HIGHER COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: INDEPENDENT,

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 000440

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO TS
SUBJECT: HIGHER COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: INDEPENDENT,
BUT TOOTHLESS?

REF: A. TUNIS 434

B. TUNIS 169

C. TUNIS 39

D. 07 TUNIS 770

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

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Summary
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1. (C) During a May 2 meeting with the Ambassador, Higher
Commission for Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties (HCHR)
President Moncer Rouissi outlined the progress of new
legislation giving the HCHR greater independence. The
changes, however, look good on paper but may end up being
mostly cosmetic. After a promising start (Ref D),the GOT
seems to be reigning in Rouissi, who did not stray from GOT
talking points on human rights. Rouissi also dwelt on the
ongoing problems of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH),
which he blamed on LTDH President Mokhtar Trifi's ineffective
leadership. Separately, Trifi told PolOffs on April 29 that
Rouissi has been reluctant to engage the LTDH. While the
LTDH is open to mediation of its ongoing "crisis," Trifi
said, the LTDH is having difficulty finding an interlocutor
in the GOT. End Summary.

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HCHR Talks the Talk, Kind Of
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2. (C) Higher Commission for Human Rights and Fundamental
Liberties (HCHR) President Moncer Rouissi welcomed the chance
to brief the Ambassador on the status of legislation giving
the HCHR more independence. The institution was founded by
presidential degree, and Rouissi opined that parliamentary
legislation confers more legitimacy. Rather than being
dependent on the Prime Ministry for its budget, once the
legislation is passed, the HCHR will become a separate line
item in the budget. The law grants more fiscal and
administrative autonomy, and also allows the HCHR to "address
the public directly." At the moment, the HCHR acts as a
sounding board and mediator, but does not proactively conduct
outreach, nor are any of its reports made public. According
to Rouissi, under the new legislation, the commission would
still report to the president, but it would also be able to
make public statements. The proposed law also confers
authority to recommend changes to Tunisian law in order to
better conform Tunisian human rights law to international
law. According to Rouissi, the most important change
proposed in the draft legislation is that the new commission
will be able to select which issues it would like to focus on
or investigate. Currently, the HCHR can only launch
inquiries at President Ben Ali's behest.


3. (C) The Ambassador stressed to Rouissi that the Embassy
would welcome a dialogue on human rights, but Rouissi
sidestepped the offer by saying that "international
organizations" are outside the HCHR's current mandate, and
suggesting that the Ambassador raise the issue with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Justice and
Human Rights (MOJHR). (Note: The Ambassador has already
made the same request to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and
the other senior GOT officials. The MOJHR has declined to
meet with Post's Human Rights Officer for over a year.) As
one of the HCHR's primary duties involves inspecting prisons,
the Ambassador remarked that the Embassy has received
multiples reports of sub-standard prison conditions, most
recently those of imprisoned journalist Slim Boukhdhir (Ref
B). Rouissi became defensive, repeating multiple times that
prison conditions had improved considerably during the last
several years. He went so far as to say, "We don't hear
anymore of bad treatment in Tunisian prisons...it,s
basically been eliminated." Rouissi characterized Boukhdhir
as "a case for the media." He did acknowledge, however, that
the period before prisoners are transferred into Ministry of
Justice custody, during which they are in Ministry of
Interior custody, warrants further scrutiny.

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Around and Around and Around They Go...
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4. (C) The Ambassador's inquiry about Rouissi,s efforts to
resolve the ongoing LTDH "crisis" provoked another lengthy
defense. Despite various attempts at mediation, a drawn-out
legal battle (commonly referred to as the LTDH "crisis") has
virtually paralyzed all activities of the LTDH, the Arab
world's oldest human rights league (Ref C). Rouissi claimed

that the LTDH situation was close to a resolution in June
2007, after he met with representatives from both factions.
At that time, he assured Trifi that he could hold meetings at
the LTDH headquarters in Tunis to debate the proposal, as
long as he did not attempt to hold a national council
meeting. Trifi subsequently issued a press release calling
for all chapters of the LTDH to meet and discuss the
negotiated agreement, which triggered a renewed police
presence that halted all meetings. Rouissi insinuated to the
Ambassador that Trifi is incompetent, untrustworthy, and
lacks the confidence of the LTDH central committee. At one
point, he also claimed that factions within the LTDH like the
ongoing paralysis because it gives them a chance to play the
victim.


5. (C) During PolOffs, April 29 meeting with Trifi, he
countered that Rouissi has refused to speak with him since
December 2007. Trifi opined that he is open to meeting with
those who filed suit against the LTDH, but feels that any
settlement must be blessed by the LTDH's membership at large,
in order to avoid a repeat of the legal wrangling that led to
the crisis in the first place. He also noted that the LTDH's
central committee has developed a "roadmap," a document which
Rouissi refuses to accept. Rouissi alluded to Trifi,s
letter in his meeting with the Ambassador, saying that he
didn't need to see the plan because he was sure it wouldn't
contain anything he hadn't already seen before. Trifi told
PolOffs that while the LTDH is open to mediation, it is
having difficulty finding an interlocutor in the GOT now that
Rouissi is no longer willing to play that role.

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Comment
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6. (C) In practice, the new legislation may do little to
affect the HCHR's day-to-day operations, and little in
Rouissi's demeanor indicated that he is willing to take
advantage of what increased freedom the new legislation does
offer. Whether the HCHR is a line item in the Prime
Ministry's budget or the overall budget is essentially
irrelevant, as both budgets are drafted by officials of the
ruling Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) party at the
President's behest. President Ben Ali has the power to make
any of the HCHR's reports public, but has not done so to
date. It is unlikely that even with its newfound ability to
address the public the commission would publish anything on
human rights without the Presidency's express approval. The
same is true of any investigations it might care to launch.


7. (C) Though Rouissi had some initial success acting as a
liaison between civil society and the GOT (Ref B),the GOT
seems to have reined him in. He did not deviate from GOT
talking points on human rights, and was defensive at several
points during the meeting. Rouissi had the chance to push
for meaningful change; resolving the LTDH's difficulties
would have been a feather in the GOT's cap. Sufficient
international pressure might prompt the GOT to encourage a
resolution, but given French President Sarkozy's recent
positive comments on human rights (Ref A),getting France and
EU member states on board will be a hard sell. End Comment.
GODEC