Day: April 20, 2024

Tunis: A scientific symposium on tension environments and their impact on democratic coexistence took place Saturday in Tunis on the initiative of the Awfia Coalition for Democracy and Transparent Elections.

Participants unanimously said there is a “general crisis” affecting the media, social networks and the political sphere on the internet. This crisis has an impact on democratic coexistence, they said.

Coalition Programme Manager Brahim Zoghlami said monitoring hate speech on social media during the local elections unveiled a multidimensional crisis. This crisis found explicit expression in media coverage which, he added, failed to be “professional.”

This is due to the “lack of professionalism” and reflects an attempt to instrumentalise media , he added.

Zoghlami said Decree-Law No. 54 which, he called “catastrophic” for the media and the freedom of expression, could also be one of the reasons. It resulted in journalists and citizens, in general, to censor themselves, particularly on social media.

Soc
iology Professor Adel Ayari said rhetorical violence has been observed over the recent years in the speech of political players.

“The extensive use of these terms has become a tool of political analysis and interaction for all parties, ” he said. Verbal violence has become a context in which we live and by which we are influenced, said the member of academia.

Risks entailed by such violence are no longer limited to media but also cover social media supports and platforms, Adel Ayari highlighted.

A study conducted by the Awfia Coalition last February 2-4 revealed that “violent terms on the Internet are used by an entire generation (aged between 20 and 45), which shows that this phenomenon is not spontaneous but is the result of a systematic policy over decades which has stifled communication and awareness raising from school onwards, and limiting discussions to marginal topics that cannot contribute to creating a generation that respects differences and is capable of using tools of peaceful debate”.

Sourc
e: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: 104 vacancies in local and district councils were filled, the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) said on Friday,

Speaking to TAP on Saturday, member of the ISIE Council Najla Abrougui pointed out that 99 vacancies in local councils had been filled.

About 99 candidates who ranked second in the local elections replaced the members involved in the vacancies, she explained.

She added that the same procedures were adopted to fill five 05 vacancies in the district councils.

She also stressed that the ISIE will organize, early next week, partial elections to complete the composition of the councils of the first district and the fourth district which are missing, namely the representatives of the governorates of Jendouba and Tozeur.

The local elections process led to the establishment of the National Council of Regions and Districts, which is the second parliamentary chamber. It consists of 77 members.

72 members represent local councils while 5 other members represent district councils.

S
ource: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The Tunisian League of Women Voters (French: LET), in collaboration with the Danish Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KVINFO), organised a conference on the water code project in Tunis on Saturday.

The conference, attended by MPs, officials from relevant departments, and several representatives from the civil society, addressed pressing issues such as water stress, drought management, the right to water, and mechanisms for proper water resource management.

Held under the theme “Recommendations for a Better Integration of Humanitarian and Climate Approaches in the Water Code Project,” this conference highlighted the significant division observed among various Tunisian administrations involved in water preservation.

President of the LET Torkia Chebbi said the conference aims to raise awareness among MPs about the need to advocate for marginalised women and disabled persons, for better gender consideration in the water code project.

The water code project, under discussion on Saturday, received
several improvement proposals. “We advocate for the creation of a Supreme Water Council,” affirmed Afef Hammami Marrakchi, an environmental law professor.

According to her, the Water Code project should strengthen Tunisians’ right to water and should include a set of structural measures aimed at establishing an adjustment body accompanied by sanctions against water resource infringements.

She stated that significant threats to water resources in Tunisia mainly stem from human activities, citing pollution, climate change, urban growth, and landscape transformations such as deforestation. “The recommendations of the conference will be submitted to the Assembly of the People’s Representatives (ARP),” she added.

Participants proposed the creation of a Public Water Protection Agency and effective management of extreme phenomena such as floods and drought.

Other MPs believed that the implementation of new tariffs for drinking water by the National Water Supply and Distribution Company (Sonede) could balance wat
er resources. A reduction in tariffs could lead to water wastage, they argued.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Migration, and Tunisians Abroad said that a Tunisian female Umrah pilgrim died, Saturday, in a traffic accident on the highway of Medina (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). A minibus was carrying a number of nationalities of Umrah pilgrims who came from France, it added.

3 other pilgrims suffered injuries, the same source said in a statement, indicating that «their health is stable now.»

The Ministry is following up on the last developments of the incident in coordination with Tunisia’s Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulates General of Tunisia in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Nice (France).

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse