Event Summary
The enabling environment for civil society in Tunisia continued to deteriorate sharply in October 2025. On 9 October, trade unionist Lassaâd Yaâkoubi was arrested under an anti-speculation presidential decree, followed by a committal order the next day. On 21 October, a peaceful march of 40,000 people in Gabès protesting chemical pollution coincided with a UGTT-led general strike; authorities framed the mobilization as politically motivated unrest, and dozens of activists were arrested, and riot police rained tear gas on crowds leading to injury of several demonstrators and riot police.
On 24 October 2025, the president of the Association des Femmes Démocrates (ATFD) reported that authorities suspended their activities for a month over alleged “infractions” of the regulations on associations which they have since appealed in court, a move criticised by local CSOs as part of a broader crackdown on civic space under Decree-Law 88. The suspension is seen as a major blow to women’s rights advocacy and democratic freedoms in the country. Detention extensions and trials for civil society figures arrested during the 2024 migration debate crackdown—Mustapha Jammeli, Saloua Grissa, and Chérifa Riahi—signal ongoing judicial pressure.
Meanwhile, rhetoric against foreign funding has intensified, with associations linked to the Open Society Foundation reportedly facing judicial scrutiny and the head of state has used denigrating terms like “mercenaries”, “traitors” who “undermine the State in the name of freedom of expression” referring to CSOs.
Using Decree-Law 88 on associations, Tunisian authorities have issued court orders to dozens of organizations—including the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights (FTDES) Nawaat and the Tunis branch of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT), ATFD, and Aswat Nissa have suspending their activities for a month for alleged regulatory breaches, a move widely condemned as an assault on civic space. These developments collectively erode freedoms of association, expression, and participation, creating a climate of fear marked by legal harassment, funding restrictions, and operational uncertainty that severely limits civil society’s ability to advocate and deliver services.