The vaccine pass against Covid-19 entered into force in Tunisia on Wednesday, December 22, for a period of six months.
According to the text, it will be compulsory in particular in administrations, public and private, educational and university establishments as well as spaces reserved for leisure, cultural and sports activities and places of worship.
It will be claimed from each person of Tunisian nationality or residing in Tunisia and over 18 years of age.
In order to accelerate the vaccination campaign in Tunisia and limit the epidemic spread linked to Covid-19, President Kais Saied, who assumed full powers on July 25, decided in October to make the vaccination pass compulsory. imposing sanctions against any person refusing to provide them.
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For Amnesty International, the presidential decree "violates the rights".
The NGO called on the Tunisian authorities on Tuesday to suspend its application.
"Amnesty International calls on the (Tunisian) authorities to amend the provisions which violate the rights to work and to freedom of movement as guaranteed by international law," she wrote in a statement.
"Excessively severe penalties"
For Amna Guellali, Amnesty International's deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, "the Tunisian authorities should only introduce restrictions that are necessary and proportionate to the protection of public health".
The provisions of this text "unnecessarily threaten the means of subsistence of Tunisians by inflicting excessively severe sanctions on them in the event of non-compliance," she said.
The sanctions that will be imposed "could unreasonably harm the means of subsistence of the sanctioned persons and their families, especially since Tunisia is already suffering from a serious economic crisis", underlined this NGO.
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"Failure to present the vaccine pass entails the suspension of the exercise of functions for staff of the State, local authorities and public bodies, companies and establishments, and the employment contract for employees of the private sector, and this, until the presentation of the vaccine pass ", stipulates this text.
The text also prohibits travel without the vaccination pass.
"This requirement is clearly not a legitimate restriction on freedom of movement under international law, because it is unjustified and unfairly restrictive", for Amna Guellali.
With AFP
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