Tunisia's Compliance With African Human Rights Charter

Proposed Questions:

1. What steps has the government taken to amend the 1956 Personal Status Law to remove provisions discriminating against women?

Recommendations:

1. Amend the Personal Status Code to ensure that women and men are equal heads of households and remove gender discrimination in inheritance.

Article 4: Right to Life - Abolition of the Death Penalty

9. Tunisia has observed a de facto moratorium on executions since 1991. However, courts continue to hand down death sentences.[2] According to Amnesty International, Tunisian courts imposed more than 12 death sentences in 2024, bringing the total number of people in Tunisia sentenced to death to 148 by the end of 2024.[3]

Proposed Questions:

1. How many death sentences have been issued since 2020, and for what offenses?
2. Will the government commit to abolishing the death penalty in law and ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights?

Recommendations:

1. Establish an official moratorium on death sentences as a first step toward abolition.
2. Amend the Penal Code to abolish the death penalty for all crimes.
3. Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Article 5, 12: Abuses against Black African Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers

10. President Kais Saied made several inflammatory remarks in February 2023 that triggered a surge of racist attacks and other abuses by security forces and Tunisian citizens-including violent assaults, robberies, arbitrary evictions, and loss of employment-against Black African people across the country.[4]
    1. Beginning earlier that month, Tunisian police carried out at least 850 arbitrary arrests, seemingly targeting Black African foreign nationals based on their appearance or the neighborhoods in which they lived.[5] Those arrested included both undocumented people and those with legal status, including some registered refugees and asylum seekers.
    2. The president's subsequent attempts to mitigate the serious harms of his speech were insufficient in stopping the ensuing racially motivated violence and other abuses.[6] The authorities routinely failed to investigate and prosecute assaults on Black African foreign nationals.
    3. The attacks were further fueled by a significant rise in anti-Black rhetoric and hate speech on online platforms, partly driven by the Tunisian National Party, which has called for the deportation of all undocumented Sub-Saharan migrants.[7]
11. In July 2023, Tunisian security forces collectively expelled several hundred Black African migrants and asylum seekers, including at least 29 children and 3 pregnant women, to a remote, militarized buffer zone at the Tunisia-Libya border where they could neither enter Libya nor return to Tunisia.[8] Migrants and asylum seekers were in some cases tortured during apprehension and forcible transfer.[9] Interviewees said that several people died or were killed at the border area. Some said they witnessed rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment of women by Tunisian and Libyan security forces, as well as beatings and robberies.[10] These collective expulsions have continued and become virtually systematic after interceptions at sea.
12. The State has not ensured robust, independent mechanisms to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment and to hold perpetrators of these abuses to account.

Proposed Question:

1. What measures has the government taken to investigate serious abuses against Black African migrants in Tunisia? Has anyone been held accountable for these abuses since 2023? If not, why not?

Recommendations:

1. Investigate all reported abuses against migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees by authorities or citizens.
2. Ensure accountability, including through appropriate legal action; and implement reforms and oversight systems within the police, national guard (including the coast guard), and military to ensure respect for human rights, end racial discrimination or violence, and refrain from contributing to racial hatred or discrimination against Black Africans.
3. Produce and publish sex- and nationality-disaggregated data on detainees, prisoners, including detained migrants and refugees. Adopt tailored protection measures for women migrants and survivors of gender-based violence.
4. Ensure access to reproductive and maternal health services for detained women, including migrants and refugees.
5. Conduct individual legal status assessments in accordance with due process requirements for anyone facing deportation.

Article 6, 7: Protection from Arbitrary Arrest and Detention

13. Since President Saied granted himself extraordinary powers in 2021,[11] Tunisian authorities have increasingly relied on prolonged pretrial detention, preventive detention, house arrest, and administrative constraints to detain real or perceived critics of the government, including those from across the political spectrum, activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, social media users, and family members of critics.[12]
14. The authorities have leveraged abusive terrorism-related charges against critics, including some that carry the death penalty, such as "undermining external state security" or "chang[ing] the nature of the state." As of January 2025, over 50 people were detained on political grounds or for exercising their fundamental rights, including political opponents, activists, lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders, and social media users.[13] At least 14 detainees faced a sentence of capital punishment if convicted.
15. While in detention, detainees face a range of abuses and ill-treatment, including being held past the 14 months allowed for pretrial detention under Tunisian law, denial of access to health care, and disability support services.
16. Existing Tunisian law, including the Military Justice Code, allow military courts to try civilians, such as in cases of "insult" to the military institution. This undermines freedom of expression and contravenes constitutional provisions on the right to a fair trial. At least 20 civilians deemed critical of the government have been tried in military courts since July 2021.[14]
17. Authorities undermined the integrity of the October 6, 2024, presidential election to ensure President Kais Saied's re-election, including by excluding or detaining prospective challengers and amending the electoral law just days before the election.[15]
18. Details of cases of people arbitrarily arrested, arbitrarily placed on house arrest, and civilians tried in military courts are provided in Annex 1.

Proposed Questions:

1. What steps will the government commit to taking to reduce the use of prolonged pretrial detention, preventive detention, house arrest, and administrative constraints, and abusive prosecutions against those perceived as critics?
2. What steps is the government taking to address abuses against those in detention, including ill-treatment, prolonged pretrial detention and denial of access to health care and disability support services? Who, if anyone, has been held accountable for such abuses since 2021?
3. What steps is the government taking to remove civilians from military court jurisdiction?

Recommendations: