Bochra Belhaj Hmida

Bochra Belhaj Hmida
بشرى بلحاج حميدة
Bochra Belhaj Hmida in December 2014

Bochra Belhaj Hmida (Arabic: بشرى بلحاج حميدة), is a Tunisian lawyer, politician and activist from Zaghouan.[1]

Biography

Belhaj Hmida became interested in activism during her childhood, and experienced political upheaval during the authoritarian presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.[2]

Bochra Belhaj Hmida has a Law graduate degree. In 1989, she co-created the Democrat Tunisian Women Association (Association Tunisienne des Femmes Démocrates – ATFD)[3] and was the president of the organization from 1994 to 1998.[4][1]

In 2012, she represented a young woman who survived being raped by police officers.[5] According to her, the Ennahda Government was responsible morally and politically.[5]

She joined the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties in 2011. She then ran for the constituent assembly election as the leader of the Zaghouan constituency list, but she was not elected.[6]

In September 2012, she was made a member of the executive committee of the movement Nidaa Tounes. During the legislative elections of October 2014, she was elected at the People Representative Assembly as a representative of the second constituency of Tunis.[1] In her second term she continued to call for an evolution of women's rights in Tunisia.[7]

Bochra Belhaj Hmida is also president of the Individual Freedom and Equality Commission (COLIBE), initiated by the Tunisian president Béji Caïd Essebsi on August 13, 2017. It aims to build a report concerning legislative reforms for individual freedom and equality, as required by the 2014 Constitution and by human rights international norms.[8] As a president, Bochra Belhaj Hmida has led a proposed reform of inheritance laws between men and women.[9]

In 2023, the Tunisian government accused Belhaj Hmida of "conspiracy", in a move criticized by Amnesty International.[10]

Honors

On 13 August 2018, National Women's Day, Bochra Belhaj Hmida was given the insignia of Commander of the Order of Tunisian Republic by the Tunisian President.[11] On September 27 2018, she received an award from the foundation Global Hope Coalition.[12] She was named politician of the year in 2018 by the Tunisian press.[13] In 2019, she was awarded the Fatima al-Fihriya Prize in recognition of her involvement in the process of individual freedoms and equality in Tunisia.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Bochra Belhaj Hamida". Marsad Majles (in French). 2014. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  2. ^ "HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS 2021 (EN) - Bochra Belhaj Hmida, Tunisia". en-humanrightsdefenders.freiheit.org. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  3. ^ "Difficile et lente transition vers la démocratie". Le Temps (in French). 2012-11-23. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  4. ^ "Bochra Belhaj Hmida, militante de la Tunisie 'universelle'". Le Monde (in French). 2018-12-23. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  5. ^ a b "Femme violée en Tunisie : pour l'avocate, le gouvernement est responsable". Le Monde (in French). 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  6. ^ "La tunisie se prépare pour des élections historiques". L'express. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  7. ^ "La Tunisie adopte une nouvelle loi contre les violences faites aux femmes". La Croix (in French). 2017-07-27. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  8. ^ "Qui sont les membres de la commission des libertés individuelles et de l'égalité créée par Béji Caid Essebsi?". Al HuffPost Maghreb (in French). 2017-08-13. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  9. ^ "Etre une femme en Afrique : " On doit toujours prouver qu'on est capables "". Le Monde (in French). 2018-12-03. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  10. ^ "Tunisian authorities add human rights lawyers to trumped-up conspiracy case". Amnesty International. 2023-05-09. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  11. ^ "Pourquoi les auteurs du Rapport sur les libertés et les droits (COLIBE) ont-ils été décorés". Leaders (in French). Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  12. ^ "Bochra Bel Haj Hmida primé aux Etats-Unis pour sa lutte contre l'extrémisme et l'intolérance". Al HuffPost Maghreb (in French). 2018-09-28. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  13. ^ "Pour vous, c'est la personnalité politique de l'année 2018 – Bochra Bel Haj Hmida: Le parcours, les combats (INTERVIEW)". Al HuffPost Maghreb (in French). 2019-01-02. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  14. ^ "Bochra Belhaj Hamida reçoit le prix Fatima al-Fihri". leconomistemaghrebin.com. 2019-12-04. Retrieved 2019-12-04.

Media related to Bochra Belhaj Hmida at Wikimedia Commons