| |
Report
of the
Tunisia
Monitoring Group
on
the eve of
WSIS Tunis 2005
Freedom
of Expression in Tunisia:
The
Siege Intensifies
September
2005
Freedom of Expression
in Tunisia:
The Siege Intensifies
CONTENTS:
B. Facts on the ground
1. Prisoners of opinion
p.
5
2. Internet blocking
p.
7
3. Censorship of books
p.
8
4. Independent organisations p. 9
5. Journalists and dissidents p. 12
6. Broadcast pluralism
p.
14
7. Press freedom
p. 15
8. Torture
p.
16
C.
Conclusions
p. 17
A. INTRODUCTION:
This
is the
second
report of the Tunisian Monitoring Group (TMG) and follows the latest of
a
series of fact-finding missions to Tunisia by members of the group in
the run
to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The first
mission, of
six TMG members, took place from 14-19 January 2005 and led to the
first report
“Tunisia: Freedom of Expression Under Siege”
published in February 2005. The report described our initial findings
and set
out a series of recommendations to the Tunisian government.
The second mission,
of four TMG members took place from 5-8 May to mark World Press Freedom
Day and
to launch and publicise, in Tunisia, the Arabic version of the report.
The third mission, of
nine TMG members, took place from 6-11 September 2005, and provided the
basis
for our first update on freedom of expression in Tunisia. This report
is
released two months before the WSIS Tunis Summit, 16-18 November 2005.
During the course of
the three missions the TMG has now met with over 250 individuals and
over 50
organisations and institutions including members of the government and
opposition, public officials, government supported organisations,
independent
civil society organisations, human rights defenders, journalists,
publishers,
librarians, private broadcasters and others. During each of our
missions we
have sought and been provided with access to government
representatives. We
welcome this dialogue and we have engaged in a frank and open exchange
of
views.
During the latest
mission we met with the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, the
Minister of
Communication Technologies and the Director of the External
Communications
Agency. In our report we acknowledge that some improvements have been
made or
have been promised, notably with respect to further private radio and
television concessions, commitments to removal of the “depôt
legal” for
periodicals and some improvement in prison conditions, but serious
concerns
remain with respect to all of these matters
However, since
January 2005, we have disappointingly witnessed serious deterioration
in other
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,
two months before WSIS Tunis 2005, Tunisia is not a suitable place to
hold a
United Nations World Summit.
We urge the Tunisian
government to take very seriously the recommendations we are making in
this
report and to show a real and immediate intent to remove the practices
we have
identified that violate international human rights laws and standards
to which
Tunisia is a signatory.
We call on the
international community to take responsibility in holding Tunisia to
account on
its international obligations, to insist on real commitment to change
and to
ensure that independent voices in Tunisia are treated with the respect
and
tolerance of a rights-based democracy and not the abuses that we
consider more
characteristic of a police state.
In the following
sections we set out the principal developments that we have observed
since our
first report.
About the Tunisia
Monitoring Group
The Tunisia
Monitoring Group (TMG) is a coalition of 14 organisations set up in
2004 to
monitor freedom of expression in Tunisia in the run up to and following
the
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The 14 organisations
are all
members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), a
global
network of 64 national, regional and international organizations
committed to
defending the right to freedom of expression.
The
third
mission of
the TMG was composed of representatives of Article 19, International
Federation
of Journalists (IFJ), International Federation of Library Associations
and
Institutions (IFLA), International Publishers Association (IPA), Index
on
Censorship, PEN Norway, World Association of Community Radio
Broadcasters
(AMARC) and World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC).
Other members of TMG
are: Canadian Journalists for Free
Expression (CJFE), Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR),
International
PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Journalistes en Danger (JED), Media
Institute
of South Africa (MISA), World Association of Newspapers (WAN).
B.
FACTS ON THE GROUND
1.
Prisoners of
opinion
In the first report of the IFEX TMG we observed imprisonment of individuals related to expression
of their opinions or
media activities.
We
recommended to the Tunisian government to release Hamadi Jebali,
editor of the weekly Al Fajr and hundreds of prisoners like him held
for their
religious and political beliefs and who never advocated or used violence.
