“Which women? What agenda?” Situating WPS in North Africa: the case of Tunisia

The debate on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda has taken root in Tunisia after the 2010-11 revolution, in the context of women’s push for democratic reforms and increasing non-state political violence. Although Tunisia adopted a National Action Plan (NAP) for implementing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1325 (Res. 1325) in 2018, the WPS dossier has aroused little interest among civil society (CS) so far. This article aims to investigate the relationship between the international agenda and local change. On the one hand, it analyses the extent to which the WPS debate and practice is representative of Tunisian women’s needs, perspectives and expectations, trying to unpack the issue of which women and what agenda they advance and represent. On the other, it examines the main achievements and challenges in terms of implementing the 2018 NAP in an effort to discern whether this Plan is reframing the concept of security in Tunisia