On September 3, 1961, the ICJ, which has Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, was asked by the Government of Tunisia to send a mission to Bizerta.
The mission was tasked to investigate allegations made by the Tunisian Government that French armed forces in Bizerta had been responsible for certain violations of human rights.
On September 5, the International Commission of Jurists sent to Bizerta the following persons as its Committee of Enquiry: Mr. Gerald Gardiner, Q. C., former Chairman of the Bar Council of England and Wales; Mr. Rolf Christopherson, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Bar Association and Secretary-General of the International Legal Aid Association; Professor Felix Ermacora, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Innsbruck, a member of the European Commission on Human Rights and Vice-Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
The Committee of Enquiry has now completed its work and a copy of their report follows.
Tunisia-events in Bizerta-fact finding mission report-1961-eng (full text in English, PDF)