The Unbroken Silence:
Human Rights Activists in Tunisia

By Andrea Christman

While on a trip to Tunisia in March 1999, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the Tunisian government for the progress it has made "on behalf of women and women’s rights." In a speech to a meeting of women and representatives of women’s organizations, Mrs. Clinton spoke about the silences that have been imposed upon women throughout history. "What is so amazing and wonderful to behold is that the silence has been broken in Tunisia," she said.

According to the Tunisian Embassy in Washington, D.C., "the principle of equality of men and women with respect to citizenship and before the courts is expressly stipulated in Tunisian legal texts." An American researcher who spent several years in Tunisia, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that under President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali schools have been built in rural areas so that women can receive an education. This source continued to note that Tunisian women have the right to inherit, to divorce, and to obtain an abortion. A March 1999 article in the Detroit Times reported that Tunisia "spends 20 percent of its annual budget implementing a program of health, education and employment rights for women and girls." However, despite these social advances, the Tunisian government is plagued by allegations that it suppresses human rights activists and attempts to silence them through harassment and intimidation.

Radhia Nasraoui, a prominent human rights lawyer, has been the subject of such intimidation and harassment. Her office has been broken into several times and in February 1998 her legal files were stolen from her office, according to a 1998 U.S. State Department Report on Human Rights Practices. The following month she was charged with "terrorism" as well as "links with a criminal gang" and told that she could not leave Tunis, according to Amnesty International. Manuel Schiffler, a volunteer country coordinator for Amnesty International, maintains that there has been no follow-up to complaints made by Radhia Nasraoui and the government has not seriously investigated the alleged crimes.

The Tunisian Embassy in Washington denies these charges. "Specifically, allegations of harassment against Mrs. Radhia Nasraoui are unfounded and she has never been subject to any kind of intimidation."

Several human rights organizations claim that the government has made it very difficult for human rights activists to function. According to a 1998 State Department Report on Human Rights Practices, groups that want to hold a meeting must have a permit from the Ministry of the Interior; those that support government activities are given permits but organizations that do not have been denied the right to assemble.

For instance, the 1998 Human Rights Watch World Report maintains that the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), an independent group that protests human rights violations, has difficulty holding meetings. Human Rights Watch also reported that in December 1996 the LTDH was prevented from having a conference to commemorate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Other tactics allegedly used by the government to subvert the activities of human rights advocates include harassment of relatives, disconnection of phone or fax services, confiscation of passports, interception of mail, and degrading media campaigns, states Amnesty International in a 1998 report. According to Clement Henry, professor of Government and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, human rights activists have been jailed, and have lost their jobs. Spouses of human rights activitsts have also been known to lose their jobs. He noted that the "authorities make life intolerable for them." Henry also pointed to the fact that there has been at least a four-fold increase in the police force over the last ten years.

Khemais Ksila is another prominent human rights activist who claims that he has been harassed by the government. A vice-president of the LTDH, he was arrested in 1997 after he announced that he was going on a hunger strike to protest human rights violations and harassment in Tunisia.

The Tunisian Embassy maintains that the statement issued by Ksila announcing this hunger strike "contained false allegations against public authorities and inciting citizens to rebel in order to cause civil unrest." During questioning, Ksila admitted being the author of the statement and "affirmed that his objectives were to urge the citizens to a confrontation with the public authorities," the Tunisian Embassy stated.

LTDH vice-president Abdelkarim Allagui has also accused the government of harassment. He said that the police searched his home without permission in March 1998, allegations that the government denies, according to the 1998 State Department Report.

Restrictions on human rights activities are not limited to advocates. Journalists writing about human rights violations in Tunisia also claim to be subject to harassment and intimidation. Henry maintains that the private press is controlled by the government. According to the anonymous American researcher, "Even when you buy the independent newspapers that are privately owned, they’re still basically as complimentary towards Ben Ali as the party papers."

Manuel Schiffler of Amnesty notes, "The Tunisian media are not allowed to report on any human rights violations. It’s not a formal censure, but the media know what they can and cannot write. It’s a self-censorship." However, the Tunisian Embassy professes that the government is increasing its support of the opposition newspapers by subsidizing some of their printing costs.

Many foreign journalists who report on human rights have been denied access to the country. Those who do enter Tunisia might not be immune to harassment. Journalist Roula Khalaf details her experiences in Tunisia in a November 1997 article for the London-based Financial Times. She claims that she was constantly trailed and followed. She also alleges that a notebook disappeared from her room, only to return the next day.

Censorship also extends to the Internet. Several groups, such as Amnesty as well as the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, claim that the Tunisian government has blocked access to the Amnesty site as well as to addresses of other international human rights groups. In fact, Henry added that to set up a website in Tunisia one must go through a censor.

A Lebanese businessman living in Paris with "friends" in the Tunisian government, Raghid el Chammah, has launched a website designed to promote Tunisia as a country that has shown great consideration for the human rights of its citizens, according to a February 1999 Financial Times article. This website was originally found at www.amnesty-tunisia.org, although Amnesty International denies any affiliation with it. In response, Amnesty has created www.amnesty.org/tunisia, designed specifically to counter what it claims is false information found on the pro-Tunisia site.

Beginning on March 3, 1999, the www.amnesty-tunisia.org website moved to www.rights-tunisia.org. The organizer has posted a statement denying that the name of this site was designed to intentionally mislead the public. "The word ‘Amnesty,’ which we have used as part of our website address refers to a widely used humanitarian concept and not the name of any one particular company or organization." John Emerson, the Web Coordinator for Amnesty International USA, calls the name change a "step in the right direction."

The Tunisian Embassy in Washington denies that this controversial site was created by, or is affiliated with, the government of Tunisia.

An anonymous source pointed to several reasons, besides the unofficial censorship, why Tunisian violations of human rights, especially the suppression of human rights activists, is not widely reported in the Western media. For instance, Tunisia has given many rights to women, especially in comparison to other Middle Eastern countries. In addition, Tunisia receives support from the outside world because it has been successful in keeping the perceived fundamentalist threat in check.

The source continued, "Ben Ali has done a lot for Tunisians in the last ten years in terms of improving life, the standard of living for almost all Tunisians." The source continues, "People are aware that their lives are much better than they were ten years ago or twenty years ago. Part of this has been the development of a very strong middle class." He also noted that this group of people want stability and are willing to make compromises if Ben Ali can provide this for them. Those who are upset about human rights in Tunisia are a small minority of Tunisians and some Westerners, the source said.

Yet the climate in Tunisia is such that when this researcher first arrived in Tunisia, his Tunisian friends warned him against speaking about politics in public and told him to be careful who he discussed political issues with in private. This American source preferred to remain anonymous because he feared that he might have difficulty conducting further research in Tunisia.

According to a 1998 article in the Irish Times, under President Ben Ali, "Tunisia is a relatively prosperous, if paranoid and joyless country." Although Mrs. Clinton praised President Ben Ali and his government for lifting the silences imposed on women, in her speech she did not mention the silences that have been imposed on critics of the Tunisian government, including human rights activists. However, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that a U.S. official present at a private meeting between President Ben Ali and Mrs. Clinton, "Ben Ali acknowledged ‘shortcomings’ in his government’s record on political freedoms but said a tight rein on dissidents in Tunisia helps keep Islamic extremists from making inroads from neighboring Algeria and Libya."

Andrea Christman is an M.A. Candidate in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Texas at Austin