Assala Mdawkhy

Assala Mdawkhy (she/they) is a Pan-Africanist organizer, activist, and human rights defender from Africa, born and based in Tunisia. A former Nonresident Fellow at The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), their work focuses on gender, sexuality, decolonial organizing, and social justice across Africa and the Global Majority. Assala has been involved in and helped lead multiple social and political movements challenging injustice, state violence, impunity, and repressive legislation in Tunisia and beyond. Their advocacy centers on freedom of movement, LGBTQI+ rights, community organizing, and dismantling colonial-era laws that criminalize same-sex consensual relations. They have also contributed to strategic litigation and defense efforts aimed at repealing discriminatory Penal Code provisions and ending the use of forced anal testing. Their work further includes building spaces for political education and collective organizing for Queer Communities through a decolonial and intersectional approach. Alongside this, Assala works with Climate Activist Defenders (CAD) on the protection and holistic safety and security of Indigenous communities, land rights defenders, and climate justice activists. Their current work focuses on strengthening the safety, resilience, and advocacy capacities of communities organizing against fossil fuel expansion, land grabbing, and climate injustice. While deeply intertwined with their political and community organizing work, Assala is also deeply connected to land and nature, and is currently studying farming and experimenting with agroecology practices as both a grounding space and part of their broader commitment to climate justice, land defense, and sustainable collective futures.