WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined four of his Senate colleagues in introducing a resolution recognizing Tunisia’s leadership in the Arab Spring and expressing support for upholding its democratic principles and norms. Under the country’s current President Kais Saied, Tunisia has seen a recent backslide of the democratic gains made in the years following the Arab Spring. This includes a notable increase in arrests of political opponents and critics of his Administration. 

"During the Arab Spring, the Tunisian people bravely stood up and demanded democratic reforms, but President Saied has taken every opportunity to consolidate his power and undo a decade of progress in Tunisia.  What was once a promising democracy has now collapsed into an autocracy. As the foundations of our own democracy are being tested, we must reaffirm our commitment to protecting human rights and democratic ideals in Tunisia and all over the world,” said Murphy.

Specifically, the resolution:

  1. Recognizes Tunisia as the symbolic birthplace of the historic Arab Spring movement and the country’s notable democratic reforms that emerged during that period;
  2. Commends the Tunisian people for their courage and democratic achievements made in the immediate years following the Arab Spring;
  3. Expresses deep concern for more recent reversals of such democratic gains, including the erosion of judicial independence; political repression and arrests; and the undemocratic consolidation of power;
  4. Urges the Government of Tunisia to release all political prisoners to respect the rights of the people to free exercise of peaceful assembly, expression, and the press; to restore and respect the independence of electoral, judicial, and anti-corruption institutions;  
  5. Urges the Trump Administration to sanction those Tunisian officials primarily involved in repression of peaceful democratic activity.

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) also cosponsored the bill.

Full text of the resolution is available HERE.

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