|
Paris,
23 August, 2002
 Rapport
conjoint soumis au Comité sur l’élimination
de la discrimination à l’égard des femmes
Discriminations et violences contre les femmes en Tunisie
(pdfile 521 ko)
The FIDH,
the LTDH and the ATFD publish a report on "Discrimination
and Violence Against Women in Tunisia," while the UN Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women makes general
recommendations to Tunisia
Tunisian
law has, since the promulgation of the Personal Status Code
of 1956, adopted several laws in order to mitigate discrimination
and violence against women. Nevertheless, women continue to
be plagued by these scourges due to the ambiguities in Tunisian
law: the law does not clearly define discrimination against
women, omits many forms of discrimination, and is not always
applied.
The report
"Discrimination and Violence Against Women in Tunisia,"
published by the FIDH, the Tunisian League of Human RIGHTS (LTDH),
and the Tunisian Association of Women for Democracy (ATFD),
brings to the fore the "alibi speech" of the Tunisian
authorities on the "exemplary" emancipation of Tunisian
women, that conceals a widespread practice of violence. Conjugal
and domestic violence are the most frequent forms of violence,
taking different forms, such as blows and injuries, death threats,
marital rape, partners who prevent their wife from going to
her workplace, humiliation, forced abortion…The second
most common form of violence, workplace violence, remains unpunished
the most often: women, either afraid or ashamed, rarely lodge
complaints. Furthermore, the police, health professionals, judicial
system, and politicians who are responsible for repressing these
forms of violence, are unaware of them, trivialize them, and
even legitimize them. As for the judicial system, it often treats
cases in contempt of the law.
As the 18
independent experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) have revealed, Tunisian legislation, in
particular the law on nationality and the Personal Status Code,
remain quite discriminatory. The discrimination is especially
striking in matters of inheritance: not only is the property
of inheritance greater for men than for women, but the texts
privilege men, as they inherit twice as much as women. Furthermore,
although the Tunisian constitution guarantees freedom of religion,
a circular of 1973, validated by the Cassation Court, introduces
discrimination against non-Muslim women. The discrimination
based on women's religious affiliation limits their right to
own, to manage, to inherit, and to pass on their assets. Thus,
a Christian or Jewish wife cannot receive an inheritance from
her Muslim husband, just as the wife and the children of the
same religion as their father cannot receive an inheritance
from her.
The joint
FIDH, LTDH and ATDF report also denounces the State's role as
an instigator of political violence against women. The systematic
repression of human rights defenders constitutes an attack on
the free participation of women in public life; the repression
targeting the ATFD clearly illustrates this. The women participating
in human rights activities are the victims of systematic violence,
which sometimes reaches the extreme of physical aggression.
All forms
of discrimination that the CEDAW denounces find their legal
translation in the provisions made by Tunisia in three major
articles of the Constitution that guarantee 1), gender equality
in matters of nationality 2), freedom of circulation, and 3),
domestic and marital relations. The CEDAW thus urges Tunisia
to lift these provisions with all due speed.
The FIDH calls on the Tunisian authorities to thoroughly follow
up on the dialogue, held in June 2002 between the CEDAW experts
and the Tunisian delegation presided by the Minister of Women's
and Family Affairs, which has just found expression in the publication
of CEDAW's conclusions. It seems that up until now, Tunisia
has failed to take concrete measures in this sense. First, it
is regrettable that the Tunisian authorities were not called
sooner before the CEDAW: the last debate on Tunisia took place
in 1995 and yet, in accordance with the Convention on the Discrimination
Against Women, Tunisia was expected to be examined by the Committee
four years later. Secondly, one must note that most of the recommendations
published by the CEDAW in 2002 had already been made to Tunisia
in 1995, and have since yet to be followed.
The FIDH
urges the Tunisian government to lift the provisions it established
in the Convention on Discrimination Against Women and to ratify
the Additional Protocol to the Convention on individual complaints,
in order to allow women who are victims of discrimination to
lodge complaints before the Committee. This procedure would
offer an appeal mechanism, which is long awaited, difficult,
and even impossible in Tunisia.
The FIDH
emphasizes the fact that that the Tunisian government has also
failed to appear before other supervisory committees of various
United Nations treaties: the Committee Against Torture has summoned
Tunisia since 1999, the Committee on Human Rights, since February
1998, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural, since
June 2000, and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
since January 1994. The FIDH calls on Tunisia to appear before
these United Nations committees with all due speed, so as to
comply with the country's international human rights obligations.
|
