TUNISIAN INTELLECTUALS DISCUSS HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001567

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA/MAG (HOPKINS/HARRIS) AND DRL (JOHNSTONE/KLARMAN)
LONDON AND PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO TS
SUBJECT: TUNISIAN INTELLECTUALS DISCUSS HUMAN RIGHTS


Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) To mark International Human Rights Day on December
10, the Ambassador discussed global and local human rights
issues with a group of independent Tunisian intellectuals on
December 6. Though the discussion began with local concerns
about the rights of Guantanamo detainees and the situation in
Iraq, later turning to a broader discussion of Tunisia,
including freedom of association, freedom of expression, and
the problems facing the Tunisian Human Rights League or LTDH,
the oldest human rights league in the Arab World. The
conversation was at its most animated when talking about the
LTDH, reflecting the level of concern the LTDH crisis has
generated within the intellectual and activist community.
End Summary.

--------------
About the Middle East...
--------------



2. (C) To commemorate International Human Rights Day on
December 10, the Ambassador invited a group of Tunisian
independent intellectuals to a discussion of the global and
local human rights issues on December 6. The invitees
included Taieb Baccouche (director of the Tunis-based Arab
Institute for Human Rights),Moncef Ben M'Rad (founder of
Realites magazine and director of Arabic weekly Akhbar Al
Joumhouria),Mahmoud Ben Romdhane (a former member of Amnesty
International's Executive Committee),Mohamed Charfi (a
professor of political science and former Minister of
Education),and Taoufik Bouderbala (a lawyer and former
president of the Tunisian Human Rights League). The
conversation began, as many conversations in Tunisia with USG
representatives do, with Guantanamo and Iraq. While
concerned with the treatment of Guantanamo detainees for the
detainees own sake, the group also made the argument that the
United States has long been held as a model for human rights
and democracy. USG actions in Guantanamo and Iraq, they
said, have undermined the USG's moral authority to promote
democratic reform, leaving human rights activists
disillusioned and abandoned. That said, they added that the
State Department's annual Human Rights Report is still
credible and useful, though its impact is lessened now that
people feel the US has lost the moral high ground. Moncef
Ben M'Rad opined that Guantanamo and Iraq are the primary
reasons for the dozens of negative articles about the United
States appearing weekly in the Tunisian press. Charfi
explained that the Middle East views Iraq through the lens of
a colonial past. Though supportive of diplomatic means that
promote human rights, the presence of troops triggered a
visceral, negative reaction in countries that were almost all
former colonies of European powers.


3. (C) The Ambassador strongly refuted the group,s
characterization about Guantanamo detainee conditions,
pointing out that the USG is actively exploring ways to close
Guantanamo, and that many reports of detainee treatment have
been exaggerated. The Ambassador pointed out that the
detainees have access to religious materials, legal
representation, and medical treatment. He added that the
International Red Cross has access to the detainees. As for
Iraq, the Ambassador explained to Charfi that the Iraqi
government continues to ask US troops to stay in Iraq. The
Ambassador pointed out that the USG liberated Iraq from the
Saddam regime, and the group concurred that Saddam was
responsible for the disappearance of thousands of Iraqis.
The Ambassador opined that while the press devotes a good
deal of energy to dissecting the American presence in Iraq,
it spends little time criticizing the violent attacks of
al-Qaeda and sectarian militia.

--------------
Back in Tunisia...
--------------


4. (C) Turning to Tunisia, Bouderbala stressed that he was
disappointed by the level of European engagement in Tunisia.
He specifically referenced the situation with the Tunisian
Human Rights League (LTDH). Despite various attempts at
mediation, a drawn-out legal battle has virtually paralyzed
all activities of the Arab world's oldest human rights league
(Ref A). Bouderbala lamented the fact that European powers
have not done more to encourage a resolution. Baccouche
opined that the LTDH situation is indicative of the larger
situation in Tunisia with regard to freedom of expression.
He explained that there is a general GOT intolerance of
dissenting viewpoints in Tunisia, and that there is no open
debate about issues such as censorship. For example, he
said, the Arab Institute for Human Rights has several books
that have been distributed elsewhere in the Middle East, but
are banned in Tunisia. The GOT has never responded to the
Institute's attempts to discuss the situation, nor has the
GOT ever explained the reasons behind the decision.
Bouderbala concurred and said that the GOT's problem with the
LTDH is that it could not accept an independent organization
that wouldn't respond to chastising phone calls telling it
how to behave. He opined that when the GOT accepted the
existence of an independent LTDH, the "crisis" would resolve
itself. The group disagreed a bit on the question of whether
not any political progress has been made during the twenty
years of President Ben Ali,s rule, or simply very limited
progress. But all generally agreed that freedom of
expression is restricted.


5. (C) Turning from the GOT's role in the LTDH situation,
Ben M'Rad added that part of the LTDH's problem stems from
the fact that the organization grew too political over the
years. The LTDH, he said, was founded to be a non-partisan
organization for the promotion of human rights, not an
opposition party. He opined that the presence of opposition
party representatives in the LTDH opened the organization to
political critique and diminished objectivity. Bouderbala
countered with his opinion that while he agreed that
opposition party members should not import their party's
objectives into the LTDH, the LTDH can and should welcome
opposition party representatives so as to export the LTDH's
objectives of human rights promotion into political parties.
Baccouche, who recently returned from a meeting of
international human rights organizations in Cairo, mentioned
that he had spoken to Moncer Rouissi, President of the
governmental Higher Council for Human Rights and Basic
Liberties, about the LTDH. According to Baccouche, Rouissi
is open to brokering a resolution between the various
(pro-GOT and independent) LTDH factions, but felt that a
compromise could not include the return of current LTDH
president Mokhtar Trifi. Bouderbala said that during
separate conversations with both Rouissi and Trifi, he
received the impression that each was waiting for the other
to reach out. He concluded that the LTDH should stop
attempting to negotiate the GOT, and simply organize itself
and move forward.

--------------
Comment
--------------


6. (C) Sentiments about the LTDH clearly run deep among
intellectuals and civil society activists. Part of this can
be accounted for by the fact that for over twenty years, the
LTDH was a haven for human rights defenders -- Activists who
now find themselves without a home. Due to direct or
indirect measures taken by the GOT, most organizations that
may have served an organizing role, be it for human rights
activists, opposition party members, or independent
journalists, have found their ability to operate openly and
legally restricted or eliminated (e.g. the Tunisian
Journalists Syndicate, the Tunisian Green Party, etc.).
Because forums in which issues such as the LTDH can be freely
discussed are limited, the Embassy will continue to host
intellectuals and civil society activists in a variety of
venues to promote greater debate and exchange about human
rights issues. End Comment.
GODEC