Rights Rihab Boukhayatia 08 April 2021

Amending Law 52 on narcotics: A Mixed Track Record

When three young people were recently sentenced to 30 years in prison in accordance with Law 52 on narcotics, it sparked controversy. A debate has reignited over the repressive nature of the law and the fate of drug consumers locked up for smoking a joint. Meanwhile, collectives and associations have come out calling for the depenalization and decriminalization of drug consumption. Their demand is not a new one, but it remains hostage to political procrastination. In 2017, the law was amended to be less restrictive, but has its application followed suit? What changes have taken place since 2017?

Politics Ghaya Ben Mbarek 02 April 2021

Party Nostalgic for Ben Ali Soars in the Polls

In recent months, private polling indicates a surge in popularity for the Free Destourian Party (or Free Constitutional Party, PDL by its French acronym). In many ways the PDL has fashioned itself as a new iteration of Ben Ali and the former regime’s single ruling Constitutional Rally Party (or RCD), of which PDL president Abir Moussi was once Assistant Secretary General in Charge of Women. But when Meshkal/Nawaat went to the PDL headquarters in the Kheireddine Pacha neighborhood of Tunis on March 12 to ask about the party’s rising popularity, they were met by a round, bald man in a dark navy suit: Moussi’s bodyguard.

Society Ghaya Ben Mbarek 26 March 2021

Tunisia. As Mental Healthcare Needs Increase, Public Services Fail to Keep Up

In 2019, Tunisia ranked third in the African continent in terms of the number of people suffering from depression, with more than a half million people suffering from this mental illness, according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics. Mental healthcare professionals say that the need for such healthcare is increasing, yet the public health care system is not adequate to treat all patients.

Politics Fadil Aliriza 18 March 2021

Tunisia. Political Parties Taking to Streets a “Sign of Crisis”

In recent weeks, political parties have taken to the streets for rallies and demonstrations. The move from parliamentary chambers to downtown avenues follows weeks of unrest in January and February, confrontations between demonstrators and police, mass arrests and torture of detainees, and disagreements between President Kais Saied and Prime Minister (PM) Hichem Mechichi over the PM’s proposed ministerial reshuffle. The new party mobilizations reflects what one Ennahdha party official has called a “sign of crisis.”

Rights Najla Ben Salah 09 March 2021

Protests in Tunisia: Queer Activists on the Front Lines

On March 4, queer activist Rania Amdouni was sentenced to six months in prison after weeks of harassment by the police. « Queer and intersex individuals will defend Tunisians’ social and economic demands, even if the State does not consider them human because of their differences », Damino said. « Our presence in the protests is the result of a process that began in 2011 », Firas added.

Blogs Amna Guellali 09 February 2021

A return to the police state in Tunisia ?

“There is no government, there is no state, we are the state”. These chilling words by a police officer, during a sit-in in the city of Sfax on 2 February, speak volumes about the dangerous turn of events in Tunisia in recent weeks. The latest unrest heightens risks of a return to a police state following years of shaky democratic transition which has failed to end abuses by security services and their rampant impunity for human rights violations.

Rights Ghaya Ben Mbarek 25 January 2021

Families say Police Abused, Abducted Minors in Mass Sweeps as Protests Continue

After more than a week of protests across the nation following a sudden, government-imposed lockdown on the 10th anniversary of the January 14, 2011 revolution, security forces have arrested over 1600 people, 600 of them children, according to Yassine Azaza, a human rights activist and volunteer lawyer on behalf of the Tunisian League of Human Rights (LTDH by its French acronym). Those numbers were given to Nawaat/Meshkal on January 20, 2021, but since then the numbers have increased and human rights activists and organizations said they are struggling to keep track.

Blogs Mohamed-Salah Omri 30 December 2020

Being Gilbert Naccache : A Tunisian life in politics and literature

Gilbert Naccache, who passed away on December 26, 2020 at the age of 81, was the nexus of multiple stakes and causes which marked Tunisia since the early 1960s. He may have been the last in a line of a particular breed of public intellectuals: Jews of the Arab lands who rejected the Israeli birthright, which is steeped in sectarianism, colonialism and dispossession, and who claimed the right to belong fully to the lands of their birth. As a wave of “normalisation” with Israel sweeps across the Arab world, his positions are sobering. With Arab politics and society turning to the right, it behoves us to reflect on a life spent on the Left and in opposition to dictatorship and sectarianism. And as we reflect on the tenth anniversary of the Tunisian revolution and the rebellious wave it engendered across the region, we have a duty to remember one of those who paved the way. Along with this, and not to be underestimated, we need to recall Gilbert Naccache the writer.

Rights Ghaya Ben Mbarek 09 December 2020

Healthcare Workers Protest Amid Strike

Hundreds of healthcare staff and workers, including doctors, nurses, medical students and other staff held a protest march on Tuesday, December 8, which they dubbed a ‘day of rage’ for the Tunisian public health sector. The focus of protesters demands was on public investment in healthcare facilities, equipment and infrastructure following the death of 27-year-old surgical resident, Badr Eddine Aloui. Aloui fell to his death on December 3 from the fifth floor in the Jendouba Regional Hospital due to an elevator dysfunction.

Rights Saerom Han 08 December 2020

Precarious Public Sector “Site” Workers Denounce New Union Agreement

On October 20, the government and the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) reached an agreement to resolve the precarious working conditions of so-called “site workers” [ommel hadha’ir] who are hired by the state and work in local administration and agriculture. Yet many ‘site workers’ who had pushed authorities to resolve their status, think the agreement falls short of promises made to them by successive governments. The deal has sparked calls for protest across the country, including a mass mobilization in front of Parliament on Wednesday, December 9, a day that a ‘site worker’ coordination grouping has called a “day of rage.”

Blogs Rasha Younes 08 December 2020

“Kill Them, They’re 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 accountability for the use of force by the security forces. By a cruel irony, police attacked the demonstrators, including LGBT activists, and arbitrarily arrested them.

Politics Fadil Aliriza 03 December 2020

With No New Laws Passed, Government Coalition Under Strain

The government led by Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, which was approved in a parliamentary vote of confidence on September 2, 2020, has not yet succeeded in passing any laws that it has proposed to parliament. Nearly 100 days in, the government’s proposed bills have been withdrawn following opposition either in parliament or civil society. Now, as it faces the task of passing a budget, the government’s challenges stem from tensions within and between the coalitions and constituencies holding it up, analysts and political commentators say.