Tunisia: Online Platform to Monitor Police Abuse
Yezzi [translated as “enough” from Tunisian dialect], is a “cop watch map in Tunisia” which seeks to document and report police abuse ranging from taking bribes, physical or sexual abuse to racism and death threats. The platform was launched by the Tunisian Association for Digital Liberties [known by ATLN from its French Acronym], which deploy new technologies to create online platforms like Yezzi as a way to “help build a democratic, free and open society in Tunisia”.
Last April, Yezzi came first in the National Contest for Free Softwares, which this year rewarded the most innovative open source projects.
ATLN defines Yezzi as follows [fr]:
Basé sur la plateforme Ushahidi, Yezzi est destiné à collecter les témoignages de violence envoyés par mobile, web, email et SMS, et les placer sur une Google Map. Yezzi utilise le concept de crowdsourcing au service de la cartographie sociale en mobilité, combinaison d’activisme social, de journaliste citoyen et d’information géographique…
Nous pensons que la transparence peut aider à résoudre bien des problème ainsi qu’à mieux les appréhender.
We believe that transparency can help not only solve problems but also better understand them.
Yezzi.info Cop Watch in Tunisia
Transparency against Violence
For so many years, Tunisia stood as a country where police corruption and abuse passed unnoticed – and unpunished. People would talk among themselves about such wrong doings, but only few would dare speak about them in public, or resort to justice. Yezzi, offers those who experience police abuse, or witness police officers involved in wrongdoings the chance to report on such incidents, and anonymously if they so wish. The users of this platform can also upload videos and pictures illustrating police abuse.
Yezzi Welcomed by Netizens:
Tunisian netizens welcomed Yezzi. Here are some of their reactions via Twitter.
@Da7dou7a: tn.yezzi.info Bonne initiative, quoique purement informative : un site pour dénoncer les dépassements de la police, #Police #Enahdha
@Azyyoz: J'ai posté “Admin pub SVP tn.yezzi.info/reports ” sur la page du Ministère d'Intérieur => immédiatement bloqué :D
@JasminTN: Yezzi.info , ça pourrait être utile, enfin, je ne l'espère pour aucun d'entre vous ! tn.yezzi.info/main
6 comments
ça ne peut être qu’une bonne chose , sauf que ce genre d’initiative ne pourrait concerner qu’une cible trés limitée , enfin … je pense . Big up !
Great tool and I’m sure would be very useful, but shouldn’t this site be in Arabic as it is the national language?
there is an option to change the language to Arabic on the website
great initiative. I remember once reading about an egyptian version that allows you to send a pre-written text with one click that indicates you were arrested and geo-tagged your location. Great to see these types of citizen action type of apps spread throughout the Arab region