Associations in Tunisia .. Charity and other activities

Badr al-Din al-Wahaibi - Tunisia

Politicians and activists on social networking platforms accused some associations and civil society organizations in Tunisia of being linked to political agendas by employing their activities in suspicious electoral campaigns and campaigns.

The accusations against political parties and foreign parties have raised controversy over the seriousness of the government's handling of the file of associations, which according to observers showed political positions announced to attract votes in preparation for the legislative and presidential elections scheduled for the end of this year.

These developments raised the issue of monitoring the application of the law of associations under the description of the expansion of political money, and the association of some associations with agendas of interests and influence in order to preserve their economic interests.

MP Mabrouk al-Harizi said that the hidden political objectives and ambitions of the associations revolve mainly around enticating the voters, pointing out that they violate their privacy and gather data for citizens by the companies of opinion polls or institutions that have been sent for the purpose.

Al-Harizi added to Al-Jazeera Net that these associations are exploiting personal data of citizens - that is, people's security information - in order to invest them to interfere with voters' choices and influence them.

For his part, MP and leader of the Renaissance movement, Nouvel el-Jamali, said that Tunisia's current overlap between the work of associations and political work is unhealthy and does not contribute to building a strong, neutral and constructive civil society.

He said in his speech to Al Jazeera Net that the solution lies in expediting the activation of the draft laws relating to associations and political parties, which must take into account the current imbalances.

Political goals
Social and cultural associations represent more than 30% of more than 21,000 associations, most of them concentrated in the capital, according to the statistics of the Association's "Aidat" Center issued last month.

Among them is Tunisia Living, which links some of its Tunisian youth leaders to Tunis, and is accused of field activities that have raised doubts about its sources of funding.

On the other hand, President Salim bin Hassan believes that these accusations came in response to the declaration of his association war on corruption, stressing that the main objective of their activity is to eliminate chaos and put the country on the "rail."

The association is also accused of being closely associated with a member of the French organization Rambourg, which in turn is accused of working to protect French interests in Tunisia, especially the exploitation of internal resources.

Charges for the channel "Nesma"
The owner of Nessma Private Channel Nabil Al-Qarawi is also accused of directing viewers and campaigning, using the aid provided by the charitable program "Khalil Tunisia" to influence voters' choices to vote in his presidential election.

The High Commission for Audiovisual Communication (Haika) has imposed a financial penalty on the villagers because of the frequent appearance in the charity program, which was considered a promotion campaign for the person and his image to the Tunisians, especially the destitute.

For his part, the village announced a few days ago in a press conference - coincided with the decision of "Haika" cut off the broadcast "Nesma" - "take the decision to intervene in public affairs," a declaration that observers saw that it carries a lot of meanings and interpretations.

Suspicious financing
The Anti-Corruption Commission has reported abuses and difficulties in its monitoring of violations and violations, through the non-interaction of some associations and their members with the law on the authorization of gains.

In its latest report, the Department of Accounting revealed several abuses in monitoring election campaigns, most of which are related to political money and campaign financing, pointing out that the activity of associations may be one of the suspicious financing interfaces to attract voters and buy receivables.

For its part, the Ministry of Relations with constitutional bodies, civil society and human rights sent more than 700 warnings to a number of associations, and ordered the suspension of the activity of 77 of them and the issuance of judicial rulings to dissolve another number.

In this regard, al-Jamali said that in view of the current developments in the file of associations, this ministry is currently engaged in an important part of its work on what he called the thorny file for the financing of associations.

For his part, adds political analyst Salah al-Din al-Jorshi that the associations that funded extremist groups and terrorist evidence of the accuracy and sensitivity of the subject, as some people find the appropriate legal interface to cover up on suspicious agendas, he said.