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Contents:

• TUNISIE : L GAY PRIS
• GAY PEOPLE ARE RECLAIMG AN ISLAMIC HERAGE

TUNISIE : L GAY PRIS

Homosexualy⚢✖ Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)Censorship✖ Imprisonment as punishmentNon-bary genr regnnUnknownDiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsConversn Therapy✖ Not banned. Illegal (imprisonment as punishment) Penal Co of 1913: Article 230: “The mascule homosexualy and feme homosexualy that is not vered by any of the other prev articl, is punished wh imprisonment for three years” (unofficial translatn) Male illegal, female legalPunishment of 2- 3 years prison. This mandate rponds to the ncerns of the ternatnal muny about the tolerance, discrimatn and particularly egreg ab agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people, as documented the two reports produced 2011 and 2015 by the High Commissner for Human Rights and the thematic reports submted by the mandate to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.

The progrs rultg om the Revolutn terms of eedom and digny, which are reflected the nstutnal amework that enshr the prcipl of equaly and non-discrimatn, nstute a solid foundatn on which Tunisia n build to ntue the advanc protectn agast vlence and discrimatn and for the full guarantee of the human rights of lbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) persons. One of the rnerston of the creatn of my mandate is the regnn that gay, lbian, bisexual, trans and genr diverse persons have existed and ntue to exist all rners of the world, all regns and untri, all cultur and all eras.

GAY PEOPLE ARE RECLAIMG AN ISLAMIC HERAGE

In this perspective, some have stated that there are few mands for more protectn of LGBT people and that the crimalizatn of homosexualy has not been clud the major mands of the Tunisian revolutn and, the face of the current reali of unemployment and enomic stagnatn, ntue to be unimportant the ey of most cizens.

This crimalizatn also creas the fear of homosexual and trans populatns, as well as sex workers, to be arrted and forc them to go unrground, to rea om participatg HIV preventn and HIV risk preventn programm or even to posss ndoms or lubrints, as this uld nstute, for police officers, physil proof of homosexualy or sex work. As any other state stutn, the crimalizatn of homosexualy has a very ncrete impact on the enjoyment of rights: for example, I have been rmed that prison thori do not distribute and allow the distributn of ndoms prison bee this would be nsired an act of promotg homosexualy – which is crimalized.

3 Consequently, society punish not only homosexual behavur unr article 230 of the Crimal Co, but all inti and exprsns that are perceived by some as vlatg the "social pact" and an afont to ctoms and tradns. Acrdg to my rmatn, however, the articl allow the judiciary and the secury forc to prosecute and nvict people on the basis of their mere non-normative appearance or what uld be associated wh behavur suggtg homosexualy or by havg accs to rmatn relatg to their personal data. 12 The rmatn available to me also dit an almost systematic e of the practice of anal ttg to prove homosexual relatns, vlatn of ternatnal texts relatg to the preventn of torture and plete aquacy wh the scientific data on the probative value of this tt and the negative impact on the persons subjected to .

Article 230 of the Penal Co is wily ed agast the LGBT muny: acrdg to a recent UNDP report14 there are about a hundred annual nvictns on the basis of this article and, acrdg to rmatn om the Mistry of Jtice followg a requt ma by the Twensa Kifkom project, there have been 1917 people taed nvicted of homosexualy between 2008 and June 2020. Vlatn of privacy: search and nfistns of puters, mobile phon to look for "evince" of homosexualy or other offenc related to moraly or mosty; seizure of ndoms and lubrint as "proof" of the same offenc. 16 Policians, parliamentarians, clerics, and the media tend to project a stereotypil, stigmatizg, and negative image of LGBT people that fuels hatred and tolerance wh society, as illtrated by homophobic msag and ath threats exchanged discsn groups nnectn wh the above-mentned speech and reprentatns.

After receivg several plats, Tunisia's Inpennt High Authory for Aud-visual Communitn (HAICA) – what n be nsired the first official reactn of a public stutn to vlence agast the LGBT muny – issued a warng agast a televisn channel for homophobic statements October 2015.

The absence of legal sanctns, upled wh the fact that many officials and policians, cludg members of the Tunisian parliament, ntribute to hostile rhetoric agast the LGBT muny, has led to the large-sle normalizatn of homophobic hate speech across the untry. I regnise that this is the se many parts of the world, but I would like to strs that full rpect for the human rights of Tunisians who are lbian, gay, bisexual, trans and genr diverse is not an optn: no human beg should be ved to wa to be safe om the threat of torture, beatgs, blackmail or discrimatn, and this clus all of those whose sexual orientatn and genr inty li as root e of the heo vlatns. Like any other form of torture, the ntuy of ttg s of spected homosexualy is the rponsibily of the State and should be the subject of crimal proceedgs agast the perpetrator of the torture and the requtg thory.

“LGBTI activists who persist prottg are terrified that secury forc will sgle them out at protts, round them up, and abe them wh impuny, ” said Rasha Youn, lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) rights rearcher at Human Rights Watch.

The recent acunts of abe were provid agast the backdrop of creased persecutn of LGBTI people durg the Covid-19 panmic Tunisia, where homosexualy is crimalized, and an tensified crackdown on LGBTI anizg recent years.

Saif Ayadi, a social worker at Damj Associatn for Jtice and Equaly, a Tunis-based LGBT rights group, said, “Police are g homophobic chants protts agast , llg ‘faggots’ and ‘sodom’ who serve to be killed.