(IFEX-TMG) – The following is a 13 June 2005 joint declaration by members of the IFEX-TMG: IFEX TMG Members Urge Tunisian Authorities to Release Books Blocked Through the Legal Submission Procedure IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) members welcome the announcement of President Ben Ali on 27 May 2005 to abolish the legal submission procedure (and […]
(IFEX-TMG) – The following is a 13 June 2005 joint declaration by members of the IFEX-TMG:
IFEX TMG Members Urge Tunisian Authorities to Release Books Blocked Through the Legal Submission Procedure
IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) members welcome the announcement of President Ben Ali on 27 May 2005 to abolish the legal submission procedure (and related sanctions) applicable to the press. However, IFEX TMG members remain concerned that the Tunisian legal submission system continues to be used as an indirect form of censorship for other media, in particular books.
Consequently, IFEX-TMG members call upon the Tunisian authorities to implement this measure announced on 27 May as soon as possible and to end all forms of legal, administrative and economic pressures restricting free expression and preventing the development of independent journalism. Furthermore, IFEX-TMG members request from the Tunisian authorities that they stop misusing the legal submission procedure to block the distribution of books in the country and therefore release all the blocked books and publications in Tunisia.
The Tunisian legal submission system, which is governed by Articles 4 – 12 of the 1975 Press Code and a 1977 decree, is in practice used as an indirect form of censorship.
The printer (or publisher) of a book deposits a given number of copies with the Ministry of Culture, the National Library, the Ministry of the Interior and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. In exchange, the printer (or publisher) should receive a receipt (récépissé) from the administration, which he or she rarely gets in practice. In fact, the authorities require printing (or publishing) houses to await approval by the Ministry of the Interior in the form of a receipt before allowing the printer to proceed with the distribution of a given book. In practice, this means that books are often locked up for years and might never be published if no receipt is ever issued. Therefore, the legal submission procedure amounts to a hidden form of censorship, preventing the free distribution of books.
The misuse of the Tunisian legal submission procedure by the authorities has led to a great number of books never being released into free circulation. The IFEX-TMG found out that the submission procedure, as it is in practice, has blocked the publication of some books for 10 years or more. The misuse also encourages widespread self-censorship in the country.
Many of the banned books have been written by prominent intellectual and democracy advocates, like Mohamed Talbi and Moncef Marzouki. Many of the banned books have also been edited by centres or groups committed to scientific research and human rights education, such as the Temimi Foundation, the Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR) and the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD).
Lars Grahn, President of the Freedom to Publish Committee of the International Publishers’ Association (IPA), declares: “The release of all the blocked books and publications in Tunisia would be interpreted by IFEX-TMG members as a step in the right direction from the Tunisian authorities. This measure would also help combat widespread self-censorship”.
For more information on the IFEX-TMG, please visit http://ifex.org
IFEX-TMG Members:
ARTICLE 19, UK
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR)
Index on Censorship, UK
International Publishers’ Association (IPA), Switzerland
Journaliste en danger (JED), Democratic Republic of Congo
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Namibia
Norwegian PEN
World Association of Newspapers (WAN), France
World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), USA
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)
Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC), UK
