Interviews with Abdel Basset Ben Hassen

Human rights is an endless program of work, we cannot say that human rights– that one day a country or people can achieve all human rights. Human rights is a kind of work in progress, it´s a kind of challenge. And the development of human rights practice and theory demonstrated that we always discover new rights, we develop new ideas about how to protect our dignity and our life. I think that I am confident about the future of our country. I think that we´re all working now to develop a sustainable democratic transformation.

We have many, many opportunities and also many cultural and civic potential — these people in Tunisia, these people demonstrated the last months that we have kind of civic potential, that we can use this civic potential to establish a vibrant and sustainable democracy not only for Tunisia, but for all of the Arab countries. It will not be easy at all. We´ll go through many, many challenges, many difficulties. But I hope that we´ll succeed.

Abdel Basset Ben Hassen is a Tunisian freedom advocate who has dedicated much of his adult life to the promotion of human rights in the Arab world. His interest in the field was sparked during his university days while participating in student political movements that focused on promoting democracy and human rights.

After graduation, Ben Hassen joined the Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR) where he worked to train thousands of freedom activists across the region on developing strategies for promoting their causes. Later, he joined the Ford Foundation in Egypt and worked directly with farmers, fisherman, and laborers in depressed areas to encourage greater human rights discourse and educate the poor on their basic rights. These efforts proved challenging as authoritarian leaders in the Middle East and Africa posed numerous roadblocks to the work of civil society in promoting human rights and political initiatives. As a result, many were afraid to work for or cooperate with such organizations.

Today, Ben Hassen is the President of AIHR and serves as a prominent voice in the international community for promoting human rights in the Arab world. Ben Hassen is also the chair of the Tunisian National Committee for the Support to Refugees and served as a member of Tunisia’s High Committee for the Realization of the Objectives of the Revolution, Political Reform and Democratic Transition.

In addition to his advocacy work, Ben Hassen is a poet whose books have been translated into French, Italian, and German.