By Yasmine Darwish / GICJ
On Sunday, February 6th, 2022, Tunisian President Kais Saied announced the dissolution of the High Judicial Council. The High Judicial Council office buildings have reportedly been “cordoned off by Internal Security Forces, and members and staff have been prevented from entering the premises” [1].
The primary task of the Council is to ensure the judicial system's independence and to appoint most judicial positions in the country. Before the so-called Arab Spring – a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s – the judiciary in Tunisia depended on the executive branch. Opponents of the President were often victims of unfair trials, given that the President of the Republic at that time, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, headed the former judicial body, and the Minister for Justice was the Vice-President.
After the 2011 revolution, the transition process in Tunisia ended in a redrafting of the Constitution. The new Constitution, adopted on January 27th, 2014, allowed parliamentary elections and presidential elections. On May 15th, 2015, the elected Parliament approved the creation of the High Judicial Council as planned in the new Constitution. Its establishment shields judges from government influence and has allowed a significant advance in "the consolidation of the rule of law, the separation of powers and the independence of justice in Tunisia” [2].
Although President Saied assured that he had no intention to interfere in the functioning of justice, many Tunisian NGOs and human rights activists expressed concern about the President's decision. Some critics described the decision as an authoritarian drift and feared a step-back to the authoritarian rule in the country, similar to the one that sparked in the early 2010s by toppling the dictatorship of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
Even though international law does not provide a single model for assuring the independence of the judiciary, it encourages countries to create an authority to supervise the judiciary that is not dominated by the executive or legislature [3].
The UN Human Rights Committee has determined that the dissolution of the High Judicial Council violates the right to trial by an “independent and impartial tribunal”, as guaranteed by Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Tunisia has ratified [4].
Geneva International Center for Justice (GICJ) is deeply concerned by the President's decision, which aims to interfere with the functioning of the judicial system and respect for its independence. We urge the President of Tunisia to cease all conducts that may undermine judicial independence and breach the right of individuals to a fair trial.
Justice, Human Rights, Geneva, geneva4justice, GICJ, Geneva International Centre For Justice
[1] https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=28092&LangID=E
[2] https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/02/1111502
[3] https://oxcon.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law-mpeccol/law-mpeccol-e339?prd=MPECCOL
[4] UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 999, p. 171, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3aa0.html