We
also recommended
to end arbitrary administrative sanctions compelling
journalist Abdellah Zouari to live nearly 500 km away from his wife and
children and guarantee his basic right to freedom of movement and
expression.
We further
recommended release of the six cyber dissidents known as the Youth of
Zarzis
who, following unfair trials, have been sentences to heavy prison terms
allegedly for using the Internet to commit terror attacks.
At the time
of the second report we have witnessed no progress on our
recommendations. On the contrary, the situation has worsened, in
particular
with the imprisonment of Mr. Mohamed Abbou.
We strongly reiterate these recommendations and furthermore we call for
the urgent and immediate release of human rights lawyer Mohamed Abbou.
Mohamed Abbou
The
imprisonment of
Mohamed Abbou has been a chilling blow to freedom of expression and the
independence of the judiciary and appears to be directly linked to
Tunisian
government efforts to suppress dissent in the run up to the WSIS.
Mohamed Abbou’s
arrest on 1 March 2005 occurred less than 24 hours after a blocked
Tunisian
news website
ran an
opinion piece in which Abbou criticized President Ben Ali for inviting
Israeli
Prime Minister Sharon to attend WSIS in Tunis.
The basis given for
Abbou’s arrest, however, was another opinion piece written by Abbou in
August
2004 denouncing torture in Tunisian prisons, and following the outcry
generated
by the images of torture on Iraqi prisoners in the US-run Abu Ghraieb
prison in
Baghdad. The piece drew a parallel between torture in Tunisian prisons
and in
the US-run Abu Ghraieb prison in Baghdad. This piece was run on August
2004 by
the same blocked news website, which Tunisians manage to read as e-mail
sent by
friends and relatives living abroad.
Abbou was sentenced
on 28 April 2005 by a criminal court in Tunis, after a hearing that
fell short
of international standards for a fair trial, to three and a half years
of
imprisonment for publishing in 2004 statements “likely to disturb
public order”
and for “defaming the judicial process.” He
was also found guilty of a separate alleged
offence of “violence” in
2002 against a female lawyer apparently close to the government.
On 10 June 2005 a
Tunisian appeals court confirmed his prison sentence following another
trail,
described as unfair by local and international human rights groups and
Tunis-based Western diplomats. As a form of punishment, Abbou was
imprisoned
not in any of the prisons situated in Tunis or its suburbs where his
wife and
children live, but in the city of Le Kef, near the Tunisian-Algerian
border.
Mrs. Abbou, who was
reported to have been assaulted and knocked down by plainclothes police
during
the first day of the trial, denied that her husband attacked his female
colleague in 2002. Abbou and his wife Samia went on hunger strike at
the end of
July to inform the international community about the repression
inflicted on
“those who voice their dissent” in Tunisia.
2.
Internet blocking
In the first report of IFEX TMG we observed blocking
of websites, including news and information websites, and police
surveillance
of e-mails and Internet cafes.
We recommended to the
Tunisia government to stop the practice of
blocking websites and to cease
putting Internet cafes and Internet users under police surveillance.
At the time
of this second report we have witnessed no significant
change and no progress on our recommendations. We
maintain this recommendation and strongly urge the Tunisian
government to make significant progress in advance of the World Summit
on the
Information Society. Tunisian practice on this issue is in direct
contradiction
with commitments made by Tunisia in the WSIS 2003 Declaration.
Continuation of
this practice will reflect very negatively on Tunisia at a Summit
concerned
with Internet governance.
In January 2005 we
undertook technical tests
on selected Tunisian Internet Service Providers. We identified
systematic
Internet blocking which we believe to be operated using Smartfilter
software.
Internet blocking was applied to wide categories of sites, but also
including
specific Tunisian government defined URLs.
We
have discussed Internet blocking with Tunisian government
representatives and
with government supported civil society organisations. They confirmed
to us
that systematic Internet blocking takes place however government
representatives asserted that blocking of political and information
sites was
due to their “terrorist” or “hate speech” content. Government officials
were
unable to describe any judicial or regulatory process that would enable
such
assertions to be legitimately challenged in law.
In January 2005 we
identified a sample of 20 sites that we assessed to be blocked for
their
political and information content and which did not appear to carry any
information which could be considered illegal or harmful under
international
law. In September 2005 we undertook further tests of the twenty sample
sites.
