Youssef Chahed (Arabic: يوسف الشاهد; born 18 September 1975) is a Tunisian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Tunisia from 27 August 2016 to 27 February 2020.
In 2019, Youssef Chahed banned the wearing of the niqab, the full face veil, in public institutions for security reasons, After this decision, he received numerous death threats.
It is a unique achievement in the Muslim Arab world In 2018, Chahed government, proposed a law on the “Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination”.
It is an important step forward in defending the rights of the 10 to 15 percent of Tunisians who identify as black, as well as the country's 60,000 sub-Saharan African immigrants.
[14] Dr. Youssef Chahed, has been named a 2022-2024 Senior Fellow with the Middle East Initiative (MEI) at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
During his fellowship, Chahed will focus on economic, security, and other policy challenges facing the Middle East and North Africa and will lead a study group on development and democratic transitions.
In 2018 protests erupted as a reaction to the newly passed Finance Act which took effect on 1 January, that raised taxes on gasoline, phone cards, housing, internet usage, hotel rooms and foods such as fruits and vegetables.