Profile of human rights defenders in the Maghreb

The case of the Tunisian human rights league

Bibliographic Data

ID3979072
AuthorsMarc Schade-Poulsen (0009-0008-2698-3240, Roskilde University Roskilde University, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume30
Issue2
Pages187-205
Publication date2025-03-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13629387.2024.2383934
OpenAlexW4401257781
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited17

Since the 1980s, human rights activists have constituted political agenda-setting groups in the Maghreb countries, mainly following the international turn towards human rights in the post-Cold War decades. Despite this fact, only scarce attention has been paid to their social and professional background. The article explores this topic and provides hitherto unpublished data about the first generation of human rights activists in Tunisia, in particular the members of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH). Its members were a product of post-colonial Tunisia’s investment in (higher) education, teachers and professors, white-collar public servants, lawyers, doctors and journalists. They formed a committed, intellectual elite concerned with relationship between the state and citizens, seeking to influence public policies, carve out public, independent political spaces and get a share in the management of state affairs. Factual evidence surrounding human rights activists in Morocco and Algeria suggests they shared the same characteristics as LTDH members. Given the human rights situation in the Maghreb countries, the article suggests more research should be done about how human rights activists could more effectively link-up up with moral activism of social-professional groups that are absent from the human rights organisations

Human rights · League · Political science · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Human Rights and Development · Law

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