Tunisia - Serious concerns for World Summit on the Information Society

A joint monitoring visit to Tunisia undertaken by members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) has found serious cause for continuing concern about the current state of freedom of expression and of civil liberties in Tunisia, including gross restrictions on freedom of the press, media, publishing and the Internet.

The visit, which took place from 14 to 19 January 2005, was the first of the IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group and was organised in preparation for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a United Nations intergovernmental conference to be held in Tunis in November 2005. The purpose of the visit was to evaluate the state of freedom of expression in Tunisia and to assess the conditions for participation in the Summit.

The delegation, consisting of representatives of Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, International Publishers Association, Norwegian PEN, World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters and the World Press Freedom Committee, met with Tunisian writers, publishers and human rights organisations as well as government officials and government-sponsored agencies.

The delegation found serious cause for continuing concern in the following areas:

1. Blocking of websites, including news and information websites.
2. Blocking of the distribution of books and publications.
3. Restrictions on the freedom of association, including the right of organisations to be legally established and to hold meetings.
4. Restrictions on movement of human rights activists together with police surveillance, intimidation and interception of communications.
5. Lack of pluralism in broadcast ownership, with only one private broadcaster.
6. Press censorship and lack of diversity of content in newspapers.
7. Imprisonment of individuals for their opinions and media activities.
8. Use of torture by the security services with impunity.


The IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group is preparing a full report on the current state of freedom of expression in Tunisia with recommendations for improvement. The report, to be published at the next preparatory committee meeting of the WSIS, will provide indicators for monitoring freedom of expression in Tunisia in the run up to the World Summit. The WSIS Preparatory Committee is to meet in Geneva 17-25 February 2005.

MORE INFORMATION:



For further information, contact EOHR, tel: +20 2 363 6811/362 0467; Norwegian PEN, tel: + 47 22479220; WiPC, tel: +44 207 253 3226; IPA, tel: +41 22 346 30 18; AMARC, tel: +1 514 982 0351; WPFC, tel: +1 703 715 9811

[The IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group consists of Article 19, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), Index on Censorship, International PEN Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), International Publishers Association (IPA), Journaliste en Danger (JED), Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Norwegian PEN, World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC).]

**For further information on WSIS, see IFEX alerts of 30 and 25 November, 21 June, 18 and 7 May and 1 April 2004, 30 September, 25 July, 12 June, 27, 24, 13 and 5 February 2003**

Just published.........
" But I am very surprised to see that they don't include any youth representative for WGIG..."

Members of the Working Group on Internet Governance have been nominated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Chairman

- Nitin Desai, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for the World Summit on the Information Society

Members

- Abdullah Al-Darrab, Deputy Governor of Technical Affairs, ICT Commission of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh

- Carlos Alfonso, Technical Director, RIT, Rio de Janeiro




- Peng Hwa Ang, Dean, School of Communication, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore




- Karen Banks, Director, GreenNet, Association for Progressive Communications, London

- Faryel Beji, President and CEO, Tunisian Internet Agency, Tunis

- Vittorio Bertola, ICANN At-large Advisory Committee, Turin




- José Alexandre Bicalho, Member, Brazilian Internet Steering Committee; Advisor to the Board of Directors of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel)




- Kangsik Cheon, Chief Operating Officer, International Business Development,Netpia, Seoul




- Trevor Clarke, Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations in Geneva


- Avri Doria, Technical Consultant, Providence, Rhode Island

- William Drake, Senior Associate, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Geneva; Chairman, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility

- Raúl Echeberría, Executive Director, LACNIC, Montevideo




- Dev Erriah, Chairman, ICT Authority of Mauritius, Port Louis, Mauritius

- Baher Esmat, Telecom Planning Manager, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Egypt, Cairo

- Mark Esseboom, Director of Strategy and International Affairs, Directorate General for Telecom and Post, Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands, The Hague

- Juan Fernandez, Coordinator of the Commission of Electronic Commerce of Cuba, Havana

- Ayesha Hassan, Senior Policy Manager for E-Business, IT and Telecoms, International Chamber of Commerce, Paris

- Qiheng Hu, Adviser to the Science and Technology Commission of the Ministry of Information Industry of China; Former Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing

- Willy Jensen, Director, Norwegian Post and Telecom Authority, Oslo

- Wolfgang Kleinwächter, Professor, International Communication Policy and Regulation, University of Aarhus

- Jovan Kurbalija, Director, DiploFoundation, Geneva

- Iosif Charles Legrand, Researcher, California Institute of Technology and CERN, Geneva

- Donald MacLean, Director, MacLean Consulting, Ottawa

- Allen Miller, Executive Director, World Information Technology and Services Alliance, Arlington, Virginia

- Juan Carlos Moreno Solines, Executive Director, Gobierno Digital, Quito

- Jacqueline A. Morris, Consultant, Port of Spain

- Olivier Nana Nzépa, Coordinator, Africa Civil Society, Yaoundé

- Alejandro Pisanty, Director of Computing Academic Services, Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico-City

- Khalilullah Qazi, Counselor, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations in Geneva

- Rajashekar Ramaraj, Managing Director, Sify Limited, Chennai (formerly Madras)

- Masaaki Sakamaki, Director, Computer Communications Division, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Tokyo

- Joseph Sarr, President, NTIC Commission, Dakar Regional Council, Dakar

- Peimann Seadat, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations in Geneva

- Charles Sha’ban, IT Manager, Talal Abu- Ghazaleh International, Amman

- Lyndall Shope-Mafole, Chairperson, Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development, South Africa, Pretoria

- Waudo Siganga, Chairman, Computer Society of Kenya, Nairobi

- Mikhail Vladimirovich Yakushev, Director of the legal support department, Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, Russian Federation, Moscow

- Peter Zangl, Deputy Director-General, Information Society Directorate General, European Commission, Brussels

- Jean-Paul Zens, First Counsellor, Director of the Media and Telecom Department, Ministry of State of Luxembourg

A Swiss national, Mr. Charles Geiger, has been named the leader of the new team to organise the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Mr. Yoshio Utusumi, the agency charged with organizing the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), has announced the appointment of a team to organize the second phase of WSIS, slated to hold in Tunis next year.


