Tunisia

In Tunisia, LGBTIQ people often face violence and discrimination. Tunisia’s penal provisions criminalize same-sex sexual activity, and police regularly harass and arrest people under this law. There have also been reports of forced anal examinations of people detained for same-sex sexual acts. Between July and November 2025 alone, at least 79 LGBTQ individuals were arrested and prosecuted for their sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBTIQ organizations exist in Tunisia, but they have faced social backlash and suppression by the government.

The growing attacks on queer communities in 2025 took place in the context of more widespread repression. President Kais Saied’s government has broadly restricted civil liberties and cracked down on dissent across society, including through the arbitrary arrests and prosecutions of activists, lawyers, journalists, and NGO leaders. In October 2025, the government suspended prominent human rights and feminist organizations such as the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) and the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) investigating them for alleged foreign funding, as part of a broader campaign that has seen the police detain at least eight NGO directors and staff under dubious charges tied to migration work.

More than 11,500 refugees and migrants were collectively expelled between 2023 and 2025 amid reports of deaths and disappearances. Women’s rights advocates encounter harassment and operational constraints. Social discontent also erupted over environmental injustice, especially in Gabès, where thousands protested decades of severe chemical pollution from the state‑owned phosphate complex, blamed for spikes in respiratory illness and cancer, with over 100 activists reportedly arrested during anti‑pollution demonstrations, making environmental degradation a major public health and political crisis that has paralyzed local life and reignited nationwide civic unrest. Together, these trends reflect a shrinking civic space in Tunisia, where political repression, NGO restrictions, human rights violations, and environmental emergencies intersect to undermine democratic freedoms and public well-being.