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UN Review Should Help Children Caught in ISIS Conflict

Baraa Zayani, a 4-year-old Tunisian boy, has been held for the past two years in a militia-run prison in Libya. In 2016, a bullet tore through his stomach during clashes between armed groups that killed his father, a member of the…
View from hill overlooking Ain Issa displacement camp in Syria, May 2018. © Human Rights Watch
News

Tunisia: Parliament Should Back Gender Equality in Inheritance

Government-Approved Draft Law Sent to Chamber

(Tunis) – Tunisia’s parliament should take the landmark step of granting women equal rights in inheritance, Human Rights Watch said today. President Beji Caid Essebsi formally submitted a draft law to parliament on November 28, 2018,…
A Tunisian woman holds up a flag during a march to celebrate International Women's Day in Tunis March 8, 2014. © 2014 Reuters
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: Ennahda Rejects Inheritance Equality

Parties Should Back Moves to End Gender Discrimination

(Tunis) - The official rejection on August 26, 2018 by Ennahda, one of Tunisia’s main political parties, of a presidential initiative to establish full equality between men and women in inheritance is a blow to women’s rights in the…
Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi, Islamist Ennahdha Party leader Rached Ghannouchi, and Ennahdha Party vice-president Abdelfattah Mourou wave to the crowd on May 20, 2016 at the opening of Ennahdha's three-day congress in Tunis. ©2016 Fethi Belaid/AFP
Video

Video: Landmark Proposals on Gender Bias and Privacy in Tunisia

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 Rights Watch released…
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

Tunisia: Pact for Equality, Individual Freedom

More Than 90 Groups Among the Signatories

(Tunis) – More than 90 organizations and civil society groups in Tunisia on July 24, 2018 issued a Pact for Equality and Individual Freedoms, outlining the fundamental rights that all Tunisians should enjoy. This pact is being issued to confirm a…
Logo of the Covenant for individual Rights and Freedoms. © 2018 Coalition for Individual Rights and Freedoms.
News

The Tunisian Covenant for Equality and Individual Freedoms

Because we believe in a Tunisia that brings us all together regardless of our differences, colors, various life styles and diverse beliefs; because we support this freedom that we have so partially reached; because all of us, individuals and society, must…
News

Tunisia: Lawmaker Sentenced for Blog

Sent to Military Trial for Criticizing the Army

(Tunis) – A military court sentenced a member of Tunisia’s parliament to three months in prison on June 26, 2018, for a Facebook post criticizing the army, Human Rights Watch said. Yassine Ayari, the parliament member, has faced…
Tunisian protesters stand outside a military court in Tunis as they demonstrate in support of blogger Yassine Ayari during his appeal hearing on March 3, 2015.
Video

Video: Detainees Denied Right to Counsel in Tunisia

Lax enforcement of a new law in Tunisia granting detainees prompt access to a lawyer has weakened the impact of this landmark legislation, even if detainee rights have improved modestly since the law took effect two years ago today. Every year…
News

Tunisia: Lax Enforcement of Right to Lawyer

2 Years On, Lackluster Implementation Undermines Landmark Law

Update: On September 7, 2018, Human Rights Watch received a letter from Tunisia’s Ministry of Interior with statistics related to detentions and legal representation which has been added in the news release below.     (…
Police station in Tunis, Tunisia.
Report

You Say You Want a Lawyer?

  Summary In 2016 Tunisia’s parliament adopted the landmark law on the right of those taken into police custody to see a lawyer.  As a result, detainees today are better protected against ill-treatment and forced confessions…
News

Tunisia: Truth Commission Sends Uprising Case to Trial

Special Courts Provide New Hope for Justice

(Tunis) – Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission sent its first criminal case stemming from the country’s 2011 uprising, for trial before a system of special courts on May 18, 2018, Human Rights Watch said today. The case…
Instance de Vérité et Dignité
News

Politicians Dash Hopes for Justice in Tunisia

Time is running out for justice in Tunisia. The mandate of the Truth and Dignity Commission, set up in 2014 to investigate serious human rights violations of the past, is under threat and could be terminated at the end of May…
Instance de Vérité et Dignité
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

Tunisia: Parliament Shouldn’t Undercut Transitional Justice

Extending Truth and Dignity Commission Term Vital for Victims

(Tunis) – Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission should be allowed to carry out its mandate, Human Rights Watch said today. The commission was created to establish the truth about human rights violations by Tunisia’s abusive past…
Instance de Vérité et Dignité