Kamel Jendoubi (Arabic: كمال الجندوبي; born 8 August 1952 in Tunis) is a Tunisian politician and human rights activist.

Kamel Jendoubi
Kamel Jendoubi in a press conference
Minister responsible for public relations & human rights
In office
6 February 2015 – 27 August 2016
Personal details
Born (1952-08-08) 8 August 1952 (age 72)
Tunis, Tunisie
NationalityTunisian
EducationUniversité Panthéon-Assas
ProfessionHuman rights activist,
politician

Biography

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Jendoubi holds a degree from the IAE Paris and a Master of Advanced Studies from University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas.

He is a member and the president of several human rights organizations, including the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network since 2003.[1]

In 2011, he was elected by the High Authority for the achievement of the objectives of the revolution, political reform and democratic transition as the President of the Independent Higher Authority for Realisation of the Objectives of the Revolution, Political Reform and Democratic Transition.[2]

In October 2012, Kamel Jendoubi was again in charge of organizing elections of 2013, following a troika agreement on the future political regime.[3] However, the voting was postponed and Chafik Sarsar, a university lecturer in constitutional law, was finally elected president of the new independent Higher Authority for elections.[4][5]

On 23 January 2015, in the government of Habib Essid, he was appointed as help to the prime minister, Head of Government of Tunisia, for Relations with Constitutional Institutions and Civil Society. On 6 January 2016, he also became responsible for human rights.[6]

On 5 December 2017, he was appointed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to lead a group of international and regional experts to investigate on human rights violations in Yemen.[7]

Education

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Kamel Jendoubi enrolled at the University of Tunis in the late 1960s to pursue studies in physics and chemistry. A year later, in 1971, he moved to Paris, but failed to enroll in medical school. He therefore pursued pharmacy studies.[8] During this time, he got to know many Tunisian immigrants and decided to leave his studies for the benefit of his human rights activities. In 1979, Kamel Jendoubi, after a short return to Tunisia, returned to France to resume studies in mathematics this time, before reorienting again, In Paris after IAE he started at Sorbonne.[9]

Smear campaign

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Jendoubi was the target of a smear campaign reportedly launched by the government of the United Arab Emirates, which sought to tie him to the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic extremist groups. As part of the effort, the UAE government employed the services of Alp Services SA, a Swiss private intelligence firm. Alp manufactured false news stories about Jendoubi which were added to articles about him on English Wikipedia and French Wikipedia.[10]

Honours and awards

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Publications

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  • Que vive la République ! Tunisie (1957-2017), Tunis, ed. Alif, 2018
  • Tunisie dix ans et dans dix ans (collective work), Tunis, ed. Leaders, 2021
  • La Tunisie vote, Récit d’un acteur engagé, Tunis, ed. Nirvana, 2021

References

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  1. ^ "Qui est Kamel Jendoubi ministre des Relations avec les Instances constitutionnelles, la Société civile et les Droits de l'homme ?". leaders.com.tn (in French). 6 January 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  2. ^ Sadok Sayedi (14 March 2011). "Membres du Conseil de l'instance supérieure pour la réalisation des objectifs de la révolution, de la réforme politique et de la transition démocratique". tunisienumerique.com (in French). Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Tunisie : élections en été 2013". Le Figaro (in French). 8 October 2012. ISSN 1241-1248.
  4. ^ Kamel Jendoubi nommé président d'un groupe d'experts sur le Yémen par le Haut Commissariat des Nations Unies aux Droits de l'Homme[usurped]
  5. ^ "Chafik Sarsar, officiellement, nouveau président de l'ISIE". businessnews.com.tn (in French). 9 January 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  6. ^ "Tunisie : liste complète des ministres du nouveau gouvernement Essid". directinfo.webmanagercenter.com (in French). 6 January 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  7. ^ Biographies of the members of the Group Eminent Experts on Yemen
  8. ^ "Kamel Jendoubi, le garant des premières élections du printemps arabe". Le Monde (in French). 15 October 2011. ISSN 0395-2037.
  9. ^ Kamel Jendoubi, the man of all the consensus
  10. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D. (27 March 2023). "The Dirty Secrets of a Smear Campaign". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  11. ^ "Leaders: News et Actualité de la Tunisie et du monde". www.leaders.com.tn. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  12. ^ Kamel Jendoubi, winner of the Hermès Prize for Freedom of Expression