Region | Tunisia
Tunisia leading the way in region
Adds gender equality to new political climate
- By Brian Whitaker
- Published: 00:00 October 1, 2011
- Equal rights to pass on nationality to their children.
- Equal rights and responsibilities in marriage and divorce.
- Equal rights in the guardianship and adoption of children.
- Equal personal rights as husband and wife, including the right to choose a family name, a profession and an occupation. Equal property rights.
London: Last December, Tunisians rose up against their dictator, triggering a political earthquake that has sent shockwaves through most of the Middle East and north Africa. Now, Tunisia is leading the way once again, this time on the vexed issue of gender equality.
It has become the first country in the region to withdraw all its specific reservations regarding Cedaw, the international convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
This may sound a rather obscure and technical matter, but it's actually a very important step.
Although the ousted regime deprived citizens of many political rights, the country's record on women's rights has been relatively good at least in comparison with other parts of the region.
Tunisia was one of the first countries to sign up to Cedaw way back in 1980 and women accounted for more than 20 per cent of its members of parliament.
Reservations
Despite that, Tunisia had lodged a series of reservations to clauses in Cedaw which grant equal rights to men and women in family matters, including:
Tunisia had objected to these on the grounds that they conflicted with its nationality code and its personal status code. The point of international conventions such as Cedaw, though, is that they take precedence over local laws. Countries that sign up to them are expected to amend their local laws in order to comply with international standards, not exempt themselves from selected parts of the convention.
Amending laws
The decision by Tunisia's temporary government to withdraw these reservations is thus seen as a first step towards amending the laws once a new parliament has been elected.
One possible hiccup is that the government has retained one general reservation which says Tunisia will not take any legislative action which conflicts with Chapter 1 of the constitution. Chapter 1 includes a statement that the country's religion is Islam which could lead to some Sharia-based arguments for keeping the law unchanged but Human Rights Watch suggests this is unlikely. Until now, Tunisia has not used Chapter 1 as an excuse for maintaining laws or practices that violate Cedaw.
So there is a fair chance that within a few months Tunisia will be making a serious effort to meet its obligations under Cedaw and again setting an example for others in the region.
— The Guardian News & Media Ltd
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