[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 613 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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

    (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;
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 organization 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--

    (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

    (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
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes Tunisia as the symbolic birthplace of the 
        historic Arab Spring movement and the country's notable 
        democratic reforms that emerged during the Arab Spring period;
            (2) commends the Tunisian people for their courage and 
        democratic achievements made in the immediate years following 
        the Arab Spring;
            (3) condemns actions taken by President Saied to undermine 
        these democratic achievements and expresses deep concern for 
        the recent reversals of such democratic gains, including--
                    (A) the erosion of judicial independence;
                    (B) political repression and arrests; and
                    (C) the undemocratic consolidation of power in the 
                hands of the president;
            (4) urges the Government of Tunisia--
                    (A) to release all political prisoners;
                    (B) to respect the rights of the people to free 
                exercise of peaceful assembly, expression, and the 
                press and to hold accountable individuals responsible 
                for political repression and other human rights abuses 
                since July 25, 2021; and
                    (C) to protect the right of association and to 
                ensure civil society is able to operate without 
                government interference; and
            (5) calls on the Government of Tunisia to support 
        transparent and open presidential, parliamentary, and municipal 
        election processes, including with regard to the presidential 
        election scheduled for 2024.
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