Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-12-14-Speech-4-194"
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"en.20001214.8.4-194"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, Tunisia has undertaken, within the framework of its association agreement with the European Union, to respect human rights and democratic principles.
Following numerous violations of human rights in Tunisia, Parliament adopted a resolution on 15 June 2000. But the facts remain. Even if a few passports have been returned, even if President Ben Ali delivered a speech on the freedom of the press and improved prison conditions on the anniversary of his taking power, there has been a marked deterioration in the human rights situation in Tunisia.
The human rights league has been suspended, its premises placed under seal and its president, Moktar Trifi, has been summoned to appear in court, as you have just heard, on 25 December. The Secretary-General of the league, Khemaïs Ksila, who has already spent two years in prison, has been sentenced to a heavy fine which he cannot afford to pay and therefore risks another spell in prison. The spokesman of the Tunisian National Council for Liberties, Professor Moncef Marzouki, is due to appear in court this week, on 16 December, and risks ten years in prison. The civil association RAID ATTAC Tunisia, the leaders of which were imprisoned at the beginning of the year, has still not been authorised. The Aloes publishing house, which has been closed down several times, is prevented from publishing freely. The lawyer acting for many political prisoners, Radhia Nasraoui, cannot visit her clients in prison. When militants and those in charge of these associations decide to meet in order to celebrate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, their houses are surrounded by police and anyone trying to enter is harassed in the street by men dressed in civilian clothes. These men and women are the Sakharovs, the Vaclav Havels, Abraham Serfatis and Nelson Mandelas of our times. We should be at their side because they are defending the values which we hold dear and which the Tunisian Government and authorities have promised to respect under the association agreement.
We therefore call on the Commission to ensure that the terms agreed and undertakings made under this agreement are respected. We call on it to intervene as a matter of urgency in the cases which we have cited and which give us the greatest cause for concern. Finally, we call on the Commission to re-examine the conditions under which the MEDA Democracy programme is being applied because we find it incredible that the Tunisian authorities have retained a right of control. As with the countries of the former Yugoslavia, we think that the Union should be able to provide direct support to newspapers, publishing houses and independent democratic associations."@en1
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