[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 613 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 613
Recognizing Tunisia's leadership in the Arab Spring and expressing
support for upholding its democratic principles and norms.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 25, 2023
Mr. Phillips (for himself and Mr. Wilson of South Carolina) submitted
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing Tunisia's leadership in the Arab Spring and expressing
support for upholding its democratic principles and norms.
Whereas, on December 17, 2010, 26-year-old fruit and vegetable street vendor
Mohamed Bouazizi lit himself on fire in desperate protest in Sidi
Bouzid, Tunisia, an act that was largely seen as the beginning of the
Arab Spring movement that spread throughout the region;
Whereas ensuing popular protests in Tunisia in response to the Ben Ali regime's
de facto one-party rule, corruption, repression of civil liberties, and
economic nepotism--
(1) forced the resignation of President Ben Ali from the office of
president;
(2) ended his 23-year rule; and
(3) further galvanized similar pent-up democratic demands throughout
the Arab world;
Whereas Tunisia emerged from the Arab Spring as one of the most hopeful and
promising nascent democracies in the region, including with an interim
government and an elected Constituent Assembly responsible for drafting
a new constitution and fostering other political reforms;
Whereas, in February 2011, Senator John McCain urged United States support for
Tunisia's democratic transition, noting ``The revolution in Tunisia has
been very successful and it has become a model for the region.'';
Whereas, in March 2011, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pledged
full support for Tunisia's transition to democracy, hailing the
country's revolution as the spark that lit ``the profound and dramatic
changes'' sweeping the Arab world;
Whereas, on January 26, 2014, the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia adopted a new
constitution demonstrating consensus for building a democracy founded on
freedom and equality;
Whereas this new Constitution of Tunisia included Articles that--
(1) gave equal rights to men and women;
(2) protected freedoms of assembly, conscience, peaceful demonstration,
expression, and publication; and
(3) outlined an electoral system and representation for the Tunisian
people with checks and balances;
Whereas, in November 2014, Tunisia held its first free and fair presidential
election since its independence in 1956, with 27 candidates openly
competing for the office of president;
Whereas longtime politician Beji Caid Essebsi won the election in a runoff with
55 percent of the vote, becoming Tunisia's first president to be
legitimately elected based on universal suffrage since independence;
Whereas President Essebsi and the elected parliament faced many difficult
challenges, including economic turmoil, terrorist attacks, and public
expectations for change;
Whereas public disillusionment with the country's political elites increased
amid continued corruption, worsening economic conditions, and
devastating acts of terrorism that severely hurt the tourism industry
and larger economy;
Whereas political outsider and constitutional law professor Kais Saied won the
presidential run-off election held on October 13, 2019, and was sworn
into office 10 days later in a peaceful transfer of power;
Whereas, by 2021, protests in response to police brutality and worsening
economic conditions, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and
related restrictions, occurred across cities in Tunisia, to which the
police responded violently;
Whereas, in July 2021, President Saied capitalized on unrest to seize power by
unilaterally--
(1) dismissing Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and his cabinet;
(2) suspending Parliament for 30 days; and
(3) asserting sweeping executive authority over policymaking and the
judiciary without first consulting the government;
Whereas, on July 26, 2021, Tunisian security agents entered the headquarters in
Tunis of the independent news organization al-Jazeera, and ordered staff
to vacate the premises;
Whereas, as of November 2022, al-Jazeera's offices remained closed and its
journalism licenses have not been renewed;
Whereas, on September 22, 2021, President Saied suspended most provisions of the
2014 Constitution and asserted the right to rule by decree, without
judicial review or other checks and balances;
Whereas, on March 30, 2022, President Saied dissolved Parliament;
Whereas, by early 2022, President Saied continued to undermine Tunisia's
democratic institutions, including by shutting the National Anti-
Corruption Authority, asserting control over membership of the
Independent High Authority for Elections, and dissolving the Supreme
Judicial Council;
Whereas, on February 24, 2022, President Saied announced he intended to issue a
decree restricting civil society organizations including a prohibition
on foreign funding, stating ``nongovernmental organizations must be
prevented from accessing external funds . . . and we will do that'';
Whereas, on March 20, 2022, President Saied issued Decree Law 14 criminalizing
the deliberate spread of ``false or incorrect news'' that could cause
economic harm for which conviction is punishable by a prison sentence of
10 years to life;
Whereas, on June 1, 2022, President Saied unilaterally dismissed 57 judges,
including the former president of the Supreme Judicial Council;
Whereas, in July 2022, President Saied put to a referendum a new draft
constitution, which--
(1) consolidated executive power under the presidency;
(2) limited parliamentary authority; and
(3) diminished judicial independence;
Whereas the new draft constitution was approved despite historically low voter
turnout and heavy domestic and international criticism surrounding the
lack of genuine debate or input throughout the drafting process;
Whereas, on September 16, 2022, President Saied issued Decree Law 54 which
criminalizes the use of information systems to publish or circulate
false information that ``infringes on the rights of others or
jeopardizes public safety or national defense or spreads terror among
the population'', or with the aim of ``defaming others, tarnishing their
reputations, or causing them financial and moral harm'';
Whereas, as of November 2022, the government had opened at least 5 criminal
investigations under Decree Law 54 for conduct comprising the exercise
of freedom of expression;
Whereas, on September 15, 2022, President Saied released a new election law that
increases his control over the electoral process and weakens the role of
political parties in Tunisia's political system;
Whereas, on March 9, 2023, President Saied announced plans to dissolve municipal
councils whose election in 2018 had symbolized a first step toward much-
needed political decentralization;
Whereas, between 2021 to 2023, Tunisia experienced--
(1) a dramatic drop in voter participation and public confidence in the
political process; and
(2) an escalation in politically motivated arrests of political
opponents, judges, lawyers, journalists, business leaders, and other
critics; and
Whereas President Saied's actions have dramatically undermined Tunisia's nascent
democracy, co-opted and weakened its democratic institutions, and have
threatened to return the country to authoritarianism: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes Tunisia as the symbolic birthplace of the
historic Arab Spring movement and the country's notable
democratic reforms that emerged during the Arab Spring period;
(2) commends the Tunisian people for their courage and
democratic achievements made in the immediate years following
the Arab Spring;
(3) condemns actions taken by President Saied to undermine
these democratic achievements and expresses deep concern for
the recent reversals of such democratic gains, including--
(A) the erosion of judicial independence;
(B) political repression and arrests; and
(C) the undemocratic consolidation of power in the
hands of the president;
(4) urges the Government of Tunisia--
(A) to release all political prisoners;
(B) to respect the rights of the people to free
exercise of peaceful assembly, expression, and the
press and to hold accountable individuals responsible
for political repression and other human rights abuses
since July 25, 2021; and
(C) to protect the right of association and to
ensure civil society is able to operate without
government interference; and
(5) calls on the Government of Tunisia to support
transparent and open presidential, parliamentary, and municipal
election processes, including with regard to the presidential
election scheduled for 2024.
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