Rights 232

Where are our children? Families of migrants lost at sea protest

“Give us the truth : where are the children?” On the rainy morning of November 9, a few dozen middle-age and elderly women and men occupy the stairs before closed doors of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Tunis. Grey sky and cold air accentuate the solemnity of the gathering, yet another demonstration by the families of Tunisians who disappeared while crossing the Mediterranean to the shores of Italy.

Jemna: Genesis of a model, or end of a social experiment?

The political implications of Jemna’s social activism on State policies are still cloudy. Some State officials, such as Mehdi Ben Gharbia, have not shied away from praising Jemna’s experience on television, saying that it only needs a legal framework. Other officials however, including Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, are solely offering a Socratic answer regarding Jemna: “All I know is that I know nothing.”

Tunisian Gender Law Reform: Optimism in Spite of the Long Road Ahead

On June 3rd, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (Euro-Med) hosted a conference entitled “Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls” to discuss the Tunisian Personal Status Code and Penal Code – both of which are long overdue for reform. Critical yet optimistic, the proposed goals for legal reform are found in a study entitled “Violences à L’égard des femmes: Les lois du genre” written by Sana Ben Achour, a law professor and former president of ATFD.

Repression of social movements: on the streets, in the media

While citizens and local authorities in a few regions have undertaken negotiations for employment and development, the government has yet to respond to protesters’ demands with a comprehensive strategy or solution. Instead, a union of the National Guard is implicated in the diffusion of fabricated images portraying violent protests, and police forces have begun to arrest young activists accused of “disrupting public order.”

More than security, human rights are threatened in Tunisia

In seamless consistency with the government’s response to the Bardo and Sousse attacks in March and June, official discourse, superficial security measures, and the actions of security forces since last Tuesday’s tragedy reflect the absence of a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy and have kept alive the notion that effective security requires the relinquishing of certain rights and liberties.

Transitional Justice in Tunisia: fragmentation and competition

Following the publication of an ICTJ report on Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission, Impunity Watch has presented the initial findings of a collaborative research project on victim participation in the transitional justice process. Amidst observations, analyses, and recommendations that have been presented by national and international actors in the field, the study represents the “most rigorous effort” thus far to evaluate victims’ perceptions of and roles in the undertaking of transitional justice in Tunisia.

Torture in Tunisia: Abdelmajid Jdey, Another Death in Police Custody

Abdelmajid Jdey was being held in preventative detention Sidi Bouzid when, on 13 May, the Ministry of the Interior announced his death; according to the statement, Jdey hung himself in his cell. In the weeks that have followed, civil society activists and organizations including Human Rights Watch and the Tunisian Organization Against Torture (OCTT) have contested the Ministry’s announcement. Notably, the victim had filed a complaint of torture to OCTT several days prior to his death.