Tunisia: new draft constitution still falls short on human rights

On 1 June Tunisia’s National Constituent Assembly (NCA) received the latest draft of the country’s Constitution and is expected to vote on it soon.

Amnesty International has reviewed the latest version amended following discussions among political parties and found that - while there are some improvements over the drafts previously circulated in recent months - the text still undermines tenets of international human rights law.

It includes restrictions of some basic rights such as the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and to freedom of movement, as well as providing insufficient guarantees for the independence of the judiciary and to protect against torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

If the entire draft Constitution is not approved by two thirds of the NCA, it will eventually be put to a national referendum.

Amnesty has published an analysis of the latest draft - see: www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE30/005/2013/en/4e65ea56-b71c-4ab5-8… - and has experts available for comment.