Open Letter to EU
Your Excellencies
We are writing to you regarding the European Union’s upcoming Association Council meeting with
Tunisia which was scheduled to take place on 10 April. The Association Agreement, which was
signed on 17 July 1995 by the European Community and its Member States on the one hand and by
the Republic of Tunisia on the other hand, and which came into force on 1 March 1998, includes a
legally binding human rights clause (art. 2). This clause stipulates that relations between the Parties,
as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and
democratic principles, which guide their domestic and international policies and constitute an
essential element of the Agreement. Our organizations believe the EU Council of Ministers and the
European Commission have an obligation to address in concrete terms the serious concerns about the
human rights situation in Tunisia in the context of the Association Council and to put in place a
mechanism to ensure the necessary monitoring of the situation, with a view to bringing about
verifiable progress.