Ending discrimination against women in Tunisia: Work in progress

2023 | 12 min

Tunisian lawyer and feminist activist Hela Ben Salem talks about a workshop for Tunisian lawyers on the national legal framework for eliminating violence against women. Hela points out its importance for lawyers from different regions in Tunisia to share expertise and experiences related to the application of the existing legal framework.

On the first day of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, an annual campaign that aims to promote and end violence against women and girls worldwide, Silvia Quattrini, MRG North Africa Associate, explains the importance of developing training for lawyers on discrimination against women to enhance the former’s ability to support victims of discrimination. Silvia emphasizes the need to address all international conventions ratified by Tunisia in the context of human rights, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as well as the African regional convention —the Maputo Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Drawing on the experience gained by MRG and our partner organizations in the context of the ‘All4All’ programme for the elimination of all forms of discrimination, Silvia highlights the importance of adopting an intersectional perspective on the issue, including discrimination against women who are black, living with a disability and who belong to a religious minority. This approach enables us to better understand the multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination faced by these women, making us more effective in addressing their root causes.