UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 110) Pursuant to law no. 55/2010 (1 December 2010), amending certain provisions of the Tunisian Nationality Act, Tunisia lifted all forms of discrimination between mother and father in respect of granting Tunisian nationality to children, thus enabling a Tunisian mother to pass on her nationality to her children, the same as a father.

Para 112) As regards this issue, the report affirms adoption of the principle of equal participation of both sexes in the electoral law during the recent elections for the NCA. Candidates were required to submit lists based on the principle of gender equality in each electoral list, with candidates arranged on the list on the basis of alternating female and male (statute no. 35/2011 (10 May 2011), relating to the election of the NCA). Out of 219 members, 49 women (6.22%) were elected to membership of the NCA.

Para 113) The Tunisian State is working in collaboration with elements of civil society to eradicate the phenomenon of violence against women. In this context, listening units have been established, charged with listening to battered women and offering guidance. Work remains to be done on developing provisions and mechanisms to ensure further protection for women from violence.

UN Compilation:
Para 21) CEDAW remained concerned about the persistence of discrimination against women with regard to personal status, in particular concerning marriage, child custody and guardianship, as well as inheritance. UNHCR reported that the 2010 reform of the Nationality Code allowed Tunisian women to transfer nationality to their children, even if the father was not Tunisian and regardless of their location inside or outside the country, thus eliminating discrimination against women as regards conferral of nationality to their children. UNHCR recommended that Tunisia consider amending article 16 of the Nationality Code in order to introduce a safeguard against statelessness in case of annulment of marriage.

Para 35) CEDAW remained concerned at the high prevalence of violence against women and girls and regretted the absence of a law on violence against women, including domestic violence and marital rape. CEDAW remained concerned at allegations of harassment against women wearing the hijab (veil) in public.

Para 63) CRPD recommended that Tunisia ensure the implementation of measures of affirmative action provided for in the law for the employment of women and men with disabilities.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 44) HRW reported that Tunisia had applied laws in a way that deprived Muslim women the same right to marry non-Muslim men as Muslim men have to marry non-Muslim women. ECLJ added that, although civil law, including family and inheritance law, was codified, judges had been known to override the codified law when it contradicted their interpretation of Islamic law.

National Report:
Para 70) The Ministry for Women, the Family and Children protects the rights acquired by women even before the promulgation of the Constitution. With a view to ensuring that women have access to its services in both urban and rural areas, 24 regional delegations for women’s and family affairs were established in 2013 to cover the entire territory of the Republic. The Ministry was restructured with the aim of supporting equality of opportunity and gender equality, integrating women into social and economic life, and promoting the economic empowerment of women by creating administrative bodies tasked with monitoring and opposing discrimination and violence against them, an economic empowerment authority and an authority for the advancement of rural women.
Para 72) Equality was institutionalized in 2016 though the creation of the Peer Council for Equality and Equality of Opportunity, a body that seeks to introduce a gender- based approach to planning, programming, evaluation and budgeting in order to eliminate all forms of discrimination between women and men. With a view to ensuring equality in employment and wages, which is enshrined in the legislation, the labour inspection authorities adopt deterrent measures to address non-compliance by employers with the relevant provisions of the Labour Code.
Para 76) The provisions of Decree No. 35 of 2011, which enshrined the principle of parity between women and men in rotation-based electoral lists, helped to increase the number of women in the National Constituent Assembly. However, they occupied only 65 of the 217 seats, that is to say 29.95 per cent. The percentage recorded in the 2014 legislative elections rose to 31.3 per cent of the seats in the Assembly of Representatives of the People. This ratio evolved when vacancies occurred in the Assembly, rising to 34.56 per cent, or 75 seats occupied by women. As a result, the principle of horizontal and vertical parity was enshrined in the electoral bill for the municipalities, which will lead to an increase in the participation of women in local government.
Para 77) In 2012 a number of programmes and activities were organized to encourage women to participate in public and political life by raising women voters’ awareness of the initiative aimed at including them in electoral lists, involving them in voting procedures, and supporting their participation in the running of polling stations and the monitoring of elections. The events included an international seminar on the political participation of women in October 2012.
Para 78) The Ministry of National Defence organized a seminar on future perspectives for women members of the armed forces in the context of the 5+5 Defence Initiative. The seminar was attended by various stakeholders from Tunisia and abroad. It established a committee to study the situation of women in the armed forces with a view to combating various forms of gender-based discrimination. Women have also been involved in all areas of military action and enabled to occupy a number of leadership positions.
Para 79) In the area of employment, a national programme was established to promote women’s economic initiatives by creating a special credit line and introducing facilitating conditions. In addition, training, assistance and support has been provided for women entrepreneurs. The programme is supervised by a management unit to ensure its compliance with the objectives of the programme to promote equality between women and men that was established in 2016.
Para 80) Many programmes have been developed to support the economic and social empowerment of women, in particular the integrated national project to prevent school dropout among girls in rural areas, which is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Interior and the Al-Madanya civil society association, which supports rural school transport. A multisectoral agreement was signed for the purpose in April 2015. A study is currently being conducted of the employment of women in rural areas and the extent to which they benefit from social welfare in five governorates.
Para 81) A literacy education programme was launched in 2016. It is based on a Prime Ministerial Decree of 17 December 2015 concerning the introduction of a literacy education programme involving the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry for Women, the Family and Children, and the Ministry of Education. In October 2016 a protocol specifying the terms and conditions to be met by parties involved in transporting female employees in the agricultural sector was signed.

UN Compilation:
Para 72) HRW noted that the 2014 Constitution provides improved protection for women’s rights and obligates Tunisia to work towards achieving gender parity in elected assemblies during national, regional and municipal elections.