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Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norard)
Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark - Danida & Trade Council
Austrian Development Agency (ADA)
With the financial support from the Prevention of an d Fight against Crime Programme of the European Union European Commission - Directorate-General Home Affairs. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
UK Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS)
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Tunisia Country Profile

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Tunisian Civil Society

Post-revolution Tunisia has witnessed a much freer press. The media can now scrutinise the behaviour of government officials and bring government corruption to light. The Constitution provides for freedom of expression and media independence, but several of these provisions are described in vague and broad terms, allowing media content to be censored. During 2013, journalists suffered from increased pressure to censor published information; these efforts were met with strikes to protest the criminalisation of journalists’ reporting (FotP 2014). Journalists also face defamation charges. Internet freedom is respected in Tunisia, and websites are no longer censored (HRR 2013). Tunisia’s media environment is evaluated as 'partly free' (FotP 2014).

Freedom of assembly and association are guaranteed by the Constitution (HRR 2013). Associations are today easy to form, facing no oppressive legal impediments or obstructive registration requirements (IA 2013), but the government controls the funding of associations with a formal registering process (IA 2013). Civil society has been involved in the formulation of policies in post-revolution Tunisia but not in areas of policy implementation or performance monitoring (BTI 2014). Among the achievements of the cooperations between the state, civil society and the UNDP in Tunisia is the creation of the Portail National Pour La Lutte Anti-Corruption, which revolves around three principal elements: an information site, a space for constructive ideas contributing to the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and an interactive space for anti-corruption activists.