Joint Statement Against Racism and Hate

In light of the alarming and shocking escalation of hate speech, racism, and discrimination in Tunisia, and amid the growing number of attacks and violations targeting migrants and people from sub-Saharan Africa as well as Black Tunisians, along with the accompanying systematic impunity, the explicit complicity of state institutions, and the normalization of racist and hate crimes, the undersigned organizations, associations, political parties, and democratic and human rights forces follow with deep anger and indignation the horrific crime documented in a video circulating on social media. The video shows a group of people breaking into the home of an immigrant family, threatening its members with knives, and openly threatening to rape the pregnant wife in front of her husband.

This crime cannot be separated from the general climate that has taken shape since the presidential statement of February 21, 2023—the date marking the beginning of the national disgrace and the accompanying documented and hidden crimes. Since that day, the bodies, safety, and very presence of migrants have become the subject of political and media incitement and a justification for their violation. Since that date, Tunisia has witnessed an unprecedented escalation of racist and inciting rhetoric, which has become the official political discourse of the state and its supporters, portraying migrants as a demographic, security, and social threat. This rhetoric has not only justified discrimination but has also contributed to dehumanizing victims and vulnerable people, paving the way for attacks against them.

When a group of people, based on their skin color or administrative status, becomes a daily target of demonization, betrayal, and incitement, violence against them is no longer an exception but an expected outcome. And when attacks go unpunished, impunity sends a political and social message that these people’s lives and dignity are worth less than others’.

The threat of rape inherent in this crime is particularly grave. Here, rape is used not merely as a sexual assault, but as a tool for collective humiliation, a weapon to impose domination, and a message aimed at shattering the human dignity of the survivor and her family. It is an expression of a logic of power that views women’s bodies and wombs as an arena for punishment, revenge, and the assertion of control.

This violence did not arise in a vacuum. When even within the legislative body itself, rape crimes are mocked, their gravity is downplayed, or they are exploited in political debates, the message sent to society is that rape is not a crime that violates human dignity but rather merely a linguistic or political tool that those in power can invoke at will. The trivialization of rape and the dismissive way it is treated in public discourse directly contribute to the normalization of sexual violence and its transformation into an accepted means of intimidation and subjugation.

Responsibility does not lie solely with the perpetrators of this crime but extends to everyone who has contributed to spreading hate speech and racism, everyone who has justified discrimination or remained silent in the face of repeated attacks on migrants, and everyone who has exploited fear and racism politically to achieve short-term gains. The violence we witness today is the direct result of years of incitement, criminalization, and stigmatization. It is also the result of policies that criminalize humanitarian solidarity with migrants and the anti-racist movement, and the imprisonment of activists by a judiciary stripped of its independence—turning them into scapegoats to reinforce the narrative of a “resettlement plan to alter the demographic composition” and to cover up the regime’s submission to European border externalization policies.

We condemn these ongoing crimes in the strongest terms and consider them a dangerous indicator of the regression of the human rights situation in Tunisia. We also demand that all those involved in racist crimes be held accountable, that immediate protection be provided to the victims, and that serious measures be taken to combat racism.

The struggle today is not only for justice for this family but for the defense of a fundamental principle: a free and secure society cannot be built on fear of the other and on injustice, and human dignity cannot be protected while women’s bodies are violated and migrants are stripped of their humanity.

Dignity is indivisible.

Signatories

Associations and Organizations
Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights
Campaign Against the Criminalization of Civil Action
Betty Association
Bousla Organization
Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights
Lawyers Without Borders
Tunisian Association of Democratic Women
National Union of Tunisian Journalists
Union of Unemployed Graduates
World Organization Against Torture
Tunisian Association for the Defense of Individual Freedoms
Crossroads Association for Rights and Freedoms
Tunisian Association for Justice and Equality
Legal Agenda
African Association
Al-Khat Association
I Watch Organization
Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Human Rights in Tunisia
Euro-Mediterranean Rights
Nashaz Association
Tunisian Association for Rights and Freedoms
Federation of Tunisians for Citizenship on Both Shores
Union of Tunisian Migrant Workers
Touhida Group in Cheikh
Tunisian Coalition for the Abolition of the Death Penalty
Al-Karama Association
Voices of Women Association

Political Parties
Workers’ Party
Al-Qutb Party
Republican Party
Social Democratic Path Party