The Truth and Dignity Commission ( ar, هيئة الحقيقة والكرامة) (') (french: Instance Vérité et Dignité) is an independent tribunal established by law in

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

on 23 December 2013 and formally launched on 9 June 2014 by then-President

Moncef Marzouki Mohamed Moncef Marzouki ( ar, محمد المنصف المرزوقي; ''Muhammad al-Munṣif al-Marzūqī'', born 7 July 1945) is a Tunisian politician who served as the fifth president of Tunisia from 2011 to 2014. Through his career he has been ...

. Established following the

Tunisian Revolution The Tunisian Revolution, also called the Jasmine Revolution, was an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance. It included a series of street demonstrations which took place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El ...

, its purpose is to investigate gross human rights violations committed by the Tunisian State since 1955 and to provide compensation and rehabilitation to victims. The Commission was given a four-year mandate (i.e. to 2018) with the possibility of a one-year extension. Its president is the human rights activist

Sihem Bensedrine Sihem Bensedrine ( ar, سهام بن سدرين) (born October 28, 1950) is a Tunisian journalist and human rights activist. In 2005, she was honored with the Oxfam Novib/PEN Award. Biography She was born in La Marsa, near Tunis and went to Fran ...

Final report

Bensedrine revealed the commission's final report on March 26, 2019. The 2,000-page, Arabic-language record of human rights abuses is available online. Among the offenses mentioned in the report are unfair trials in 1963 regarding an attempted military coup against President Habib Bourguiba; Tunisia's late president,

Béji Caïd Essebsi Beji Caid Essebsi (or es-Sebsi; ar, الباجي قائد السبسي, translit=Muhammad al-Bājī Qā’id as-Sibsī, ; 29 November 1926 – 25 July 2019) was a Tunisian politician who served as the 6th president of Tunisia from 31 December 20 ...

, was involved in those trials as then-director of national security.

Process

The Commission, which was designed to use judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, began gathering testimonies from victims of abuse under the old regime in September 2015. It continued to accept new cases until a cut-off date for registrations in June 2016, by which time it had received over 62,000 submissions and heard testimony from about 11,000 people. The Commission held its first public hearing in Tunis on 17 November 2016. The Commission has faced criticism on a number of grounds, including the slowness of its operations, the basis of its approach, and the fitness of its president, among others. As a result of ongoing concerns, there was a delay in the parliamentary vote to approve the Commissions's budget for 2017 although it was eventually agreed by 121 votes to 28 with 21 abstentions. The Commission's members, as of late 2016, were Sihem Bensedrine (president), Ibtihel Abdellatif, Oula Ben Nejma, Mohammed Ben Salem, Ali Gherab, Khaled Krichi, Adel Maïzi, Hayet Ouertani and Slaheddine Rached.

External links

Tunisian Organic Law on Establishing and Organizing Transitional Justice website (in Arabic and French) of the Truth and Dignity Commission

References

{{Truth and Reconciliation Commission Human rights in Tunisia Truth and reconciliation commissions Tunisian Revolution Truth and reconciliation reports