Policy Brief

SAFEGUARDING LIVES & LIVELIHOODS Addressing Unsafe Transportation for Women Farmworkers in Tunisia "Trucks of No Return"

By Ahlem Djebali | Published by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom

"Trucks of No Return": A Call to Protect Tunisia’s Women Farmworkers

Women farmworkers are the unseen backbone of Tunisia’s agriculture sector yet their daily journeys to work have become deadly. Every year, unsafe and unregulated transport leads to tragic accidents, injuries, and preventable deaths. These women, who are already marginalized and underpaid, are forced to choose between dangerous rides in overcrowded, makeshift vehicles or losing their livelihoods altogether.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom’s new policy brief, "SAFEGUARDING LIVES & LIVELIHOODS", sheds light on this national crisis. It highlights how deeply rooted gender inequality, poor infrastructure, lack of legal enforcement, and economic precarity contribute to a system that consistently fails Tunisia’s rural women.

From 2015 to 2024, at least 60 women lost their lives in transportation accidents while commuting to the fields. Hundreds more were injured. Despite the existence of laws and decrees to regulate agricultural transportation, implementation remains weak, and accountability is diffuse.

The policy paper calls for urgent reform. It recommends concrete actions including the formation of regional safety committees, improved enforcement mechanisms, training programs for transporters, subsidized transportation schemes, and inclusive policymaking that involves the women affected.

Tunisia’s agricultural system cannot thrive on the backs of women whose safety is ignored. The time to act is now before more lives are lost.