The Seoul Times

Following Tunisia's election on May 9, 2006 to the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council by a very high number of 171 votes on a total of 191, the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement expressing Tunisia 's satisfaction with this expression of confidence on the part of the international community.

The statement says that as "a land of tolerance and dialogue, Tunisia has always defended the universal values and just causes of liberty and Human dignity. This unwavering commitment has been illustrated, at the national level, through an uninterrupted process of reform undertaken by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali."

Stressing "the consolidation of the rule of law and the active participation of a dynamic and responsible civil society," the statement further emphasizes Tunisia's belief in man as well as "the promotion of a culture of democracy and political pluralism."

Evoking Tunisia's "moderating role in international relations" as well as the international initiatives it took in helping set up the World Solidarity Fund and its successful organization of the World Summit on the Information Society in November 2005, the Foreign Ministry statement "renews its keen determination to work, jointly with the other nations of the world and with all parties of good-will, to promote the rights of all the world's citizens to a decent life, and to assert the primacy of the cardinal values of freedom, solidarity, peace, and socio-economic progress, within a world free from injustice, intolerance and extremism."