Crucial need for debate about Tunisia’s future economic and social policies in Tunisia and the European Union

 Tunis, 19 June 2011: Crucial need for debate about Tunisia’s future economic and social policies in Tunisia and the European Union

New report by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network: Tunisia after 14 January and its economic and social policy. The issues at stake for revisiting European policy

In its new report, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) debunks the myth behind the so called ‘Tunisian miracle’ by exposing the depth of the structural failures the Ben Ali regime had tried to cover up for more than two decades. It provides detailed evidence on the high rates of unemployment crippling the country’s economy; the lack of access to basic medical care, corruption-related issues and the staggering numbers of young Tunisians seeking European shores in search of a better life.  

The report high-lights the fact that EU decision makers seem to think that past social and economic support programs remain valid today and need little or no revision.

While welcoming the flourishing debates about Tunisia’s future constitutional and political system the report argues for a pressing need to also deal with Tunisia’s economic and social policies.

 “It’s quite disturbing to see that economic and social policies conducted by the former regime remain largely unquestioned and that the EU seems to think past support programmes remain valid today and need little or no revision,” says EMHRN Executive Director Marc Schade-Poulsen.

The recommendations attached to the report stress the need to tackle issues such as: the fight against corruption, promotion of social dialogue, reforming the educational system, diminishing inequalities between the regions, promoting women’s participation in the work force, promoting environmental protection, and revising economic relations between Tunisia and the EU including current management of migratory flows.

The report which is written to foster debate within Tunisian society is the outcome of the EMHRN’s Solidarity Group for Tunisia  set up in 2009. Information (gathered before and after the revolution, until late March 2011) has been compiled by a team of experts, including French CNRS Director Béatrice Hibou (author of The Force of Obedience. Political Economy of Repression in Tunisia, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2011), Meddeb  Hamza (Policy researcher, CERI), and research student Mohamed Hamdi.

The executive summary of the report is available here in English
 The report is available here in English
The recommandations are available here in English

The report is available here in French
The executive summary of the report is available here in French
The recommandations are available here in French

The executive summary is available here in Arabic

The report is availble here in Arabic

The Recommandations are available here in Arabic