Tunisians have been trying to address their painful past for almost a decade. In 2011, they ousted president Zein el-Abidine Ben Ali. The Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission (Instance Verite et Dignite) was then established in 2014 to serve as a mechanism through which difficult truths about the past could be exposed, documented, and addressed. Covering crimes committed from the last year of French colonial rule in 1955 through 2013, the Commission was a powerful platform through which Tunisian victims and their relatives could pursue justice in several forms. Almost one year ago, the Commission released its final report on 50 years of dictatorship. But with few perpetrators held to account and many pending cases before the courts, is justice still to come in Tunisia?
The Brookings Doha Center is honored to welcome Sihem Bensedrine, the president of the Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission and a veteran Tunisian human rights activist and journalist. Bensedrine was among the founding members of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), which is part of the National Dialogue Quartet that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015. Bensedrine is the recipient of several international awards, including the 2011 Alison Des Forges Award from Human Rights Watch, in recognition of her decades-long human rights work in Tunisia.
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