UGTT, bar association and rights league launch joint 'Tunisia first' framework
UGTT, the bar association and the Tunisian League for Human Rights, three of the four bodies that shared the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize as the National Dialogue Quartet, said Thursday they are launching a joint coordination framework titled 'Tunisia first, the people above all else'. The statement, signed by UGTT secretary general Salaheddine Selmi, bar president Boubaker Bethabet and LTDH president Bassem Trifi, cites eroding rights and freedoms, prison conditions, pressure on the media, and shortages of water, power and medicine, and says the country 'cannot be governed through denial, silence or a single voice'. The employers' union UTICA, the Quartet's fourth member, is not among the signatories, and the statement does not say whether it was invited.