New coalition in Tunisia fights for LGBTQI rights

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

In Tunisia, 20 LGBTQI and allied activist associations met yesterday to form a new coalition to fight together for the human rights of LGBTQI Tunisians.
HuffPost Tunisia reported (as translated here from the original French):

In Tunisia, LGBTQI associations join forces to internationalize the struggle for their rights

The announcement of the new coalition's report on the rights of LGBTQI people in Tunisia. — Announcement of the publication of “State of Affairs,” the new coalition’s report on the rights of LGBTQI people in Tunisia.

“Historical.” That’s the word that LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) associations in Tunisia use to describe their coalition, which has presented a report on the situation of LGBTQI people in Tunisia. The report will be submitted for the next Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Tunisia before the U.N. Human Rights Council in May 2017.

In a crowded room, in a moment of unprecedented unity, in front of a crowd of Tunisian and foreign activists and sympathizers, punctuated by enthusiastic applause, the coalition — comprising the NGOs Damj, Mawjoudin, Chouf, Shams and the Kelmty collective, with the support of EuroMed Rights and the Heinrich Boll Foundation and 13 other co-signatory organizations — unveiled the detailed report on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Their goals are to abolish Article 230 of the Criminal Code, which criminalizes homosexuality, and Articles 226 bis, 228 and 231, which related to indecent assault, soliciting and prostitution, which constitute a Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of homosexuals.

Location of Tunisia (Map courtesy of HRW)

The coalition reviews recent cases of discrimination against Tunisians for their sexual orientation — the Marwen case, the six young people from Kairouan, and the recent case of transsexuals in Sousse, etc. The gathering then discussed other forms of violence that force LGBTQI citizens to live their lives in the shadows, including lack of access to health care, justice, work and education; hate speech broadcast by media and political figures; anal testing; discriminatory profiling by police officers, etc., — all of them violations of the principles of human rights guaranteed by the Constitution.