Souhaila Bensaid

Souhaila Bensaid is a Tunisian activist in her forties. She was born in Tunis and studied international commerce at the School of Management and International Commerce in Tunis. Souhaila started working in the public space with ‘Doctors Without Borders’ then joined several other organizations and specialized in health rights issues. In 2014, Souhaila started the ‘Tunisian Association for Positive Prevention’ (ATP+) which is concerned with working on human rights and HIV/AIDS.

Souhaila says, “the law prevented us from doing many things before the revolution in Tunisia. Although there are still many restrictions after the revolution and many aspects of life are still very complicated, but at least some things aren’t so any more; our right to free expression for example. Sure, it’s not guaranteed a hundred percent; we’re still suffering from oppression and there are issues that need work but at least we have the right to speak up and this is very important. Even if we don’t achieve what we’re fighting for, every step we take towards achieving our goal will teach us patience.”

Souhaila believes in the importance of including the target group in the fight for their cause. She says that this plays a role in strengthening advocacy and increasing the possibility to change laws and reach our goals as well as to educate policymakers.