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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.

In the first part of the event, we presented two recent reports produced by MRG, titled ‘Baseline study on the situation of minorities and discriminated groups in Tunisia‘ and ‘Impact of Covid-19 on the rights of minorities and minority populations: consultation with civil society‘.

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:

• The Amazigh Language: Between the Risk of Disappearance and the Hope of Victory (7′), director Mariam Ben Aissa – Tunisia
• HIV at the time of the pandemic, a bitter reality (7’25”), directed by ROOTS TV (Slim Pacem, Wissal Ben Atigue, Aymen Rezgui, Khawla K. Charmiti) in the presence of ‘Jimmy’ and Souhaila Bensaid, president of the Tunisian Association for Positive Prevention (ATP+)
• Abolition of the legacy of slavery: ‘Atig’ no more directed by Slim Kacem and Arroi Baraket for Minority Rights Group International, in the presence of lawyer Hanen Ben Hassana
• Crossing Africa: Faith on the Road (9’50”) by Sindbad Production, in the presence of producer Moez Kammoun, director Philippa Day, Production Manager Nawres Frei and Basil Yao from Mnemty, participants in the project.

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

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