Tunisia: Candidates Should Speak Up On Rights - an Agenda Ahead of Parliamentary Elections

press release

Tunis — Political parties and candidates competing in Tunisia's October 26, 2014, parliamentary elections should describe how they will promote human rights and legal and other reforms if elected, Human Rights Watch said today as it released a Human Rights Agenda for Tunisia. Human rights have received little attention from political parties and candidates as they prepare for Tunisia's second parliamentary elections since the 2011 revolution.

"Tunisia's 2014 Parliamentary Elections: A Human Rights Agenda" identifies six priority areas for the new government to resolve the rights abuses that have plagued Tunisia for decades. They are torture and other ill-treatment of detainees; discrimination and violence against women; lack of economic and social rights; judicial independence and freeing the courts from political manipulation; free speech rights; and the reform of drug laws under which thousands of young people have been jailed and prison capacities stretched almost to the breaking point. Political parties and candidates should make a commitment to address these issues in their election platforms.

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