Champion Infotel recalls that the second phase would be held in Tunis between November 16 and 18 November 2005, while the first phase was held in Geneva last December.

Making the announcement, Mr. Utsumi, who also is the Secretary General of WSIS, said that Mr. Charles Geiger has been appointed Executive Director (ED) of the WSIS Executive Secretariat, which is based at ITU Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

In cooperation with the intergovernmental WSIS Bureau, the new ED is charged with the overall planning and implementation of the organization of the summit including its preparatory process.

Mr. Geiger, who was seconded by his government to the Executive Secretariat in 2001 has been serving as Assistant Executive Director since January 2004. He has assumed duty since November 1, 2004 in his new office.

Before now, Mr. Geiger held senior positions in the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Other members of the team include three senior officials of ITU, namely Mr. Art Levin, chief of the ITU coordination, External Relations and Communication Units, Dr. Tim Kelly, Chief of ITU Strategy and Policy Unit, and Mr. Fernando Lagrana, Executive of ITU Telecom.

Charged with the development of ITU's overall strategy for the summit and coordinating its participation, Mr. Levin will be in charge of strategic relations with the High-Level Summit Organizing Committee (HLSOC) and will lead the negotiations for the host country agreement.

For Dr. Kelly, who has been saddled with the preparation of all input documents and provision of support to the Group of Friends of the Chair, he is also responsible for stocktaking of activities undertaken at national, regional and international levels to implement the Plan of Action adopted at the Geneva phase.

Responsibility for preparation and coordination of the necessary logistics to be deployed for such a large-scale, high profile summit will be under the care of Mr. Lagrana.

A press statement from WSIS secretariat, said that Working with Member States and Information Society partners, the organizing team will help build on the momentum gained in Geneva to create the framework for an equitable Information Society.

Based on the principles crafted and agreed in Geneva and the Plan of Action that define the top-level objectives to create an all-inclusive and equitables Information Society, the task of the second phase of the summit will be to refine some of the broader goals and come out with specifics needed to translate them into measurable results.

WSIS phase two is expected to provide solutions on how to implement and follow up the Geneva decisions by stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels and complete the unfinished business in Geneva on Internet Governance and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Financing.

::Press Release:: Dhaka May19, 2004: A Seminar on “Youth Involvement in WSIS process” held today at BNCU (Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO) Seminar room arranged by Bangladesh Youth Forum for ICT (BYF), Supported by Bangladesh ICT Journalist Forum (BIJF). BYF on ICT is Young Voices for a Bangladesh Vision on ICT for of the youth segment. They are moving & working dedicatedly with their Slogan “Turn the Local Youth into Digital Work Force”. In the seminar, BYF on ICT showed some their activities with some upcoming activities. They also express their request for the support of Government, Civil Society & Private Sector. They declared that, with the support of the respected sectors, they will be able to show their expertise & dedication to meet the Challenges in relevant field, in WSIS (World Summit on the Information society) process. This Youth movement is very encouraging for our ICT sector. Every guest from respected Government Sector, Civil Society & Private sector has encouraged the initiative of BYF for focusing on a prime sector like ICT. They have expressed their support for BYF. Which is really encouraging for promising youth to give a new look to the ICT sector. Chief Guest was Mr.Omar Faruque Khan. Secretary, Science & ICT Ministry expresses his deep concern of the BYF on ICT activities. He assured his co operation. Mr. Ashhabur Rahman, Additional Secretary, Education Ministry was present there as special guest while Mr. A.N.M Bazlur Rahman,Secretary, BNCU Chaired the function. Md. Shahid Uddin Akbar, coordinator, ICTDPB (Information & communication Technology for the Development Program Bangladesh) presented a key note in the seminar. Also Mr.Golap Munir, Editor, Computer Jagat, Mr.T.I.M Nurul Kabir, Vice-President, BASIS, Mr.Fahim Mashrur, Chief Executive Office, BDJobs, Mr. Ahmedul Islam Babu, President, Bangladesh ICT Journalist forum and Ms. Rozen, Vice President, Bangladesh Youth Forum on ICT also took part as a discussant on the key note paper.

World Telecommunication Day celebrates the founding of the International Telecommunication Union in 1865.

As one of the activities in support of the theme of 'ICTs: Leading the way to sustainable development' we are conducting a survey to obtain views on the perceived importance of the targets for improving connectivity and access in the use of ICTs as determined by the World Summit on the Information Society.

The survey will remain open for responses until 10 May 2004. The results of the survey will be posted in the newsroom of the ITU website as of 17 May 2004.

More & Survey Page: http://www.itu.int/newsroom/wtd/2004/survey/
Email Message:
From: WSIS Executive Secretariat
To: WSIS Stakeholders
Message:
The International Telecommunication Union, the organizing entity of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), is conducting a survey to obtain views on the perceived importance of agreed upon targets for improving connectivity and access in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
The targets outlined in the WSIS Plan of Action were agreed to by 176 countries represented at the first phase of the Summit in Geneva, 10 - 12 December 2003. The survey is available for your input.

We welcome the input of all those interested in Information Society issues.
_______________________________________________
Md. Akteruzzaman, Bangladesh Youth Forum on ICT
http://projects.takingitglobal.org/byf
_______________________________________________