A/HRC/WG.6/1/TUN/4 page 11 32. Singapore praised Tunisia for holding wide consultations with stakeholders at the national level for the drafting of the report. It welcomed efforts in advancing economic, social and cultural rights; in improving the human rights situation, and on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Singapore also indicated that the threat of terrorism, extremism, racism, and religious defamation represents a daily scourge to promote and protect human rights. In that respect, it asked what measures were taken to further address these challenges. 33. The Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Tunisia thanked all the speakers and indicated that the level of dialogue clearly shows the very good reaction on the reforms of Tunisia in the field of the promotion and protection of human rights. As regards the questions regarding the advancement of women, the Minister noted that the status of women stems from several factors including reforms, enlightened view of Islamic Sharia and the interpretive views of the teaching of Islam, and the political will demonstrated since 1956 especially by President Bourguiba and now by President Ben Ali. Concerning prison management, the Minister recalled that a collection of all relevant texts will be available in English. With regard to human rights cooperation, Tunisia is committed to the idea of cooperation of all States, including North-South and South-South cooperation. In reference to Chad’s question, the Minister stressed Tunisia’s willingness and openness to bringing in other countries their experience and vice-versa, should other countries so wish. 34. Concerning the cooperation with ICRC, the Minister stressed that this is extremely helpful and underlined its assistance for the improvement of prison conditions. It was in this spirit that Tunisia initiated contacts with Human Rights Watch, allowing it to visit Tunisian prisons. Regarding Mauritania’s question concerning women and children, the Minister referred to the 1992 reform. With regard to the rights of association, the Minister stressed that association is not submitted to an authorization regime and some 10,000 associations enjoy the support of the Government. In addition, associations considered as public utility receive subsidies from the State. With regard to the issue of poverty the Minister indicated that Tunisia has been able to combat poverty by maintaining a large middle class and by establishing a social solidarity fund which operates in areas that are outside the classic investment parameters. The Minister also noted that Tunisia combats terrorism through eradication of poverty, through education, and lastly by punishment through the law. Whatever the seriousness of the offence, Tunisia believes there must always be proper guarantees and it has always provided them. With regard to freedom of expression, the Minister noted that certain Internet sites have been closed down in accordance with article 19 of ICCPR. While recalling the principle of freedom of expression, the Minister stressed that the sites that have been closed were advocating terrorism and inciting to behead innocent people. 35. The Minister welcomed the interest shown for the Tunisian process toward freedom of press and free access to sources of information and mentioned the progress made. He indicated that the press code was amended four times to further promote and liberalize press activities and the removal of imprisonment penalties from the press code. The Minster also mentioned two types of reforms, the reform of prison penalties and the abolition of legal submission of copies press. He also indicated that besides legal guarantees, there are a number of important