Search Results

Sort by
News

Tunisia: Attack on Director of LGBT Group

Police Officers Suspected; Investigation Needed

Two police officers apparently brutally attacked the director of a Tunis-based LGBT rights group on October 21, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. The attack on Badr Baabou took place against a backdrop of mounting abuses targeting LGBT activists by…
Badr Baabou, director of Damj Association for Justice and Equality, following his assault by suspected police officers in Tunisia. © 2021 Badr Baabou
News

Tunisia: Harassment, Arbitrary Detention of LGBT Rights Activist

Failure to Address Complaint Against Police

  Update: On March 17, 2021, the Court of Appeal in Tunis ordered Rania Amdouni released. The appeals judge confirmed Amdouni’s conviction but suspended her six-month sentence, and increased the fine from 18 dinars ($6.5) to 218 dinars ($78…
Rania Amdouni, 26, at the office of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, on October 27, 2020.
News

Tunisia: Police Arrest, Use Violence Against LGBTI Activists

UN Experts Should Investigate

(Beirut) – Tunisian security forces have repeatedly targeted protesters, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) activists at protests, Human Rights Watch said today. The targeting involved arbitrary arrests, physical…
Protesters gather in Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, Tunisia on February 6, 2021.
News

“Kill Them, They Are Sodomites”

Police Violence Against LGBT People in Tunisia

On October 6, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists in Tunisia raised their voices and banners in the street, amid the hundreds of demonstrators who were peacefully protesting a draft law that would drastically limit criminal…
Saif Ayadi, LGBT rights activist at Damj Association, surrounded by protesters on October 6, 2020.
News

Tunisia: Homosexuality Convictions Upheld

Appeals Court Applies Law Criminalizing Same-Sex Activities

(Beirut) – A Tunisian appeals court on July 28, 2020 upheld the conviction of two men accused of sodomy but reduced their sentence to one year in prison, Human Rights Watch said today. This conviction contradicts the rights to privacy and…
Revolutionary graffiti adorns a wall of the Prime Minister's office in Tunis, January 22, 2011.
News

Tunisia: Two-Year Sentence for Homosexuality

Arbitrary Detention; Reported Attempt to Require Discredited Anal Exam

(Beirut) – A Tunisian court sentenced two men accused of sodomy to two years in prison on June 6, 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. The decision violates their rights to privacy and nondiscrimination under international law and Tunisia’s 2014…
© 2018 Human Rights Watch
News

Tunisia: Unfinished Rights Business

New Government Should Suspend Abusive Laws

(Tunis) – Tunisia’s new government, approved by Parliament on February 27, 2020, should make human rights a priority, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should protect fundamental rights in eight key areas: ending criminal…
A general view of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People in Tunis, Tunisia, May 2016.
News

Tunisia: Repressive Laws Cloud Rights Gains

Lack of a Constitutional Court Hinders Rights

(Tunis) – Tunisia still faces numerous hurdles to protecting its human rights gains nine years after Tunisians ousted the authoritarian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2020.    The…
A Tunisian woman walks past a graffiti that reads "Freedom is a daily practice" in Tunis April 26, 2011.
News

Tunisia: End Persecution of LGBT People

Homophobia, Transphobia Dominate Government Policies

Update: On May 20, the Court of Appeal in Tunis ruled in favor of the LGBT rights group Shams, finding that the government did not have grounds to shut the organization down. (Tunis) – Tunisia should revise its laws and…
© 2018 Human Rights Watch
News

Tunisia: Effort to Shut Down LGBT Group

Move Comes after Court Upheld Group’s Legality

(Tunis) – The Tunisian government should halt its attempt to fight a court ruling that gave an LGBT association the right to operate, Human Rights Watch said today. The Tunis-based Shams association has vocally advocated the repeal of…
People enter the Tunis hall of justice, Friday May, 26, 2017.
News

Victim Lands Behind Bars in Tunisia

End ‘Sodomy’ Prosecutions, Forced Anal Examinations

  Correction/Clarification: Contrary to what Human Rights Watch initially reported, the authorities arrested and prosecuted the alleged assailants along with A.F., the complainant. The court sentenced all three on February 11…
© 2018 Human Rights Watch
Video

Video: Privacy Threatened by ‘Homosexuality’ Arrests in Tunisia

Tunisian authorities are confiscating and searching the phones of men they suspect of being gay and pressuring them to take anal tests and to confess to homosexual activity. Prosecutors then use information collected in this fashion to prosecute them for…
News

Tunisia: Privacy Threatened by ‘Homosexuality’ Arrests

Government Using Personal Data, Anal ‘Tests’ for Prosecutions

(Tunis) – Tunisian authorities are confiscating and searching the phones of men they suspect of being gay and pressuring them to take anal tests and to confess to homosexual activity, Human Rights Watch said today. Prosecutors then use…
© 2018 Human Rights Watch
News

Tunisia: Landmark Proposals on Gender Bias, Privacy

Adopt Changes in Laws on Freedoms and Equality

(Tunis) – Tunisian authorities should adopt legislation based on the groundbreaking proposals made by a presidentially appointed commission aimed at protecting individual freedoms and eliminating discrimination against women, Human…
The president of the Commission on Individual Freedoms and Equality, Bochra bel Haj Hmida with President Béji Caid Essebsi during the handing of the Commission’s report. © 2018 Commission on Individual Freedom and Equality
News

‘No Longer Alone’: LGBT Voices from the Middle East, North Africa

Videos, Report Highlight Issues of Identity, Activism

(Beirut, April 16, 2018) – Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists from Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa are defying state-sponsored repression and social stigma, Human Rights Watch and the…
No Longer Alone
News

Tunisian Police Shut Down Dissent

LGBT and Secular Protestors Targeted

When Tunisian police shut down a planned demonstration on January 27, they claimed they did it for the protesters’ safety. “We had information that they were going to be targeted,” said an interior ministry spokesperson, according to…
Tunisian and rainbow flags were raised at a march against terrorism during the World Social Forum in Tunis, March 2015.
News

Top 5 Reforms Middle East Governments Can Make in 2018

Respond to Youth Demands, Gain Respect in the World

(Beirut) – Middle East and North Africa (MENA) governments can respond to the popular demands of the region’s youth for reform by implementing five changes in 2018 to arbitrary, outdated legal systems that infringe upon citizens’ rights and liberties,…
Demonstration outside Parliament on December 6, 2016, with women in white dresses and wrapped in bandages, calling for the repeal of article 522 of the penal code.
News

Global Medical Body Condemns Forced Anal Exams

Doctors Worldwide Should Halt Abusive ‘Homosexuality Tests’

  (Nairobi, October 17, 2017) – Doctors, medical professionals, and national medical associations should heed the World Medical Association’s October 2017 resolution to end forced anal examinations on people…
A medical report filled out by a doctor in Kampala, Uganda, after conducting a forced anal examination on a man suspected of consensual same-sex conduct.