A colloquium was held at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on June 11, 1997, on the theme of "the human rights situation in Tunisia within the framework of the association agreement with the European Union". Invited by the main groups in the European Parliament, the colloquium brought together some twenty members of parliament, five international human rights organizations, Tunisian guests and some thirty other participants. Its aim was to provoke an open and contradictory debate on the issue of human rights in Tunisia, in order to help create conditions conducive to the effective and fair implementation of the provisions of the Association Agreement relating to these issues. As the Tunisian government claims, there was no intention to replace the institutional and regulatory frameworks of the European Parliament. It should be recalled that Article 2 of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Tunisia, which provides for a mutual right of scrutiny by the contracting parties on issues of human rights and democracy, was negotiated and signed by the current Tunisian government, then ratified following a unanimous vote by the Tunisian Parliament. These provisions must of course be implemented within the framework of the regulatory and institutional mechanisms provided for this purpose. But it presupposes, at the very least, that the Tunisian government accepts public and adversarial debate on the question of human rights and freedoms. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case. The CRLDHT was in regular contact with parliamentary groups and international NGOs.
A colloquium was held at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on June 11, 1997, on the theme of "the human rights situation in Tunisia within the framework of the association agreement with the European Union". Invited by the main groups in the European Parliament, the colloquium brought together some twenty members of parliament, five international human rights organizations, Tunisian guests and some thirty other participants. Its aim was to provoke an open and contradictory debate on the issue of human rights in Tunisia, in order to help create conditions conducive to the effective and fair implementation of the provisions of the Association Agreement relating to these issues. As the Tunisian government claims, there was no intention to replace the institutional and regulatory frameworks of the European Parliament. It should be recalled that Article 2 of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Tunisia, which provides for a mutual right of scrutiny by the contracting parties on issues of human rights and democracy, was negotiated and signed by the current Tunisian government, then ratified following a unanimous vote by the Tunisian Parliament. These provisions must of course be implemented within the framework of the regulatory and institutional mechanisms provided for this purpose. But it presupposes, at the very least, that the Tunisian government accepts public and adversarial debate on the question of human rights and freedoms. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case. The CRLDHT was in regular contact with parliamentary groups and international NGOs.
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