Tunisia

Hostility and pressure in Islamic society

For Christians in Tunisia, life within Islamic society comes with hostility and daily pressure. And the threat of Islamic militant activity—especially by those returning from fighting with ISIS—is still worrying. At the political level, Islamist political parties are still influential. Islamic militants spread fear throughout the country, many having links to organized crime.

Foreigners in Tunisia enjoy more freedom of religion but are restricted from engaging in openly evangelistic activities. The small community of Tunisian converts experiences persecution from family members, relatives and the community at large and face difficulties with the state authorities that don’t officially recognize their conversion to Christianity.

How Christians are suffering

A journalist who investigated the situation of Tunisian Christians in-depth states: “Tunisian Christians face discrimination and targeting that is often obscure and hidden to the public eye. It affects their day-to-day lives. Because of their Christian identities, many believers experience various forms of Christian persecution, such as job insecurity, abandonment from family, friends and even fiancés; they are victims of verbal, mental and physical abuse.”

Due to the above factors, most Tunisian converts to Christianity choose to hide their faith and cannot openly worship and live their lives as Christians. The hostility and pressures they face from society at large make it dangerous to share their faith with their family members, relatives, neighbors, friends or colleagues. They also find it difficult to gather for worship and fellowship due to the risks any possible exposure would entail.

Examples

Church facilities and buildings are monitored, ostensibly for security reasons but also for the purpose of surveillance.

In April 2018, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief reported on Tunisia. He concluded that “old laws and societal pressure pose the greatest challenges to religious freedom in Tunisia; a number of old laws, such as ‘public morality concepts’ and ‘public order provisions,’ are used to enforce restrictions on, for example, food consumption during Ramadan.”

During the World Watch List 2019 reporting period, (foreign) Christians have been detained and interrogated for possessing Christian literature. They were accused of proselytization.