Freedom in the World 2001 - Tunisia

2001 Scores

Status: Not Free
Freedom Rating: 5.5
Civil Liberties: 5
Political Rights: 6

Overview

Outbursts of social unrest in 2000 reflected growing public dissatisfaction with government corruption, declining standards of living, and a lack of civic freedom. As a loss of confidence challenged President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's legitimacy at home, new attention to Tunisia's bleak human rights record brought criticism from abroad.

Following Tunisia's independence from France in 1956, President Habib Bourguiba pursued secular, pro-Western policies while moving toward social liberalization and modernization. In 1987, Prime Minister Ben Ali succeeded Bourguiba, who was deemed medically unfit to govern, and offered brief promise of an open political system. However, his rule became increasingly autocratic and repressive. Intolerant of public criticism, he has allowed almost no credible opposition to exist; opposition parties have been banned or crippled by arrests and harassment. The government has consistently targeted trade unionists, human rights activists, student leaders, and the media, but it treats Islamists most harshly, claiming the need to avoid the kind of unrest seen in neighboring Algeria. Ben Ali has escaped meaningful criticism from Western governments, in part because much of the worse abuse is aimed at Islamic fundamentalists, but also because Tunisia is an important trading partner for several European countries.

The 1959 constitution provides for a president with broad powers, including the right to select the prime minister and to rule by decree during legislative adjournments. Under Ben Ali, the role of prime minister was reduced from leader of the government to "coordinator" of ministerial activities. The unicameral legislature is elected to five-year terms by universal suffrage. The president appoints a governor to each of Tunisia's 23 provinces, and municipal councils are elected.

Presidential and legislative elections held in October 1999 were widely described as a farce. Despite the prior amendment of electoral laws to relax restrictions on presidential candidacy and to mandate a 20 percent allotment of legislative seats to opposition candidates, Ben Ali won 99.4 percent of the presidential vote and his party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), won 80 percent of parliamentary seats. Elections in May 2000 for seats in Tunisia's 257 municipalities were equally suspect; the RCD won 94 percent of seats after running unopposed in nearly 75 percent of municipalities. In both elections, opposition candidates openly acknowledged that their role was largely symbolic.

Dissatisfaction with Ben Ali's government has increased since the October 1999 polls, the results of which were seen as insulting to the public's intelligence. In February 2000, taxi drivers went on strike to protest new government regulations that would leave them even more vulnerable to arbitrary abuse and extortion by police. Provoked by rumors of an impending increase in basic food prices, students and unemployed workers rioted for up to ten days in February throughout southern Tunisia against declining living standards, government corruption, and unemployment. Prisoners staged hunger strikes during the year to protest mistreatment and poor conditions.

Several cases drew international attention to Tunisia's human rights problems and highlighted decreasing official tolerance of dissent. Journalist Taoufik Ben Brik and his family suffered ongoing harassment and intimidation by authorities for his publication of articles in foreign newspapers detailing Tunisian human rights abuses. In July, leading activist Moncef Marzouki was fired from a university lectureship after President Ben Ali publicly denounced government critics as traitors. Marzouki, who criticized human rights abuses and corruption by authorities, was charged with defamation and disturbing public order, and sentenced in December to 12 months in prison. These cases and others, such as the refusal of Ben Ali to allow the live broadcast of Bourguiba's funeral in April, drew rare criticism from Western governments. Observers warned that given Ben Ali's waning popularity, opposition forces may prove politically destabilizing if not given room to participate openly in the political process.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Tunisians cannot change their government democratically. The ruling RCD and its predecessor parties have controlled the political system since independence. No political party based on religion or region is permitted, and all parties must be licensed. Despite a slight relaxation of restrictions on opposition candidates in the 1999 presidential elections, the elections were neither open nor competitive. The two opposition leaders who met the stringent conditions placed on potential candidates were little-known figures who received almost no media attention.

The judiciary is subject to political interference by the president and the government. Despite 1999 legal reforms that broadened the state's definition of torture and reduced the length of incommunicado detention, illegal detention and torture continued in 2000. Four students testified in November about abuses they endured – including beatings, rape, and burnings – at the hands of police after being arrested for taking part in protests. A June report by a Tunisian human rights group documented poor conditions, inadequate medical care, degrading treatment, and regular physical abuse in prisons. In December, President Ben Ali announced that the government would make compensation payments to anyone held in police custody without reasonable grounds, and to anyone imprisoned but later exonerated by the courts. At least four people died in custody during 2000 under suspicious circumstances. By year's end, no investigation into these cases had taken place.

Suspected Islamist sympathizers face severe repression. Actual or suspected members of the outlawed An-Nahdha movement constitute the majority of an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 political prisoners in Tunisia, according to Human Rights Watch. Many others are in exile. Former political prisoners and their families are often deprived of their passports, monitored and searched by police, and discriminated against with regard to employment.

The press code prohibits subversion and defamation, both broadly defined, under threat of fines and confiscation. The government uses newsprint subsidies and control over public advertising revenues to limit dissent and encourage self-censorship. Prepublication submission requirements allow authorities to seize publications at will. Foreign publications are censored. Domestic broadcasting is government controlled and presents only pro-government views. As two new ad hoc committees set up to suggest press law reforms began meeting in May, Ben Ali met with private newspaper publishers and told them to be more daring in their reporting: "Be critical as long as what you are saying is true." Authorities charged Taoufik Ben Brik in April with publishing false information and offending public institutions and confiscated his passport. The journalist began a 42-day hunger strike in April in the offices of the Aloes publishing house. Authorities seized the publishing house and assaulted reporters and rights activists who went to Ben Brik's home to visit him. In May, the charges against him were dropped and he was allowed to travel, but his brother was jailed for abusing a security official. In November, the journalist was detained at the Tunis airport after arriving from Paris. Police seized dozens of books from him, calling them "illegal imports." Riad Ben Fadhel, a journalist who criticized the government's handling of Ben Brik's case, was the target of an assassination attempt in May. A French weekly faced repeated distribution delays over controversial articles.

Permission is required for public gatherings. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested in February for protesting rumored increases in food prices. About 70 students were charged with damaging public property and spreading false information. Twenty-six were jailed, including nine who were later pardoned by Ben Ali. The government continued to deny legal status to domestic human rights organizations, and detained, harassed, and prosecuted activists for "belonging to an unauthorized association." A delegation of monitors from Amnesty International and the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) was prevented from entering Tunisia in July.

Islam is the state religion, and it is practiced under intense government scrutiny. The government controls and subsidizes mosques and pays the salaries of prayer leaders. Proselytizing by non-Muslims is prohibited. Other religions are generally tolerated, with the exception of Bahai, whose adherents may not practice publicly.

General equality for women has advanced more in Tunisia than elsewhere in the Arab world. Inheritance law is based on Sharia (Islamic law) and discriminates against women, although the government enacted legislation in 1998 to improve women's rights in matters of divorce and property ownership. Women are well represented in academia and the professions. Twenty-one seats in the national legislature went to women in October 1999 elections.

Tunisia's sole labor federation, the Tunisian General Federation of Labor, operates under severe government constraints. Workers may bargain collectively and strike.