Tunis: League for Human Rights focuses on electoral monitoring

Abdessatar Ben Moussa.
(Photo: Chawkitabib.info)

The implementation of an observatory to monitor next month’s elections is the current priority of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH, one of the focal points of Social Watch in that country), announced its new chairperson, Abdessatar Ben Moussa.

Interviewed by Tunis-Afrique Presse (TAP) news agency, Ben Moussa said that the LTDH will focus on coordinating the input from the observatory and putting it into practice with other civil society organizations.

The League is getting ready to monitor the October 23 election of a Constituent Assembly with 6,000 observers and will identify concerns about the transition, mass media and security.

LTDH’s steering committee, elected this month after an 11 year ban, also set the organization’s reconstruction through the renewal of its regional branches and the creation of new ones as its priority, added the 60 year-old lawyer who has represented labor unions in the courts of justice.

It will also seek to keep its action and communication tools up with the times. "It is now necessary for the League to carry on its action, in coordination with other segments of civil society, to establish mechanisms of justice that requires accountability for injustices committed, bringing to court corrupt people and providing indemnification for victims of repression and families of martyrs," said Ben Moussa.

Efforts should also be made, in coordination with public authorities, to promote a culture of human rights and integrate the topics in formal education, he remarked.

The League was created in 1977. Since then, it has withstood hostility and oppression under the totalitarian governments headed by Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, whose regime dissolved the organization and annulled its activities.

In the congress, the League, which had been barred from carrying out all activities under president Ben Ali’s regime, called on the country's next authorities for an independent justice system, respect for women's rights and the end of capital punishment.

More information:
LTDH could hold its congress after 11 years: http://bit.ly/r6XFxX

Based on information published by TAP: http://bit.ly/j8AL6W