We found that nineteen of the sites identified remained blocked in the
tests
that we conducted.
3.
Censorship of books
In the first report of the IFEX TMG we observed blocking of the distribution of books and
publications.
We
recommended to the Tunisian government to release banned books, end
censorship, and conform to international standards for freedom of
expression.
At the time of the second report we have witnessed no
significant
change
and no progress on our recommendation.
We
therefore maintain these recommendations and specifically we
recommend to amend Article 8 of the Press
Code by
lifting the obligation (for the printer) to deposit copies of a printed
book
with the local prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of the Interior and
the
chamber of deputies.
The
dépôt legal system is
still shamelessly
used as a hidden form of censorship of books in Tunisia. In a country
that
prides itself in producing 1,400 titles a year for a population of just
over 10
million, there are actually only 200-300 new titles produced per year;
the rest
are mainly reprints and children’s books.
Publishers which dare
to publish books the authorities disapprove of not only see these books
being
blocked at the printer’s (after having been printed), but also have to
face
other forms of harassment, including forms of fiscal harassment. For
more, see
the first IFEX TMG report.
4.
Independent organisations
In the first report of IFEX TMG we observed
restrictions on the freedom of association, including the
right of organisations to be legally established and to hold
meetings.
We recommended to the Tunisia government to respect
international standards on freedom of association and
freedom of assembly and to grant legal recognition to independent civil
society
groups such as the National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT),
the Tunis
Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary, the League of Free
Writers,
OLPEC, the International Association to Support Political Prisoners,
the
Association for the Struggle against Torture, and RAID-ATTAC-Tunisia.
At the time of this second report we have witnessed no progress on our
recommendations.
We have also witnessed serious new attacks on legally recognised but
independent organisations including the Tunisian League of Human Rights
and The
Tunisian Association of Magistrates. We consider these attacks to
represent a
serious deterioration in respect for human rights.
We strongly reiterate the recommendation that the Tunisian government
must take steps to allow independent organisations to establish without
the
requirement for prior political approval.
In addition we call on members of the ruling party,
the RCD, to cease their attacks on the Tunisia League of Human Rights
(LTDH).
These attacks are quite clearly and deliberately intended to undermine
an
organisation which continues to vigorously defend human rights in
Tunisia and whose
independence should be respected.
We further call on the Tunisian government to bring to
a halt arbitrary administrative measures used to destabilize the
Tunisian
Association of Magistrates (ATM). These measures are clearly
incompatible with
the independence of the judiciary.
We also call on the Tunisian government to allow the
Tunisian Journalists Union (SJT) to operate freely in conformity with
Tunisia’s
commitments under international labour law.
The
Tunisian League of Human Rights
The Tunisian League
of Human Rights (LTDH) was prevented from holding its Sixth Congress,
scheduled
for 9-11 September 2005, a meeting which members of the TMG had
planned, for
several months, to attend as international observers. On 5 September
2005, the
Court of First Instance in Tunis ordered suspension of all preparatory
activities for the planned Congress. The suspension remains in place
pending
examination by the court of a complaint filed by twenty people close to
the
government and ruling party and claiming to be members or heads of some
of the
LTDH chapters.
"It is the 23rd
court ruling against the LTDH since November 2000," said Souhayr
Belhassen, Vice President of LTDH who explained how a process of
restructuring
this group was put in place since 2001. She said the aim was to have
fewer, but
more active chapters. She acknowledged that in some of the chapters
eliminated
"there are some persons that are pro-government, but others are
democrats
who have lost their chapters too".
The Minister of
Justice stated to the TMG that the matter was an internal affair of the
LTDH,
however, in a report carried by the state-owned national daily, La
Presse, on
10 September 2005, the Secretary General of the ruling party (RCD), M.
Hédi
M’henni, was quoted in a statement which clearly indicated an
endorsement by
the RCD of the action being taken against the LTDH.
The state-owned press gave no coverage to the views of the LTDH
leadership.
Members of the TMG
witnessed, on 7 September 2005, how scores of plain-clothes police
blocked the
streets leading to the offices of the LTDH preventing entry including
the
passage of a TMG assistant. Following the TMG meeting with the Tunisian
Minister of Justice a seminar with international speakers and observers
was
permitted to proceed on 8 September at the LTDH offices.
