Whereas, on December 17, 2010, Mohammad Bouazizi, a young fruit vendor in Sidi Bouzid, set himself on fire to protest his unjust treatment by the regime of Tunisian President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali, and in his death inspired the Jasmine Revolution in the Tunisian Republic and popular revolutions across the Arab world of citizens demanding transparency, reform, and representation; Whereas, on January 14, 2011, the peaceful mass protests of the Jasmine Revolution successfully brought to an end the authoritarian rule of President Ben Ali; Whereas, in the aftermath of Ben Ali’s resignation, Tunisians initiated a peaceful, consensus-based, inclusive, and civilian-directed transition to democracy; Whereas, on January 26, 2014, the Tunisian Republic adopted its first constitution drafted by a democratically elected governing body, formally ending a period of transitional governments; Whereas the new constitution of the Tunisian Republic enshrines gender equality through enumerated rights and responsibilities, protects the rights of minorities, and specifically outlaws religiously motivated violence; Whereas, on October 26, 2014, the Tunisian Republic held its first parliamentary elections under the new constitution, which the international community praised as free and fair; Whereas, on December 31, 2014, after winning free and fair Presidential elections, Beiji Caid Essebsi was inaugurated as the first freely elected President of the Tunisian Republic; Whereas, on October 9, 2015, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, a coalition of four civil society organizations, the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for the coalition's work in building on the promise of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution and ensuring the transition of the Tunisian Republic into a democracy did not descend into violence; Whereas President Essebsi, Prime Minister Chahed, and other political leaders of the Tunisian Republic have formed a national unity government to work in the national interest of the Tunisian Republic