When? Thursday 5 June 2025 – 1 PM (GMT+1, Tunis, Rabat, Bangui, Kinshasa, Niamey) | 1 PM (GMT+2, Brussels, Paris, Rome)
Language: French
Free webinar – registration required
In Morocco and Tunisia, criminal laws continue to punish behaviour linked to precariousness, marginalisation, or activism. As part of the Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty, Status and Activism, Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF) has conducted two national surveys (in Morocco and Tunisia) on the perception of minor offences and alternative sentences. To share these surveys, ASF invites you to the ExPEERience Talk #16 to analyse the issues surrounding these criminal laws and share approaches for legislative reform.
The polls were conducted among a representative sample according to gender, age, region and socio-professional category. The aim was to assess Moroccan and Tunisian public opinion on the issue of criminalising minor offences (defined as ‘minor offences that do not disturb public order, offences that criminalise people for what they are (poor, marginal, etc.)’), and alternatives to deprivation of liberty, which are penalties imposed in place of custodial sentences for offences punishable by a maximum of five years’ imprisonment.
These offences – such as begging, vagrancy, or certain moral offences – primarily affect poor, homeless, migrant, LGBTQI+, and/or committed people. Often inherited from the colonial era, these laws contribute to criminalising life situations, exacerbating exclusion, and worsening prison overcrowding. These surveys reveal a growing gap between judicial practices and citizen’s expectations, which are penalties imposed in place of custodial sentences for offences punishable by a maximum of five years’ imprisonment.
Objectives of ExPEERience Talk #16
- Presenting the results of the surveys carried out in Morocco and Tunisia and compare their findings
- Understanding better the impact of these criminal laws on marginalised groups
- Examining the issues involved in criminal justice responses to minor offences
- Sharing approaches on the direction of legislative reforms d’orientation des réformes législatives and how to improve the practices of judicial actors to ensure fairer justice.
Do not miss this opportunity to learn more about Moroccan and Tunisian citizens’ perceptions of minor offences and alternative sentencing, and the impact of these criminal laws on marginalised groups.
