Ten years after Tunisia’s revolution, a group of young activists set out to sea, on a route used for irregular migration. As they sail along they discuss some of the most important issues they have confronted over the past decade.
Stolen Assets Held Overseas: Kais Saied Takes on the Case
Ten years after Tunisia’s revolution, the Tunisian Statehas still not managed to recover assets held overseas. Despite of the legal arsenal set up for this task, the list of assets recovered still falls short of expectations. Without any apparent regard for the authorities already set up for the job, on October 22 President Kais Saied issued a decree for the creation of a committee within the Office of the President tasked with recovering money and assets held abroad. The initiative has not gone unnoticed.
Tunisia : Women Campaigning Against the Impunity of Cyberviolence
Harassment, revenge porn, blackmail: 80 percent of women in Tunisia have experienced violence on the internet. This violence is multifaceted and rampant on social media. In an effort to stop it, some have decided to publicly denounce their aggressors on Facebook through the Ena Zeda groups. But is this enough to stem the violence?
Tunisia’s Health Workers Overloaded by Covid-19
As the number of Tunisians infected with Covid-19 continues to climb, hospital facilities are on the frontlines without the means they need to handle the situation. According to the National Medical Council (CNOM), three physicians have died, ten have been hospitalized and hundreds of medical and paramedical personnel have been infected with the virus. How are medical and paramedical professionals handling the situation?
Covid-19: The Wretched of Tunisia
The general lockdown imposed in Tunisia during the first wave of Covid-19 had disastrous consequences for the most disadvantaged segments of the population. A new study published by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) examines the situation of women farm laborers, cleaning ladies in hospitals, construction workers as well as waiters at cafés, restaurants and bars. Employees already in precarious situations in Tunisia have become more vulnerable than ever.
Young Journalists Seize Control of Tunisia’s Press Union
On September 23, journalist Mohamed Yassine Jelassi, a member of Nawaat’s team, was elected president of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) for a three-year term. The association’s new executive committee is composed of nine members, including three women. With remarkable youth participation and a decent amount of female participation, the new committee reflects changes that have marked the sector within a tumultuous socio-political backdrop.
Qalb Tounes and Al-Karama confess their love
On September 5, after months of flirting, the Al-Karama parliamentary coalition announced its alliance with the Qalb Tounes party. The two parliamentary blocs finally decided to confess their love in a joint vote of confidence for Mechichi’s government.
Abir Moussi: A Progressive, You Say?
With opposition to political Islam as her hobbyhorse, the former RCD member and current president of the Free Destourian Party (PDL) Abir Moussi has become the figurehead of opposition to Ennahdha. This positioning on the political chessboard has resulted in a meteoric rise. But is she really opposed to the Islamists’ social vision? Is she really progressive?
Tunisia : Bringing an end to Personal Status
A hostage to its « sacro-patriarchal » paradigm, Tunisia’s Code of Personal Status has become a glass ceiling—blocking women’s access to full and complete citizenship and preventing them from enjoying all of their human rights—in a society where the demand for equality between men and women presents a permanent threat to a public order that is gendered.
Inside Beity: Single mothers, scarred and dreaming of autonomy
Some 715 out-of-wedlock births were reported in 2019, according to the annual report on the activities of childhood protection officers. The majority of these births (44.33%, or 317 births) took place in the central-eastern part of Tunisia. What is the fate of single mothers in a society that ostracizes them? Nawaat went to meet three of these young mothers at Beity, a shelter that offers assistance to women in distress and victims of violence.
Covid-19, Private Education: A government disengaged and parents left to fend for themselves
The Covid-19 crisis unveiled inequalities in Tunisia’s educational system, not only between public and private education, but within private education itself. With an unregulated private sector and students’ parents left to fend for themselves, the crisis also revealed the government’s disengagement from its role as regulator.
«Operation Carthage»: Nabil Karoui and lobbyist Lotfi Bel Hadj busted by Facebook
« Disinformation as a service » is how the Atlantic Council described the services provided by Tunisian digital communication agency UReputation to presidential candidate Nabil Karoui during his campaign for Tunisia’s 2019 presidential elections. On June 5, the American think-tank published an investigation carried out by its Digital Forensic Research lab (DFRLab) which exposed the collaboration. Dubbed « Operation Carthage », UReputation’s activities targeted 10 African countries to the profit of four politicians running for president in their countries’ elections. Yet another affair revealing Karoui’s dubious practices, who owns UReputation, the Tunisian PR firm with such global influence?
Confinement: Rush for psychological support, the experience of A7kili Center
Modern decor, open space, young people bustling about. Nothing here would seem to indicate that this is a psychologial care center. And yet the A7kili Center is just this, dedicated to helping individuals in distress. Since the beginning of confinement, the center received about 400 calls a day—sign of a real need for psychological support.
Souk Sidi Boumendil: Survival by deconfinement
A sea of cars fills the street from Bab Alioua to Bab Jazira. Dozens of people carrying plastic bags are on the lookout for available taxis which are few and far between. The closer one gets to Boumendil, the thicker the crowd becomes. In this souk, a hub for contraband, life is returning to normal as Aid draws near. But the threat of Coronavirus hovers all along this street that is teeming with foot traffic.
The sexual life of Tunisians during confinement
With touching and kissing banished from daily life and physical distancing encouraged, Covid-19 has not only taken its toll on social but also intimate relationships. Whether living under the same roof or separated by the restrictions that confinement imposes, couples are forced to navigate all the uncertainties that Coronavirus brings—health-related, psychological and, by extension, sexual.
Covid 19 in Tunisia: Legal clarifications regarding the « protective masks affair »
During his hearing before parliament’s Administrative Reform Commission, Tunisian Minister of Industry Salah Ben Youssef presented his excuses to the Tunisian public due to suspicions surrounding a project to manufacture two million protective masks in which a parliamentary deputy was implicated. How to shed light on the affair? And how have parliament and control structures reacted?
Covid-19 in Tunisia: Tensions arise between municipalities and central government
Since the announcement of the first cases of Coronavirus on March 2, 2020, Tunisia’s government has taken measures to slow down the epidemic— the curfew, general confinement and telecommuting for certain sectors. Despite their importance at a national level however, these measures do not call into question the responsibility of local authorities in preserving citizens’ health. A responsibility that follows the principle of administrative freedom stipulated in the Code of Local Collectivities. But to what extent have local authorities fulfilled their role in preventing the spread of the virus? Have conflicts arisen with regards to the government’s prerogatives and the powers conferred on the municipalities?
French gay marriage recognized in Tunisia: What’s the real story?
Shams, an association that campaigns for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Tunisia, announced on its Facebook page that the marriage of a French man and Tunisian man in France had been recognized by the Tunisian government. The marriage was recorded on the Tunisian spouse’s birth certificate. Upon the announcement, several English-language media outlets relayed the information, tentatively qualifying Tunisia as “the first Arab country to recognize gay marriage”.
