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Minorities and minoritized groups in Tunisia, between discrimination and recognition of diversity

18 January 2022

On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) organized a panel discussion on 13 December 2021 at the National Library of Tunis. The objective of this meeting-debate was to present and discuss the situation of minorities and other ‘minoritized’ groups in Tunisia, through both academic and cultural exchanges, in the presence of experts in the different sectors. The recording of the event is available online.

Freriks (Frerik) Kampman, First Secretary for Political Affairs and Human Rights at the Dutch Embassy in Tunisia, launched the event with opening remarks.

These reports present an overview of the situation of the groups concerned from a legal and sociological perspective and explore the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on a previous situation of marginalisation.

The panel was moderated by Arroi Baraket, Tunisia Communications Officer at Minority Rights Group International, with the following panellists :

  • Silvia Quattrini, North Africa Manager at Minority Rights Group International
  • Marta Luceño Moreno, researcher in gender studies and project manager at Beity, a Tunisian association working for women’s rights, and also editor of the report on the impact of Covid-19
  • Insaf Bouhafs, author of the 2020 discrimination analysis report and project coordinator at Avocats sans Frontières

During the second part of the event, we screened of documentaries made in the framework of our work to fight discrimination and raise awareness of the media for an appropriate media treatment of the diversity issue. The screenings were accompanied by a debate with the filmmakers and the people who intervene in the documentaries and who belong to the groups concerned.

The documentaries are:

Still from the documentary ‘La langue amazighe… entre le risque de disparition et l’espoir de victoire’. Credit: Mariam Ben Aissa.