The TMG remains
deeply concerned at the intense political pressure that is being placed
on the
independent LTDH by the authorities and by people close to the ruling
party.
The
Tunisian Association of Magistrates
Attempts to
destabilize
the Tunisian Association of Magistrates (ATM) and to encourage a
minority group
of judges close to the government to take control of the ATM started
after its
democratically elected board spoke out against attacks on lawyers
following the
arrest of their colleague, Mohamed Abbou, in March 2005 and associated
protests. Lawyers, including the head of the Bar Association,
Abdessatar Ben
Moussa were reported to have been physically assaulted at the Palace of
Justice
in Tunis by plain-clothes police. Elected
members of the Board of ATM were subsequently denied the right to
freedom of
assembly and expression after the Justice Ministry decided to
arbitrarily
change the lock on the door of their office on 31 August 2005, and
empowered a
minority group of magistrates close to the ruling party to take control
of ATM.
The
Ministry of Justice issued a statement on 23 June 2005 in which it
claimed ATM
was hit by an internal crisis and its Board might be toppled. It also
used the
state-run media to attack the elected Board and to promote the
individuals it
was encouraging to take control of ATM. The
state-run media not only refused to give
the other side of the
story, but also engaged in a smear campaign against the elected Board.
A
minority group of magistrates have called for the disavowal of the
elected
Board and for a provisional committee to manage the affairs of ATM
pending a
further Extraordinary General Assembly to be held on 4 December 2005.
According
to the elected Board of ATM, at least twenty magistrates, including
members of
the Board, have been involuntarily transferred from their regular work
place to
different parts of the country for reasons ”linked to their right to
express
their opinions and for their activities within the association and
their
commitment to achieve its goals”.
The
Tunisian Journalists Union
The Tunisian
Journalists Union (SJT) was denied the right to hold its founding
congress on 7
September 2005, in violation of the Tunisian Constitution and Labour
Code,
which provides for the freedom to form trade unions, and in violation
of
international labour conventions which have been ratified by Tunisia.
On 24 August 2005,
Lotfi Hajji, President of the SJT
was summoned by the Police District in Tunis and kept for interrogation
for nearly
five hours. He was told that SJT would not be allowed by any means to
hold its
first congress. The police officer also told him that a scheduled
conference on
Journalism and Trade Unions in the Maghreb countries would also not be
allowed
to take place. Hajji was not provided with any administrative papers or
juridical basis that would allow SJT to appeal against the position of
the
authorities.
On
30 August
2005,
the hotel with which the SJT had signed a contract said the conference
room
where the congress was due to take place needed to be repaired and
therefore
would no longer be available. This is a common excuse given by hotel
managers
to Tunisian independent groups when under pressure from the police. Simultaneously, journalists working for both the
public
media and privately owned media were summoned by managers and editors
and asked
to choose between their job and the SJT.
On 7 September 2005,
members of the TMG raised the case of the SJT with Minister of Justice.
No
adequate explanation was provided as to why SJT should not hold its
founding
assembly. In the afternoon of the same day, the TMG had planned a
meeting with
members of the SJT at the offices of their lawyer, Chwaki Tabib.
Plain-clothes
police prevented members of the Board of the SJT from entering the
building
despite insistence by TMG members that they were not prepared to meet
the
lawyers without the client present. The police were unable or unwilling
to
provide information as to the legal grounds for their action.
5.
Journalists and dissidents
In the first report of the IFEX TMG we observed restrictions on the freedom of movement of human
rights defenders and
political dissidents together with police surveillance, harassment,
intimidation and interception of communications.
We
recommended to the Tunisian government to end harassment and assaults
on human rights and political activists and their relatives and bring
to
justice those responsible for ordering these attacks and perpetrating
them.
We
also recommended action to be taken against interference by
government employees in the privacy of human rights and political
activists and
end the withholding of their mail and email.
<> We
further recommended to lift the arbitrary travel ban on human rights
defenders and political activists, including Mokhtar Yahyaoui and
Mohammed
Nouri.
At the
time of the second report we have witnessed no progress on our
recommendations.
