Safeguarding the rule of law in Tunisia

Motion for a resolution | Doc. 16060 | 03 October 2024

Signatories:

Mr Didier MARIE, France, SOC ; Ms Boriana ÅBERG, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Bertrand BOUYX, France, ALDE ; Mr Christophe BRICO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Ms Laura CASTEL, Spain, UEL ; Mr Titus CORLĂŢEAN, Romania, SOC ; Mr Randolph DE BATTISTA, Malta, SOC ; Mr Piero FASSINO, Italy, SOC ; Mr Pierre-Alain FRIDEZ, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Antonio GUTIÉRREZ LIMONES, Spain, SOC ; Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany, UEL ; Ms Miapetra KUMPULA-NATRI, Finland, SOC ; Mr George LOUCAIDES, Cyprus, UEL ; Ms Jamila MADEIRA, Portugal, SOC ; Mr Saša MAGAZINOVIĆ, Bosnia and Herzegovina, SOC ; Ms Luz MARTINEZ SEIJO, Spain, SOC ; Mr Berdan ÖZTÜRK, Türkiye, UEL ; Ms Valérie PILLER CARRARD, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Paulo PISCO, Portugal, SOC ; Mr Ivan RAČAN, Croatia, NR ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Ms Alexandra SCHOOS, Luxembourg, EC/DA ; Ms Anne STAMBACH-TERRENOIR, France, UEL

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

On 10 November 2021, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a new Neighbourhood Partnership with Tunisia for the period 2022-2025, aimed at continuing to support Tunisia in the process of democratic transition by helping it to meet the challenges linked to human rights, the rule of law and democracy.

Unfortunately, we are obliged to note the deterioration of the democratic situation and the ever-increasing attacks on human rights and the rule of law in Tunisia.

Several candidates have been prevented from standing in the presidential election scheduled for 6 October 2024 or have been imprisoned. The result of this election is already known: Mr Kaïs Saïed will be re-elected.

The repression has hit civil society as a whole. The case of lawyer and columnist Sonia Dhamani is particularly emblematic of the authoritarian drift of the Tunisian authorities. She was brutally arrested on 11 May 2024 while giving an interview to the France 24 television channel from the Maison de l'avocat in Tunis. She is being prosecuted under Decree-Law 54, promulgated in September 2022, for disseminating “false information with the aim of undermining public safety” and “inciting hate speech”.

Sonia Dhamani has since been imprisoned in appalling conditions and subjected to daily harassment. Like her, more than 80 people are imprisoned for political reasons, because of their opposition to President Saïed.

The Parliamentary Assembly should call for the release of Sonia Dhamani and those imprisoned for political reasons, and carry out an in-depth assessment of the implementation of the neighbourhood partnership with Tunisia.