Tunisia’s Elections: Entrenched Authoritarianism and the Struggle for Democracy
Event Description
Tunisia’s democratic transition, under severe strain in recent years, stands at the precipice of total collapse. Recent presidential elections on October 6 saw the exclusion of nearly all candidates and restrictions on the few who ran. Are there any prospects left for democracy in the birthplace of the “Arab Spring”? Join us for a timely conference on the struggle to protect what remains of democracy in Tunisia. A panel of experts will analyze the recent presidential elections, discuss the state of the Tunisian judiciary and human rights, and highlight the plight of political prisoners, such as former parliamentary speaker Rached Ghannouchi. The event puts the spotlight on Tunisia and analyzes what actions the international community can take in support of Tunisians’ struggle for democracy.
الانتخابات في تونس: الاستبداد المتجذر والنضال من أجل الديمقراطية
إن التحول الديمقراطي في تونس، الذي تعرض لضغوط شديدة في السنوات الأخيرة، يقف على شفا الانهيار التام. فقد شهدت الانتخابات الرئاسية الأخيرة التي جرت في السادس من أكتوبر/تشرين الأول/2024 استبعاد كل المرشحين تقريبا وفرض قيود على القلائل الذين ترشحوا. فهل هناك أي احتمالات متبقية للديمقراطية في مهد “الربيع العربي”؟
انضموا إلينا في هذه الندوة عن بعد والتي تأتي في الوقت المناسب بشأن النضال من أجل حماية ما تبقى من الديمقراطية في تونس. وسوف يتولى فريق من الخبراء تحليل الانتخابات الرئاسية الأخيرة، ومناقشة حالة القضاء التونسي وحقوق الإنسان، وتسليط الضوء على محنة السجناء السياسيين، مثل رئيس البرلمان السابق راشد الغنوشي. ويسلط هذا الحدث الضوء على تونس ويحلل الإجراءات التي يمكن للمجتمع الدولي أن يتخذها لدعم نضال التونسيين من أجل الديمقراطية.
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Panelists
Dr. Agnès Callamard is Secretary General at Amnesty International. She leads the organization’s human rights work and is its chief spokesperson. She is responsible for providing overall leadership of the International Secretariat, including setting the strategic direction for the organisation and managing relations with Amnesty International’s national entities. Agnès has been a prominent figure in the human rights world for decades. In 2016, she was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary killings. Along with her UN work, Agnès was also the Director of Global Freedom of Expression at Columbia University in New York. Previously she was Executive Director of the freedom of expression organization Article 19. She returns to Amnesty after twenty years having previously held the role of Chef de Cabinet for then Secretary General Pierre Sané. As a leading advocate for freedom of expression, a feminist and an anti-racism activist, she pushes out the frontiers of rights through her scholarship and advocacy.
Kamel Jendoubi is a Tunisian politician and human rights activist. He is a member and the president of several human rights organizations, including the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network since 2003. In 2011, he was elected by the High Authority for the achievement of the objectives of the revolution, political reform and democratic transition as the President of the Independent Higher Authority for Realisation of the Objectives of the Revolution, Political Reform and Democratic Transition in Tunisia. In October 2012, Kamel Jendoubi was again in charge of organizing elections of 2013, following a troika agreement on the future political regime. However, the voting was postponed and Chafik Sarsar, a university lecturer in constitutional law, was finally elected president of the new independent Higher Authority for elections. In January 2015, in the government of Habib Essid, he was appointed as help to the prime minister, Head of Government of Tunisia, for Relations with Constitutional Institutions and Civil Society. In December 2017, he was appointed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to leads a group of international and regional experts to investigate on human rights violations in Yemen.
Hamza Meddeb is a research fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, where he co-leads the Political Economy Program. His research focuses on the political economy of Tunisia and North Africa, the politics of illicit transnational flows, governance, and corruption, as well as the development-security nexus. Meddeb has also consulted for several international organizations on issues related to development policies, socioeconomic policy analysis, and fragility and conflicts. His commentaries have appeared in English, Arabic, and French in The Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique Al-Jazeera, Middle East Eye, and Assafir al-Arabi, among other outlets. Before joining Carnegie, Meddeb was a research fellow at the European University Institute in Florence and a Jean Monnet post-doctoral fellow at the institute. He holds a doctorate in political science from Sciences Po Paris, a Master’s degree in comparative politics and a Master’s degree in international economics from Paris X-Nanterre.
Sarah Leah Whitson is the Executive Director of DAWN. Previously, she served as executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division from 2004 – 2020, overseeing the work of the division in 19 countries, with staff located in 10 countries. Whitson has led dozens of advocacy and investigative missions throughout the region, focusing on issues of armed conflict, accountability, legal reform, migrant workers, and human rights. She has published widely on human rights and foreign policy in the Middle East in international and regional media, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, and CNN. She appears regularly on Al-Jazeera, BBC, NPR, MSNBC, and CNN. Previously, Whitson worked in New York for Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School. Whitson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is on the boards of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, Artistic Freedom Initiative, Freedom Forward, ALQST for Human Rights, Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, Action for Hope and the Armenian Bar Association.
Moderator
Dr. John L. Esposito is Distinguished University Professor, Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, John L. Esposito is Founding Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service. Previously, he was Loyola Professor of Middle East Studies, College of the Holy Cross. Past President of the American Academy of Religion and Middle East Studies Association of North America, Esposito has served as consultant to the U.S. Department of State and other agencies, European and Asian governments, corporations, universities, and media worldwide and ambassador for the UN Alliance of Civilizations and was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders and E. C. European Network of Experts on De-Radicalisation. He has received honorary doctorates from St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, the University of Sarajevo, University of Florida and Immaculata University as well as the American Academy of Religion’s Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion, Pakistan’s Quaid-i-Azzam Award for Outstanding Contributions in Islamic Studies, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service Outstanding Teacher Award and Georgetown’s Career Research Achievement Award. Esposito’s more than 50 books include: The Future of Islam, Islamophobia and the Challenge of Pluralism in the 21st Century, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think (with Dalia Mogahed), Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, Islam and Politics; Makers of Contemporary Islam and Islam and Democracy (with John O. Voll), What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, and many more. Esposito’s interviews and articles with newspapers, magazines, and the media in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Guardian, The Times of London, CNN, ABC Nightline, CBS, NBC, and the BBC.