Together with Norwegian PEN?s Secretary General Carl Morten Iversen, Board member, author and journalism researcher Elisabeth Eide will next week participate in the IFEX (International Freedom of Exchange) / TMG (Tunisian Monitoring Group) lead third observation envoy to Tunisia. (1-SEP-05)

International freedom of expression organisations are currently keeping a particularly keen eye on the development in Tunisia prior to the UN meeting ?World Summit on the Informaton Society? to be hosted there this coming November.

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The delegation Eide and Iversen will be part of constitutes the third such observation mission to Tunisia in less than a year, all three arranged by TMG, a coalition of fourteen organisations all related to the bigger IFEX network. On this forthcoming visit, previous contacts will be followed up. In addition, the delegation will also attend some of the local freedom of speech and human rights organisations? annual meetings. unisian authorities have already made it clear that these meetings are illegal and will be treated as such. As a preamble of what will happen, the hotel where the independent, Tunisian Syndicate of Journalists, established in May 2004, was to host its annual meeting, has recently made it clear that it is unable to have this meeting at its premises, because of necessary maintenance work which has to be carried out. The delegation will, among other things, investigate the truth in this.

For further information, please contact Norwegian PEN / Carl Morten Iversen at (work) +47 22 47 92 20 or (cell) +47 926 88 023.