On the contrary the situation has worsenedin
particular in the increased harassment of independent Tunisian
journalists.
We reiterate our very grave concern at systematic harassment of
journalists, activists and dissidents, and urge that immediate steps be
taken
to remove political surveillance and harassment of individuals engaged
in the
legitimate defence of human rights and the right to freedom of
expression.
During its second
mission scheduled to coincide with NGOs activities on World Press
Freedom Day,
IFEX TMG documented and witnessed attacks on freedom of expression and
police
harassment of journalists. Attacks on freedom of expression went hand
in hand
with renewed smear campaigns against human rights defenders and
independent
journalists.
President Ben Ali has
decorated one of the smear campaigners, Abdelhamid Riahi, editor at
Dar-Al
Anwar news group on Culture Day on 27 May 2005. This news group, which
is
closely tied to the government, was granted on 29 July 2005 an award
allegedly
for its advanced “social climate” by the state-controlled Tunisian
Association
of Journalists (AJT).
Sihem Bensedrine
One of
the
main targets of harassment and intimidation is Sihem Bensedrine, editor
of the
online magazine Kalima and spokesperson for the National Council for
Liberties
in Tunisia (CNLT). For weeks she has been the target of an insulting
and
obscene campaign led by privately owned papers, such as Ashourouq,
As-sarih and
Al-Hadath, papers often used by the authorities to settle scores with
human
rights defenders, political dissidents and journalists.
The TMG
has strongly protested this outrageous campaign.
Lotfi Hajji
Lotfi
Hajji, President of the Tunisian Journalists Union (STJ), became one of
the
most harassed journalists by the police since the establishment of the
SJT in
May 2004. He is still denied the national press card and also
accreditation as correspondent of the Qatari satellite TV, Al-Jazeera.
The TMG
is gravely concerned by these and other cases and considers there is no
legitimate basis for these forms of harassment and intimidation of
individuals
whose views dissent from those of the government.
6.
Broadcast pluralism
In the
first report of IFEX TMG we observed lack of pluralism in broadcast
ownership,
with only one private radio and one private TV broadcaster, both
believed to be
loyal supporters of President Ben Ali.
We
recommended to the Tunisia government to promote genuine
pluralism in broadcast content and ownership including fair and
transparent
procedures for the award of radio and TV broadcast licences.
At the time of this
second report we note and welcome the fact that a second private radio
station
has been licensed and that a private television station has also been
authorised. We remain concerned however that there is no transparent
licensing
procedure in place and that the new services, while not under state
ownership,
have shown no signs of genuine independence.
We reiterate the need
for fair and transparent licensing procedures and recommend an
independent
regulatory body be established to oversee licensing of independent
broadcast
media.
President Ben Ali
announced in July the establishment of Radio Jawhara, the second
privately
owned radio station since 2003.
The owners of Radio
Mosaique, Radio Jawhara and Hannibal TV, the first private TV station
established in early 2005, all appear to have strong ties with the
Tunisian government.
Academics
and
researchers point out that pluralism in broadcasting cannot gain ground
in
Tunisia as long as there is no independent regulatory body operating
according
to fair and transparent procedures set out in law.
7.
Press
Freedom
In the first report of the IFEX TMG we observed press censorship and lack of diversity of content
in newspapers. <>
We recommended to the Tunisian government to take serious steps toward
lifting all restrictions on independent journalism and encouraging
diversity of
content and ownership of the press.
At the time of the second report we have witnessed a step in the right
direction (27 May 2005 announcement to abolish
« dépôt légal » for
periodicals, which awaits translation into law), but no other progress
on our
recommendations.
We therefore
reiterate these recommendations.
Further we urge
that
the 27 May 2005 announcement to abolish
«dépôt legal» for periodicals be
rapidly brought into law.
We also call on the
Ministry of the Interior to respect Article 13 of the Tunisian Press
Code
enabling the establishment of newspapers and periodicals.
IFEX-TMG welcomed
President Ben Ali’s announcement of 27 May 2005 to end the
“dépôt legal”
procedure for periodicals. Two opposition papers: the weekly Al-Mawkif
of the
Progressive Socialist Party and the monthly Attarik Al-Jedid of the
Renewal
Party reported some immediate improvements. Printers have been
instructed to
release these papers for distribution and not to keep them waiting for
two or
three days. The announcement is still to be put into law therefore the
improvements noted so far reflect only a more efficient operation of
the
existing system of prior censorship.
