Survivors of Repression in Tunisia Learn About Transitional Justice

From March 15-18, 2012 Freedom House partnered with the Liberty and Development Association (ALD) to host a conference and training workshop in Tunis, Tunisia entitled “For a Transitional Justice Process through the Voices of the Victims of Oppression and the Revolution.” The two-day public forum sought to help Tunisian civil society counterparts push forward a survivor-centered approach of what has become known in post-conflict or post-authoritarian societies as "transitional justice."

As Tunisia makes the transition to democracy, a key component will be uncovering the truth behind abuses which took place during the years of repression leading up to— and including— last year's historic citizen-led revolution against former President Ben Ali. While some early progress has been made toward political recognition of the importance of establishing a national transitional process, many questions about previous abuses remain unanswered and many Tunisians feel that they have been left out of the conversation. In this context, the Freedom House and ALD-led  conference brought together survivors of repression from various eras, experts, and political figures to highlight the importance of placing the survivors of past human rights abuses at the forefront of any discussion about justice and redress for victims.

The conference provided an opportunity for survivors to both share their stories, and discuss how they envision Tunisia moving on from  grave human rights violations. The two-day event included testimony from survivors, interventions from experts and government representatives, and working groups to tackle recommendations for the future. Recommendations focused on three main components: Recording and preserving the memory of survivors, Dealing with trauma and healing, and Establishing a legal framework for an independent transitional justice process. A key theme throughout the testimonies of all who spoke was the absence of any desire for vengeance or retribution— survivors and experts shared in their desire to build a uniquely Tunisian and entirely constructive process whereby the truth can be told, justice can served, healing can begin, and mechanisms can be put in place to ensure that torture and abuses of human rights will never occur in Tunisia again.

Following the conference, Freedom House and ALD sponsored a two-day training workshop for over 30 human rights activists on techniques for working with survivors of trauma, documenting the stories of survivors, recovering legal information about human rights abuses, and developing the internal archival capacity of NGOs.