Echoes of Environmental Struggle: Activists Battling Pollution and Injustice in Tunisia's Pristine Land

09-08-2023

Talita Dielemans

Middle East and Human Rights Researcher 

Global Human Rights Defence

Amidst the beauty of Tunisia’s El Gonna nature reserve, there is a battle for environmental justice as activists stand their ground, fighting against pollution at a massive landfill site in the national park. The environmental activists in Tunisia warned that this landfill caused serious health problems amongst the surrounding population. [1] Nestled within Aguereb, a rural town - home to 40,000 inhabitants - lies one of Tunisia’s biggest nature reserves, El Gonna. However, as of 2008 it has turned into a waste repository that was used by about 1 million people in the area and Tunisia’s main industrial hub. [2]

Emerging from these environmental concerns, a group of activists initiated the Menich Msab movement, also known as “I am not a landfill” which sprouted as an artistic initiative in 2016. [3] Over a span of 15 years, waste accumulated in Aguereb creating a hill composed of tonnes of untreated waste emitting an overwhelming stench into Aguereb. As the health consequences from the giant landfill started affecting people nearby, mounting pressure culminated in massive protests, compelling the closure of the landfill in 2021. [4]

Unjustly, due to their taking part in the protests against the landfill in 2021, the environmental activists from Aguereb were sentenced to prison for periods ranging from eight months to several years, the decisions having been declared very recently. [5] The conviction of the protesters is highly concerning as they were struggling for their right to live in a healthy environment, in the form of exercising their right to association. They undertook the responsibility to keep the area clean, which is in fact a positive obligation of the State, and now they're facing imprisonment for it. 

Soon after the closure of the landfill in Aguereb in 2021, the government tried to establish a new waste site in neighbouring areas. This move had triggered protests which escalated when a Tunisian protestor lost their life due to inhaling tear gas used to disperse the demonstrations. [6] This tragic incident not only infringed upon the demonstrators’ right to freedom of expression and association directly but also violated the right to a safe and unpolluted environment of the population living in the area.

Sources and further reading:

[1] Al Jazeera ‘Tunisia activists appeal jail terms over pollution protests’ (7 August 2023) <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/7/tunisia-activists-appeal-jail-terms-over-pollution-protests> accessed 7 August 2023.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Al Jazeera ‘Tunisian dies of tear gas inhalation at landfill protest’ (9 November 2021) <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/9/tunisian-police-fire-tear-gas-on-protesters-at-landfill> accessed 8 August 2023.