AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT

Index: MDE 29/018/2010 Date: 1 October 2010 Morocco and Tunisia: Respect and protect the work of human rights defenders Amnesty International deplores the action taken yesterday by the Moroccan authorities to bar a prominent Tunisian human rights defender from entering the country. The organization calls on both the Moroccan and Tunisian authorities to respect and protect the work of human rights defenders. Kamel Jendoubi, who campaigns against human rights violations in Tunisia, was stopped at the airport yesterday and prevented from entering the country, apparently following pressure from the Tunisian authorities.

Kamel Jendoubi, a French-Tunisian national, had travelled from Paris to Morocco on Thursday evening to attend a gathering of human rights activists. He was prevented from leaving the plane, but was reportedly given no explanation for why he was not allowed to enter the country. He told Amnesty International that he was effectively forced to spend the night on the plane, in spite of his ill-health, before returning to Paris on Friday morning.

The decision to prevent Kamel Jendoubi from entering Morocco is believed to have been the result of pressure from the Tunisian authorities; although Moroccan officials are reported not to have provided Kamel Jendoubi with an official reason for the ban. Amnesty International has documented how, in recent months, the Tunisian authorities have cracked down on human rights activists who try to bring Tunisia’s dire human rights record to the attention of the international community.

On 15 June, the Tunisian parliament approved amendments to Article 61bis of the Penal Code, which make contacting foreign bodies to harm Tunisia’s “economic security” a criminal offence. Amnesty International believes that such legal reforms are clearly intended to target human rights activists, such as Kamel Jendoubi, who have lobbied institutions such as the European Union (EU) regarding Tunisia’s human rights record. Most recently, on 16 September 2010, Kamel Jendoubi together with representatives of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, attended a meeting in Brussels on Tunisia with the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy.

Tunisia’s repression of human rights activists and other independent voices in the country is increasingly seen as clearing the way for trade talks with the EU. Tunisia and the European Union began talks to grant Tunisia an “advanced status” – like the one enjoyed by Morocco – on 27 September.

Amnesty International calls on Tunisia and Morocco to comply with the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Article 5 of which states that “For the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels… To meet or assemble peacefully.”

Barring Kamel Jendoubi from entering Morocco highlights the misplaced cooperation between states in the Middle East and North Africa to curb the activities of rights defenders.

Background Kamel Jendoubi is the president of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN). He is also President of the France-based Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia (Comité pour le respect des libertés et des droits de l’homme en Tunisie, CRLDHT).