Tunisia creeps toward democracy
Just over two years ago, Tarek Al-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire to protest the confiscation of his goods and alleged harassment and humiliation, sparking a revolution throughout the Arab world that came to be known as the Arab Spring.
In Tunisia, where it all started, elections have been held and the country is in the midst of drafting a new constitution. The National Constituent Assembly (NCA) has just come up with its second draft, and is consulting with the Tunisian public and various groups.
Human rights activists say Tunisia has made significant progress but still has a ways to go.
“The second draft of the constitution contains better language on freedom of expression and women’s rights than the first draft,” Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said.
In a letter to the members of the NCA, Human Rights Watch said the NCA had made some significant improvements by dropping language that would have made it a crime to use phrases attacking Islam or calling for normalizing ties with Israel.
But one of the letter’s authors, Amna Guellali, says the draft constitution does not go far enough.
“There are still many issues of concern especially that the draft constitution does not contain any reference to internationally recognized human rights,” she said. “It contains some general references to human rights but without the references to the conventions of human rights which were ratified by Tunisia. We think this is a major problem, because it separates human rights from their normal, legal reference.”
She said another problem is a provision that provides judicial immunity for the president while serving and afterward and inadequate guarantees for the independence of the judiciary. Another discriminatory provision is that only a Muslim can become president of the republic.
The population of Tunisia is 99 percent Sunni Muslim, with the other one percent composed of Shiite Muslims, Bahais, Jews and Christians. Tunisia has always been a relatively secular and modern society. That is one of the reasons there was such surprise when the Arab Spring began there. A year later, in January 2011, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stepped down after 23 years in power. He was known for his opulent lifestyle. Last month, Tunisia’s Finance Ministry auctioned off some 12,000 items that belonged to the president, including 39 of his cars. Among them are two Lamborghini Gallardos and an Aston Martin Vanquish. Ben Ali and his family are currently in exile.
But progress toward democracy has been slow, human rights activists charge.
“The pace of reform has been very slow in the judiciary, the security sector and the media,” Guellali of Human Rights Watch said. “These are the three pillars of any successful democratic transition. Without an independent judiciary, without security forces which are accountable and which know their limitations in terms of use of force, and without an independent media, we can’t talk about a successful democratic transition.”
This article was written for The Media Line.
