Tunisian civil society organizations fear that the government plans to deprive them of foreign funding under the pretext of fighting money laundering and terrorism.
According to a bill supported by President Kaïs Saïed, state authorities would have to approve any foreign funding intended for NGOs operating in the country.
Human rights groups fear it is another repressive measure in a country known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring protests more than a decade ago.
Questioned about this bill by the AFP agency, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, UN special rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association, declared that this text “also gives excessive powers to the authority which can, according to its agenda, refuse an association”, adding that “the 2011 decree is an achievement of the revolution which must be preserved”.
This law currently in force allows the creation of an organization upon simple notification to the government, without requiring approval. This has allowed the flourishing of NGOs working on political and social issues, such as women’s and LGBTQ rights, youth employment, and environmental preservation. Their defense of freedoms, particularly of the press, saw the emergence of independent media. This “does not mean that the authorities are turning a blind eye”, added Voule, believing that the government can always examine “the agenda of the organizations and whether there is an imminent security risk”.
Before making radical changes to the system, said the UN rapporteur, “the authorities must open discussions with civil society”.
“The bill aims to restrict civil society, its financing, its activity and to limit its work to certain subjects suggested by the political authority,” declared Bassem Trifi, president of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights. man (LTDH), also cited by AFP. If the bill is adopted, he warns, “Tunisia will lose its civil society and all the work it has accomplished. ” It will also lose foreign funding for organizations, most of which receive little or no public money while the country is hit by recession and heavily in debt. Tens of thousands of jobs provided by these organizations will also be lost.
