Tunisia leaves African Union’s Human Rights Court

Tunisia has left the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights of the African Union, amid a worsening crackdown on free speech and opponents to the Kais Saied regime.

The withdrawal would deny NGOs capacity to petition the court, which is tasked with enforcing the AU’s human rights charter.

The Tunisian government did not explain why it has left the court, but activists see the decision as a pre-emptive move in view of the regime’s violations of rights in recent years.

The Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) denounced Tunisia’s withdrawal from the court as a decision “taken secretly”.

It said the move was “a dangerous step backwards and an attempt to withdraw from independent judicial institutions capable of fighting impunity and guaranteeing justice.”

In August last year, the AU court then ruled against Tunisia and urged the government to stop preventing the detainees from accessing their doctors and lawyers.

Saied’s power grab destroyed checks and balances in the country that was once an Arab Spring success story.

Scores of independent journalists, opposition leaders, lawyers and human rights activists have faced sham trials for dissent, leading many international rights watchdogs to alert to the degradation of human rights in the country.

Amnesty International had warned that since Saied took power institutional safeguards for human protection were almost entirely dismantled, the judiciary has lost guarantees for its independence, military courts have increasingly targeted critics of the president with repressive laws, while the right to freedom of expression has dramatically shrunk.

As of November 2024, over 80 people were detained on political grounds or for exercising their fundamental rights, Human Rights watch said in its latest country report.