LONDON, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Rights group Amnesty International said Tunisia has made progress since last year's post-revolutionary elections but human rights concerns remain.
The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia ended the 24-year rule of former President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and ushered Islamic party Ennahda to power. Rights groups have been critical of the new Tunisian government, though Prime Minister Hamadi Jabali told the European Foreign Affairs Committee recently that his government was obligated to uphold basic democratic principles.
Amnesty International, in a 43-page report published Tuesday, took note of the promise of basic freedoms given post-revolutionary elections. The organization said, however, that the police and other state institutions continued to commit human rights abuses.
"Torture, which was the hallmark of the rule of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, has not been eradicated and security forces continue to act as if they're above the law, confident that they can act with impunity," the report stated.
A U.N. working group on discrimination against women had expressed concern that draft provisions in the Tunisian Constitution marked a major setback for women's roles in modern society.
A new constitution for Tunisia should be finished by the beginning of next year. Parliamentary elections would follow adoption of the new doctrine later in 2013.