At the same time, the TMG has witnessed at first hand
the authorities refusal to allow new independent journals. Mission
members,
Mark Bench, Executive Director of the World Press Freedom Committee
(WPFC) and
Alexis Krikorian, Director, Freedom to Publish of the International
Publishers’
Association (IPA) on 10 September 2005 accompanied Sihem Bensedrine,
editor of
the online magazine Kalima and two other contributors to the Ministry
of the
Interior in Tunis to register the declaration of the establishment of
Kalima.
In violation of Article 13 of the Tunisian Press Code the Interior
Ministry
official refused to acknowledge receipt of their request. It is the
fourth time
since 1998 that the Interior Ministry refused to comply with Tunisian
law by
handing Bensedrine a receipt acknowledging that she officially informed
them of
her request to establish a newspaper.
As far as
content is concerned, the Tunisian print media is lacking in pluralism.
Lack of
criticism of the government and the absence of balanced and fair
reporting are
two important features of the papers owned by the state and the ruling
Democratic
Constitutional Rally (RCD), as well as by the private sector press.
Privately
owned papers continue to avoid coverage of issues which might anger the
authorities, such as corruption and government attacks on human rights.
Even the
Tunisian Association of Journalists (AJT), which is not independent of
government, has produced a report highlighting deterioration of the
press
situation in the country. Neji Bghouri, an AJT Board member, was
summoned by
the police district in Tunis on 7 May 2005, and, together with two other members of the Board of AJT who
reportedly authored the report, accepted to stop its further
distribution.
8.
Torture
In the first report of the IFEX TMG we reported credible accounts of
recent use of torture by the security
services with
impunity.
We recommended to the Tunisian government to allow independent
investigation into cases of torture allegedly perpetrated by security
forces.
At the time of the second report we have witnessed some progress on
prison conditions, but no real progress on our main recommendation.
Despite
progress, prison conditions also remain a source of major concern.
We therefore restate the February recommendation and urge that the
Tunisian government take every effort to completely eliminate the
practice of
torture by the security services.
President Ben Ali announced in April 2005 a decision
to ease the inhumane conditions inflicted for years on political
prisoners. In
particular he announced the ending of the practice of involuntary
solitary
confinement, imposed on prisoners like journalist Hamadi Jebali. In
addition it
was announced that the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC)
would
be allowed to visit Tunisian prisons. The TMG and other international
human
rights groups have welcomed this.
On the other hand we are aware that prison conditions,
in other respects, have not markedly improved and remain very poor. We
continue
to be gravely concerned that torture remains prevalent within the
practices of
the security services and that documented cases of torture are not
being
properly investigated or open to proper independent investigation.
C.
CONCLUSIONS
As
the WSIS draws
nearer, attacks on freedom of expression and freedom of association
have
escalated since January 2005.
The
circle
of people
targeted by such attacks has also widened. It is no longer the usual
group of
uncompromising human rights defenders, whom Tunisian authorities have
been
trying to silence by a number of means, including imprisonment, police
harassment and confiscation of passports.
Journalists,
magistrates, academics and others are making it clear that they too
wish to
assert and to exercise their right to the freedom of expression,
particularly
at a time when the country braces itself to host the second phase of
the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
Many
thought that the WSIS would be a good opportunity for the Tunisian
government
to start improving its human rights record and to loosen its grip over
the
media, the publishing industry and the Internet.
Despite a few
positive steps forward, the Tunisia Monitoring Group concluded, during
its
third mission, that it would be extremely difficult to achieve real
improvement
in respect for the right to freedom of expression without an
independent
judiciary and respect for the rule of law, without an independent media
to hold
government and public servants to account, and without freedom of
assembly and
association.
Tunisians of different political trends who met with
TMG members maintain that they deserve to live in a democracy and that
progress
in terms of rule of law and the right to freedom of expression needs to
be
backed by the international community. They argue that democratic
countries in
particular should speak out and insist that the privilege of hosting a
United
Nations World Summit requires a demonstrable commitment to upholding
internationally agreed human rights.
|