IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 613 

Recognizing Tunisia’s leadership in the Arab Spring and expressing support 

for upholding its democratic principles and norms. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2023 

Mr. PHILLIPS (for himself and Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing Tunisia’s leadership in the Arab Spring and 

expressing support for upholding its democratic principles and norms. 

Whereas, on December 17, 2010, 26-year-old fruit and vegetable street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi lit himself on fire 

in desperate protest in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, an act that 

was largely seen as the beginning of the Arab Spring 

movement that spread throughout the region; 

Whereas ensuing popular protests in Tunisia in response to 

the Ben Ali regime’s de facto one-party rule, corruption, 

repression of civil liberties, and economic nepotism— 

(1) forced the resignation of President Ben Ali from 

the office of president; 

(2) ended his 23-year rule; and 


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•HRES 613 IH 

(3) further galvanized similar pent-up democratic 

demands throughout the Arab world; 

Whereas Tunisia emerged from the Arab Spring as one of the 

most hopeful and promising nascent democracies in the 

region, including with an interim government and an 

elected Constituent Assembly responsible for drafting a 

new constitution and fostering other political reforms; 

Whereas, in February 2011, Senator John McCain urged 

United States support for Tunisia’s democratic transition, noting ‘‘The revolution in Tunisia has been very 

successful and it has become a model for the region.’’; 

Whereas, in March 2011, United Nations Secretary General 

Ban Ki-moon pledged full support for Tunisia’s transition to democracy, hailing the country’s revolution as the 

spark that lit ‘‘the profound and dramatic changes’’ 

sweeping the Arab world; 

Whereas, on January 26, 2014, the Constituent Assembly of 

Tunisia adopted a new constitution demonstrating consensus for building a democracy founded on freedom and 

equality; 

Whereas this new Constitution of Tunisia included Articles 

that— 

(1) gave equal rights to men and women; 

(2) protected freedoms of assembly, conscience, 

peaceful demonstration, expression, and publication; and 

(3) outlined an electoral system and representation 

for the Tunisian people with checks and balances; 

Whereas, in November 2014, Tunisia held its first free and 

fair presidential election since its independence in 1956, 

with 27 candidates openly competing for the office of 

president; 


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•HRES 613 IH 

Whereas longtime politician Beji Caid Essebsi won the election in a runoff with 55 percent of the vote, becoming 

Tunisia’s first president to be legitimately elected based 

on universal suffrage since independence; 

Whereas President Essebsi and the elected parliament faced 

many difficult challenges, including economic turmoil, 

terrorist attacks, and public expectations for change; 

Whereas public disillusionment with the country’s political 

elites increased amid continued corruption, worsening 

economic conditions, and devastating acts of terrorism 

that severely hurt the tourism industry and larger economy; 

Whereas political outsider and constitutional law professor 

Kais Saied won the presidential run-off election held on 

October 13, 2019, and was sworn into office 10 days 

later in a peaceful transfer of power; 

Whereas, by 2021, protests in response to police brutality 

and worsening economic conditions, further exacerbated 

by the COVID–19 pandemic and related restrictions, occurred across cities in Tunisia, to which the police responded violently; 

Whereas, in July 2021, President Saied capitalized on unrest 

to seize power by unilaterally— 

(1) dismissing Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and 

his cabinet; 

(2) suspending Parliament for 30 days; and 

(3) asserting sweeping executive authority over policymaking and the judiciary without first consulting the 

government; 

Whereas, on July 26, 2021, Tunisian security agents entered 

the headquarters in Tunis of the independent news orgaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 Jul 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR613.IH HR613

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nization al-Jazeera, and ordered staff to vacate the premises; 

Whereas, as of November 2022, al-Jazeera’s offices remained 

closed and its journalism licenses have not been renewed; 

Whereas, on September 22, 2021, President Saied suspended 

most provisions of the 2014 Constitution and asserted 

the right to rule by decree, without judicial review or 

other checks and balances; 

