Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights highlights a 'suffocating structural social crisis

In a statement, the organization described a comprehensive crisis fueled by difficulties in accessing water and electricity, eroding purchasing power, deteriorating public services, and rising social tensions. The FTDES argues that these issues, including repeated water and electricity cuts, scarcity of bottled mineral water during a heatwave, and increased household budget pressures before the school year, are not isolated incidents but part of a structural social crisis. This crisis is characterized by declining purchasing power, persistent unemployment, economic precarity, environmental degradation, ongoing human tragedies in the Mediterranean, restrictions on critical voices, and harsh prison conditions.

The FTDES emphasizes that the unavailability of essential services like water and electricity not only undermines human dignity but also threatens citizens' lives. The organization believes this situation reflects a significant decline in economic and social protection mechanisms and a growing inability of public policies to meet basic needs, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups and marginalized regions. The FTDES also points to a shrinking civic space, condemning the criminalization of protest movements, which it believes reduces citizens' and civil society's ability to express grievances and demand accountability.

The Forum holds