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UN Panel Concerned Over Tunisia's Draft Constitution That Discriminates Women

300 days ago

(RTTNews) - The United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice called on the new Tunisian government to take all necessary steps to safeguard the country's achievements on equality, non-discrimination and women's human rights in accordance with its international human rights obligations.

The experts emphasized actions taken by successive Tunisian leaders to promote gender equality since the country's independence.

Kamala Chandrakirana, who currently heads the U.N. expert panel, said on Tuesday that "the Working Group is concerned that in the drafting of a new Constitution, in particular, its article 28, gains on equality and women's human rights and women's status in society achieved in the last five decades risk being rolled back."

The draft text places women on unequal footing with men and does not consider them as independent, full individuals. It delineates their role as "complementary to the one of the men in the family" and fails to ensure that this provision is reciprocal. "Rights are guaranteed to women not on the basis of them being entitled to human rights by virtue of the fact that they are human, but rather, them being complementary to men," she stressed.

"Although the text refers to women's role in nation-building, it conditions this on women being 'complementary to men,' thereby failing to establish the basis for full independence and empowerment of women, and their participation as active citizens for change," she explained.

In recent years, Tunisia has been at the forefront of aspirations for change, with popular demands for democracy and human rights inspiring the "Arab Spring." The North African nation's political transition started in January 2011 and an interim government was appointed by the turn of the year.

For the Working Group, political transitions, such as the one Tunisia is undergoing, offer unprecedented opportunities for further progress on and consolidation of women's human rights. "The country's leadership must seize on them for the good of their people, women and men alike," Chandrakirana underscored, reminding that "no retrogression is therefore permissible."

The Tunisian government has accepted a visit of the group of independent experts on discrimination against women in law and in practice to that country in November. "The Working Group looks forward to engaging with a broad range of government and non-governmental stakeholders with a view to consolidating and progressing on women's human rights in Tunisia," she said.

The U.N. panel is composed of five independent experts from various regions of the world: Kamala Chandrakirana, Chair-Rapporteur (Indonesia); Emna Aouij (Tunisia); Mercedes Barquet (México); Frances Raday (Israel/United Kingdom) and Eleonora Zielinska (Poland).

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