Whereas, on March 30, 2022, President Saied dissolved Parliament; 

Whereas, by early 2022, President Saied continued to undermine Tunisia’s democratic institutions, including by shutting the National Anti-Corruption Authority, asserting 

control over membership of the Independent High Authority for Elections, and dissolving the Supreme Judicial 

Council; 

Whereas, on February 24, 2022, President Saied announced 

he intended to issue a decree restricting civil society organizations including a prohibition on foreign funding, stating ‘‘nongovernmental organizations must be prevented 

from accessing external funds . . . and we will do that’’; 

Whereas, on March 20, 2022, President Saied issued Decree 

Law 14 criminalizing the deliberate spread of ‘‘false or 

incorrect news’’ that could cause economic harm for 

which conviction is punishable by a prison sentence of 10 

years to life; 

Whereas, on June 1, 2022, President Saied unilaterally dismissed 57 judges, including the former president of the 

Supreme Judicial Council; 

Whereas, in July 2022, President Saied put to a referendum 

a new draft constitution, which— 


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(1) consolidated executive power under the presidency; 

(2) limited parliamentary authority; and 

(3) diminished judicial independence; 

Whereas the new draft constitution was approved despite historically low voter turnout and heavy domestic and international criticism surrounding the lack of genuine debate 

or input throughout the drafting process; 

Whereas, on September 16, 2022, President Saied issued Decree Law 54 which criminalizes the use of information 

systems to publish or circulate false information that ‘‘infringes on the rights of others or jeopardizes public safety or national defense or spreads terror among the population’’, or with the aim of ‘‘defaming others, tarnishing 

their reputations, or causing them financial and moral 

harm’’; 

Whereas, as of November 2022, the government had opened 

at least 5 criminal investigations under Decree Law 54 

for conduct comprising the exercise of freedom of expression; 

Whereas, on September 15, 2022, President Saied released a 

new election law that increases his control over the electoral process and weakens the role of political parties in 

Tunisia’s political system; 

Whereas, on March 9, 2023, President Saied announced 

plans to dissolve municipal councils whose election in 

2018 had symbolized a first step toward much-needed political decentralization; 

Whereas, between 2021 to 2023, Tunisia experienced— 

(1) a dramatic drop in voter participation and public 

confidence in the political process; and 


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(2) an escalation in politically motivated arrests of 

political opponents, judges, lawyers, journalists, business 

leaders, and other critics; and 

Whereas President Saied’s actions have dramatically undermined Tunisia’s nascent democracy, co-opted and weakened its democratic institutions, and have threatened to 

return the country to authoritarianism: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes Tunisia as the symbolic birth3 place of the historic Arab Spring movement and the 

4 country’s notable democratic reforms that emerged 

5 during the Arab Spring period; 

6 (2) commends the Tunisian people for their 

7 courage and democratic achievements made in the 

8 immediate years following the Arab Spring; 

9 (3) condemns actions taken by President Saied 

10 to undermine these democratic achievements and ex11 presses deep concern for the recent reversals of such 

12 democratic gains, including— 

13 (A) the erosion of judicial independence; 

14 (B) political repression and arrests; and 

15 (C) the undemocratic consolidation of 

16 power in the hands of the president; 

17 (4) urges the Government of Tunisia— 

18 (A) to release all political prisoners; 


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1 (B) to respect the rights of the people to 

2 free exercise of peaceful assembly, expression, 

3 and the press and to hold accountable individ4 uals responsible for political repression and 

5 other human rights abuses since July 25, 2021; 

6 and 

7 (C) to protect the right of association and 

8 to ensure civil society is able to operate without 

9 government interference; and 

10 (5) calls on the Government of Tunisia to sup11 port transparent and open presidential, parliamen12 tary, and municipal election processes, including 

13 with regard to the presidential election scheduled for 

14 2024. 

Æ 


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