Posted on 09/28/2005 7:15:01 PM PDT by Zuben Elgenubi
U.N. Defends Having Tech Summit in Tunisia
By Nick Wadhams
Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 28, 2005 9:20 PM EST
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Facing heated protest, the United Nations on Wednesday defended Tunisia's hosting of a U.N. summit about Internet access in the developing world, even though the north African nation has been repeatedly accused of rights abuses that include blocking Web sites it dislikes.
Earlier this week, a coalition of human rights groups known as the Tunisia Monitoring Group issued a report that declared Tunisia unfit to hold the World Summit on the Information Society, set for November, because of reports that the government has stepped up attacks on the press and civil society.
The group, which has frequently criticized the selection of Tunisia as the host country, said the government has blocked access to Web sites belonging to Reporters Without Borders, other human rights watchdogs, and the independent press, while police monitor e-mails and Internet cafes.
"It does question to some extent the U.N.'s credibility that a world summit on the information society is taking place in a society where access to some Web sites is restricted," said Alexis Krikorian, of the International Publishers' Association. "It's amazing that such a summit would take place in a country like this."
Krikorian said that the Tunisia Monitoring Group had tried to raise its concerns in a meeting Monday on the sidelines of a Geneva preparatory conference. But as panelists spoke, representatives of Tunisian non-governmental groups at the event stood up and shouted them down.
Tunisia proposed the summit in 1998, and member states of the U.N. communications agency, the International Telecommunications Union, agreed to hold it in two parts — in Geneva in 2003, and then in Tunis this November. The decision was endorsed in 2002 by the 191-nation U.N. General Assembly, and no nation has ever raised formal objections.
The International Telecommunications Union, which is organizing the event, said it was obliged to carry out decisions by its member states. Those nations would be the ones to decide to hold the summit elsewhere, spokeswoman Francine Lambert said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the summit could help pressure President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Tunisia has long been accused of human rights abuses, while Ben Ali, who took power in a bloodless palace coup in 1987, has repeatedly won landslide electoral victories tainted by charges of fraud.
"These kinds of international conferences can be beneficial to the people in the country hosting them," Dujarric said. "It opens up the country to the outside world and such a spotlight of attention gives the government strong incentives to try to meet international standards, including on human rights."
Dujarric said that at the time Tunisia was selected, countries had wanted a developing nation to host the summit as a way of showing the importance of bringing Internet access to the developing world. He would not say if the United Nations or Annan had urged Tunisia to curb abuses ahead of the summit.
Rights groups have said that abuses have only gotten worse in Tunisia in recent months. The Tunisia Monitoring Group's latest report documented a "serious deterioration" of the situation there. It cited harassment of journalists and questions about the independence of Tunisia's judiciary.
The report cited the case of a lawyer and rights activist named Mohamed Abbou, who was jailed in April after he wrote an article a year ago equating Tunisia's abuse of political prisoners with American treatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Tunisian officials at the country's U.N. mission in New York either refused to comment or were unavailable. Ambassador Ali Hachani was in meetings, his secretary said, while a Tunisian diplomat helping prepare for the summit refused to discuss the issue.
But a senior Tunisian government official in Tunis, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to talk with the media, said Abbou was jailed for attacking another lawyer and rejected the group's other claims about restricted Web access and freedom of the press.
Earlier this month, the Tunisian government issued a statement saying it has made an "irreversible commitment" to respecting human rights since Ben Ali took power in 1987. That statement came in response to European Union concerns over allegations that Tunisia's courts were obstructing the work of a domestic human rights group.
The summit has attracted several international sponsors, including Samsung, Microsoft, Alcatel and Ericsson.
The summit Web site includes a message in which Ben Ali calls the summit an opportunity to help bridge the digital divide and bring about "an Information Society that is balanced and accessible to all."
Tunisia, eh? Will there be bees in the cornfield?
Where the hell is Tunisia located anyway? ;)
UN is a joke!
Before you insult a country I have been there and assisted their Navy for about 2 months in the mid 70's. I worked with them to repair their flagship the President Bourghiba. I fact I met with him and recieved a letter of commendation from him.
Tunis is the main city and is fairly modern. The people are Arab and the language is French and Arabic. The country got its independance from France in the mid 1950's and it is a quasi-democracy. The people are industrious and are pretty literate.
Tunisia is between Lybia and Albania just South of Sardinia, Italy.
Good for you! What do you want me to do now, bow to him because he gave you a commendation?
I do know very well were Tunisia is and what it is all about, hardly the capital world of Internet ISP's.
This is the biggest joke UN pulled as of late. TUNISIA as a Internet Hub?...give me a freaking break!
You want a hub?...check out Hong Kong,Taiwan and USofA (we own/command the Internet Hubs anyways).
It looks like ol'Kofi is pulling a fast one.[some grease (Tunisian)money perhaps?]
You know, if all the countries who are prepared to send delegations to this conference had the slightest idea of what they were talking about and had any expertise to offer, they could demonstrate that condition by doing this pow-wow via NetMeeting. For free. Except for the fact that doing so would mean they couldn't sit down to multiple-fork meals and stay at hotels and be driven around in fancy cars, all paid for by others. Pretty clearly, whatever they spend on their party isn't going to be spent on realizing their internet plans. But the upside is that they can have another meeting next year to discuss the progress they haven't made.
Man, I am getting uncomfortable with the idea of the UN having anything, ANYTHING to do with the 'net.
I'm not so concerned for the location as I am the subject. The UN can build it's own internet and see if the free market supports it. That's my thought.
At any rate, collective entities United States created the internet. If the UN wants to pay us for the work, I'd be interested in seeing the figures.
You know, it just scares me to think of how fast someone like Hillary in the White House would sign an agreement on this. It'd be like; "Oh, OK." and this would all be over.
We cannot ever let the rats take control again.
Yeah. You could bow.
Yeah. You could bow.
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