The House of People’s Representatives (HPR) has adopted a law criminalising racist speech, incitement to hatred and discrimination. It is a historic vote on the elimination of all the forms of racial discrimination, with 125 votes for, 1 against and 5 abstentions.
The purpose of this Act is to eliminate all forms and manifestations of racial discrimination in order to protect the dignity of the human being and to establish equality between individuals with respect to the enjoyment of rights and the fulfillment of their duties, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and international conventions ratified by the Republic of Tunisia.
It sets out procedures, mechanisms and measures to prevent all forms and manifestations of racial discrimination, to protect its victims and to punish its perpetrators.
The law provides for the creation of a national committee called “the National Commission against Racial Discrimination”, responsible for designing and proposing strategies and public policies as well as collecting data and conducting public awareness campaigns to fight against all forms of racial discrimination.
Under this law, the State is required to set policies, strategies and action plans capable of preventing all forms and practices of racial discrimination and is committed to spreading the culture of human rights, equality, tolerance and acceptance of the other among the different components of society.
TunisianMonitorOnline
