rights that took place during Prepcom III:
Nous avons jug‚ n‚cessaire de faire cette d‚claration en raison de plusieurs incidents qui se sont d‚roul‚s au cours de ce Comit‚ Pr‚paratoirs, et qui mettent en cause la nature inclusive du Sommet….
I don’t know specifically what they are referring to, but I presume they are calling attention to the various freedom of expression and human rights events which were flooded by Tunisian government apologists, who often angrily denounced the speakers and organizers of these events. Several have observed that again many Tunisians appear to have been accredited as “civil society” participants for the purpose of monitoring any other participants criticizing the regime of Tunisian president Ben Ali and defending his policies.
Another recent incident involved Magaly Pazello, chair of the Gender Caucus, who apparently had the temerity to not include Tunisian parliamentarian Saiida Agrebi among the nominated speakers for the Tunis Summit. As witnessed by several people, Magaly was surrounded by angry Tunisians who verbally harrassed her for this.
Lastly, there was a private meeting of several Tunisian human rights groups with other human rights groups that was held in an empty conference room. When Moncef Achour, Tunisian civil society liaison for the WSIS Executive Secretariat, found out about the meeting, he summoned UN security and had them break up the meeting. This was captured on video and released on the internet at www.worldsummit2005.org
The Canadian statement recalled that at the Geneva Summit in 2003 all governments affirmed the importance of freedom of expression and they thus urged the Tunisian government to protect this human right:
…La Declaration de Geneve reaffirme le droit a la liberte d’opinion et d’expression, ce qui implique le droit de ne pa etre inquiete pour ses opinions et celui de chercher, d recevoir et de repandre, sans consideration de frontiere, les information et les idees par quelque moyen d’expression que ce soit. Ces droits doivent etre respectes dans tous les pays afin de promouvoir l’edification d’une Societe de l’Information universelle et d’assurer le succes de la seconde phase du Sommet. Nous attendons de la Tunisie, en tant qu’h“te de ce sommet onusien, qu’elle demonstre qu’elle respecte strictement et promuet ces droits.
The statement calls upon Tunisia to deal with any sort of disturbance that might in any way prevent the participation of civil society freely:
…. Nous attendons de la Tunisie, en tant que pays h“te, qu’elle prenne toutes les mesures pour eliminer toute source d’inquietudes et qu’elle s’assure que les dispositions prise pour le Sommet prennent en compte et garantissent la participation sans entraves des Organisations Non-Gouvernementales et de leurs membres.
The statement concludes by remarking “Ce n’est que de cette fa‡on que l’on pourra s’assurer qu’il s’aggise d’un sommet en Tunisie et non sur la Tunisie.”
I.e. only by ensuring complete freedom of expression can the host country ensure that the WSIS is a Summit in Tunisia and not a Summit about Tunisia.