Achraf Aouadi
Achraf Aouadi is a Tunisian activist and academic that founded the watchdog organization I WATCH after the Tunisian Revolution in 2011. The organization is committed to preserving the victories of the revolution, and as such, organizes young people around transparency, good governance, and anti-corruption.
I WATCH has played an important role in guaranteeing a smooth political transition in Tunisia through voter education, election monitoring, unearthing corruption scandals, and advocating for whistleblower protections.Aouadi and his fellow activists have faced significant defamation and intimidation for their work against corruption, but persist to support civil society and human rights in Tunisia.
Following the ousting of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali as a result of the historic protests in 2011, the situation for human rights defenders (HRDs) in Tunisia began to improve substantially. Advances on freedom of expression have remained more limited than on freedom of association and assembly. The new Press Code, which was intended to liberalise the environment for journalists and strengthen freedom of expression maintained provisions on criminal defamation. It also remains an offence to distribute “false information”, a provision often used to prosecute human rights defenders under the past regime.
