Tunisia’s Oldest Human Rights Group Suspended on 50th Anniversary

“Fifty years of struggle won’t be stopped by a decree,” protesters in downtown Tunis chanted on Thursday, May 7. On that day, dozens of activists and civil society figures gathered in a solidarity protest organized by the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD), not to celebrate Tunisia’s oldest human rights organization, the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LTDH), but to defend its very right to exist after authorities ordered the suspension of its activities for one month.

“We called for a solidarity gathering today with the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, first because May 7 coincides with the 50th anniversary of the League, which is the first human rights league in North Africa and the Arab world,” Hela ben Salem, the Secretary General of the ATFD, told Meshkal.

“A Violation of Freedom of Association”

The protest came just days after the president of the Tunis Court of First Instance issued an order on April 26 suspending LTDH’s activities for one month.

In a statement released following an emergency meeting of its national council, the LTDH described the decision as “unjust and arbitrary,” arguing that it lacked any legal basis and constituted “a direct attack on freedom of association and civil society work in Tunisia.” The LTDH further, warned that the decision “could only be understood within a broader policy aimed at intimidating independent voices and bringing civil society organizations under tighter control,” framing the suspension as part of a wider pattern of pressure on civic space.

For Hela Ben Salem, the measure is not neutral or administrative.

Ben Salem noted that their May 7 protest supporting LTDH “is also an act of solidarity against the arbitrary decision to suspend the league’s activities, which we consider a violation of freedom of organization and the freedom of associations.”

A Shrinking Civic Space

Since Kais Saied consolidated power in 2021, local and international organizations have repeatedly raised concerns over mounting pressure on journalists, opposition figures, lawyers, and civil society actors. Rights groups have increasingly criticized what they describe as the growing use of judicial and administrative measures to restrict dissenting voices and independent organizations.

For many lawyers, feminist activists, and members of associations who attended the May 7 protest, the suspension of the LTDH represents more than an isolated administrative measure. They described it as a dangerous precedent targeting one of the country’s oldest and most prominent independent organizations, warning that the decision reflects the broader erosion of Tunisia’s civic space.

“Such a judicial decision, under a political cover, cannot be accepted, especially since it does not only target the League [LTDH] but several associations since 2025. It is a whole wave. Even we, the ATFD, had our activities suspended for a month last October ,” added Ben Salem.

 Another recent cases is that of Lawyers Without Borders (Avocats Sans Frontières or ASF), which said it had been notified of a 30-day suspension order.

In a May 5 statement, ASF expressed “deep condemnation” of the decision, describing it as an “unjustified infringement on freedom of civil society work and a clear targeting of independent spaces that seek to serve the public interest and promote the values of solidarity, justice, and the rule of law.” The organization stressed that the decision wasn’t made using a transparent legal framework or a participatory process, but rather reflects a broader trend toward restricting civic initiatives and limiting their role within society.

ASF further affirmed its full right to defend itself and to pursue all available judicial and legal remedies to contest the decision through the courts.

Just days later, on May 14, the Tunisian Organization of Young Doctors (OTJM) announced, in a Facebook post published by its president Wajih Dhokar, that it too had received a 30-day suspension order less than 24 hours before a planned press conference addressing violence against healthcare workers and the deteriorating conditions in Tunisian public hospitals.

Adding to the controversy were statements made by OTJM president Wajih Dhokkar, who rejected allegations of financial irregularities.

“Our organization has never received any public funding or foreign grants, nor any money beyond the membership fees and contributions of young doctors themselves. Yet the authorities still decided to suspend the organization’s activities…We will comply with the decision and provide the Presidency of the Government with any information it may request,” Dhokkar wrote in a Facebook post.

The timing of the decision immediately raised questions among activists. For many, the coincidence did not appear to be a simple administrative matter, but rather a political message suggesting that certain issues and forms of criticism have become increasingly unwelcome in the public sphere.

For Ben Salem, this logic reflects a broader pattern of pressure on civil society. As she put it, the aim is to shift organizations away from public advocacy and into administrative survival.

“The state wants to tell us that as long as we speak about public affairs and criticize its policies and authoritarianism, our activities will be suspended so that we are forced to deal with administrative matters and focus on defending our legal existence instead of concentrating on public issues, which, unfortunately, we have not witnessed at any period in Tunisia’s history.” she said.

From celebration to protest

Aside from LTDH’s prominence as one of the oldest human rights organizations in the world, it is also a member of the National Dialogue Quartet, which was awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for what the Nobel committee called “its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.”

For decades, including under the presidencies of Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, LTDH played a central role in documenting abuses and defending political prisoners, journalists, and activists.

Today, many demonstrators fear that legacy is being threatened once again.

“On its 50th anniversary, while its activities remain suspended, the League is unable to properly mark this occasion,” said Hela Ben Salem of ATFD. “Through this protest, we want to tell the League that it is not alone. We are celebrating its anniversary on its behalf.”