[JURIST] A government minister of Tunisia, Kamel Jendoubi, on Saturday announced an increase of 100,000 security personnel to help protect the country from future terrorist attacks. The strengthened security measures [AP report] include doubling the security personnel at tourist sites, such as beaches, hotels and archaeological sites. The increase follows the UK advisory [text] against all but essential travel to Tunisia on Friday due to the safety concerns raised by the June 26 attack [JURIST report] by Islamic extremists that killed 39 at a beach resort. Denmark, Finland and Ireland issued similar warnings shortly after. Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] has warned that arbitrarily increased security measures in Tunisia threaten the human rights progress achieved by the 2011 uprising [HRW backgrounder] and enactment of the Tunisia Constitution [text, PDF]. On Friday HRW criticized [press release] arbitrary travel restrictions imposed by the Tunisian government as a violation of Tunisia and international law. The restrictions are primarily imposed on men and women under the age of 35 with the intended purpose of reducing the amount of citizens traveling abroad to join armed extremist groups.

Many countries have recently drafted counter-terrorism [JURIST archives] laws in response to terrorist groups like the Islamic State. However, many human rights organizations have expressed concern over such legislation warning that it sometimes sacrifices human rights in the fight against terrorism [JURIST report] solely because abridging those rights is politically convenient. In April, a HRW analysis of the Tunisian government’s draft counter-terrorism law suggested [JURIST report] that the law as drafted could potentially lead to serious human rights abuses, including permitting extended incommunicado detention, weakening due process guarantees for people charged with terrorism offenses and allowing the death penalty for anyone convicted of a terrorist attack resulting in death.