Since the ousting of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, following the historic protests in 2011, the situation for human rights defenders in Tunisia has improved substantially. In particular the lifting of legal impediments to the work of human rights defenders, and the progress made in the area of human rights in law, has been significant. Tunisia adopted a pluralist election law for the election of a new Constituent Assembly and, by ratifying the Rome Statute, became a member of the International Criminal Court.

A new more liberal Press code was brought into force, as were decree laws on allowing for greater freedom of association and the legitimate formation of political organizations, which legalized 106 political parties previously outlawed. The situation for women's human rights defenders progressed, and steps were taken toward the realization of gender equality in the country with the lifting of most of Tunisia's reservations on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and a gender parity requirement in the electoral law which made it mandatory for lists of candidates to alternate between male and female party members.

However challenges remain for human rights defenders in Tunisia; despite the fact that the government has now ratified the Optional Protocol on to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (establishing monitoring mechanisms to combat the practice of torture), human rights organisations have reported a resurgence of torture in police stations and human rights defenders still risk being subjected to police violence and harassment despite the dismantling of the political police. There were reports of women's rights activists being targeted by smear campaigns in relation to their advocacy work, as well as indications that the government may refuse to implement gender reforms that conflict with Islam.

The new Press Code, still criminalizes defamation and it also remains an offence to distribute “false information”, a provision used to prosecute human rights defenders in the past. In June 2012, two cartoonists were given seven-year prison sentences for caricatures that “disturbed the public order” and “offended public morality”, marking the first time that a prison sentence was given for a speech act in Tunisia since the revolution. On the whole, however the situation for human rights defenders since the ousting of Ben Ali, can cautiously be described as increasingly positive and hopeful.