• Human Rights in Tunisia

    Since ousting its autocratic president in January 2011, Tunisia has opened political space and held relatively free and fair elections. It advanced human rights by adopting a pluralist election law, joining the International Criminal Court and removing almost all its reservations on accepting international standards on women’s rights. It has freed media outlets from draconian restrictions and allowed people to create and join political parties and to demonstrate peacefully. However, surviving repressive provisions in the press and penal codes are still used at times in political trials and reforms to create an independent judiciary are moving too slowly.

  • © 2011 Human Rights Watch
    Tunisia: Stop Undermining Judicial Decision
    Tunisia’s justice minister should ensure the immediate release of Sami Fehri, the director of the privately owned Attounissia TV channel. Fehri is being held despite a decision by the highest court in Tunisia on November 28, 2012, to quash his indictment and detention order
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Tunisia

  • Tunisia: Stop Undermining Judicial Decision
    Dec 21, 2012
    Tunisia’s justice minister should ensure the immediate release of Sami Fehri, the director of the privately owned Attounissia TV channel. Fehri is being held despite a decision by the highest court in Tunisia on November 28, 2012, to quash his indictment and detention order
  • Tunisia: Riot Police Fire Birdshot at Protesters
    Dec 1, 2012
    Clashes between police and protesters in the northern city of Siliana on November 27 and 28, 2012, injuring more than 210 people, highlight the urgent need to reform Tunisia’s security forces. The government should ensure that the announced independent commission of inquiry investigates any excessive use of force by the riot police during the protests.
  • Tunisia: Mass Firings a Blow to Judicial Independence
    Oct 29, 2012
    The dismissal of 75 judges by Tunisia’s justice minister was unfair and arbitrary. The firings set a disturbing precedent and increased the subordination of the judiciary to the executive branch. The National Constituent Assembly (NCA) should urgently pass a law to create an independent body to govern the discipline and dismissal of judges in an impartial and transparent manner.
  • Tunisia: Investigate Attacks by Religious Extremists
    Oct 15, 2012
    Tunisian authorities should investigate a series of attacks by religious extremists over the past 10 months and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Letter to Tunisian Minister of Interior and Minister of Justice
    Oct 14, 2012
    We express our concern at reports of citizens being physically assaulted by individuals or groups who appeared to be motivated by a religious agenda, and by the apparent failure of the state to respond firmly to these assaults.
  • Tunisia: Draft “Political Exclusion Law” Invites Abuse
    Oct 12, 2012
    A draft law that excludes senior members of the former ruling party from political life would be a disproportionate restriction on political rights. The law would ban members of the successive Ben Ali governments beginning in 1987 and members of the former ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (Rassemblement Constitutionnel Democratique, RCD), who held specific positions from joining other political parties. Such a law would set the stage for the near-total political exclusion of thousands of people based on their past political association.
  • UN Human Rights Council: Adoption of the Outcome of Tunisia's UPR
    Sep 18, 2012
    Human Rights Watch welcomes the Universal Periodic Review report on Tunisia, which includes recommendations to improve the situation of human rights in a context of democratic transition. Although Tunisia’s government accepted many of these recommendations, it also rejected several critical ones aimed at preventing a sliding back into authoritarianism.
  • Letter to Members of the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly
    Sep 13, 2012
  • Tunisia: Fix Serious Flaws in Draft Constitution
    Sep 13, 2012
    The Tunisian National Constituent Assembly should modify articles in the draft constitution that undermine human rights. The provisions that cause concern would abridge rights including freedom of expression, women’s rights, the principle of non-discrimination, and freedom of thought and conscience.
  • Tunisia: Drop Charges Against Artists
    Sep 3, 2012
    Tunisian prosecutors should drop charges against two sculptors for art works deemed harmful to public order and good morals. The criminal prosecution of artists for works of art that do not incite violence or discrimination violate the right to freedom of expression.
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