COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS STARTS CONSIDERATION OF REPORT PRESENTED BY TUNISIA

MORNING
HR/ESC/99/18
6 May 1999


A representative of Tunisia this morning told the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that his country had accomplished pioneer work in the promotion of women's rights and in the progressive elimination of discrimination based on gender, adding that the modern history of Tunisia could be read through the growing role of women.

The remark came as the Committee started its consideration of the second periodic report of Tunisia on the measures taken by the Government with the view to implement the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Presenting the report, Kamel Morjane, Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that despite the world economic situation which was often unfavourable, Tunisia had been able to achieve encouraging results which were reflected in the growing rate in its Gross Domestic Product by 4.6 per cent during the period from 1987 to 1996. Tunisia was recognized as one of the countries which had succeeded in giving priority to the use of its resources in order to improve the living standards of it citizens, he added.

In the course of their consideration of the Tunisian report, Committee members raised a number of questions on such topics as the protection of children in the Penal Code; the existence in Tunisia of human rights institutions which did not exactly reflect the spirit of the Paris Agreement on the subject; the interpretation of Islam in Tunisian society; illiteracy among the female population; and discrimination against women.

The 8-member Tunisian delegation was led by Mr. Morjane and included representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economic Development, Social Affairs, Women and Family, and institutions related to education.

As one of the 139 State parties to the Covenant, Tunisia is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to put the treaty into effect.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will continue its consideration of the Tunisian report following a brief private meeting to examine its draft concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Ireland which has already been considered this session.

Report of Tunisia

The second periodic report of Tunisia (document E/1990/6/Add.14) enumerates the achievements made through the implementation of the provisions of the Covenant on an article-by-article basis. In its general introduction, the report says that the Government is convinced that political rights cannot be developed or preserved unless basic minimum economic and social rights are realized. For that reason, Tunisia has worked continuously to promote and protect the full range of political, economic and social rights. According to the report, Tunisia has committed itself to guaranteeing the rights to employment, health, education and housing. It has also achieved internationally recognized results in the economic and social fields, combatting poverty and marginalization, thereby promoting a feeling of confidence in the future among all social categories, the report affirms.

In addition, the report says that Tunisia is convinced that international contacts and cooperation in the scientific and cultural fields is an essential element of the establishment of peace and brotherhood among human beings and an important means of promoting the exercise of the right to knowledge and scientific progress. It further says that scientific cooperation is also an important factor in safeguarding the international aspects of Tunisian research and investing the national efforts with an international extension which can help Tunisia's development.

The report also says that Tunisia has played a leading role in the Arab Maghreb Union with respect both to the adoption of scientific cooperation agreements and to the convening of scientific meetings in the Maghreb countries or the launching of joint research programmes under the auspices of the Maghreb Academy of Science.

Introduction of the Tunisian Report

KAMEL MORJANE, Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said Tunisia's approach to development was a global one. It combined economic development and social progress by considering that the ultimate goal of economic development was to ensure human promotion and well-being which would permit the exercise of all rights. That approach, which constituted one of the fundamental development strategies of Tunisia, had shown all its pertinence particularly with the establishment of structural adjustment programmes. This had allowed Tunisia to avoid the negative repercussions observed in other countries in the context of globalization.

Mr. Morjane emphasized that although world economic conditions had often been unfavourable, Tunisia had been able to realize encouraging results which were reflected in the rate of growth in Gross Domestic Product by 4.6 per cent in the period from 1987 to 1996. Tunisia was recognized as one of the countries which had succeeded in giving priority to the use of its resources in order to improve the living standards of it citizens. In this manner, it was sufficient to mention as an example life expectancy figures which increased from 54 years in 1966 and 66 years in 1987 to 71 years in 1996.

Mr. Morjane, recalling the report of the United Nations Development Programme of 1998 on poverty, said that Tunisian experience in this field had a long history of success. In the report, it was affirmed that in the course of the last decades, Tunisia had achieved sustained success in poverty reduction. It further noted that Tunisia had invested much in human development; between 1986 and 1993, despite a period of structural adjustment, social expenditures per inhabitant had increased to 9 per cent in real value.

Furthermore, Mr. Morjane said that Tunisia's employment policy played an important role in Tunisian development as recognized by the 1959 Constitution which entrusted the State as a guarantor of the right to work of each citizen. It was on this basis that the State was progressively integrating the social norms through the promulgation of the Code of Work of 1966. Since then, Tunisia had accelerated its ratification of a series of International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions; so far 56 ILO conventions had been ratified by the Government of Tunisia, including the seven conventions related to the principles and fundamental human rights in the workplace.

Mr. Morjane also spoke on the progress Tunisia had made in the fields of social security, health and education since the country started structuring its economic and social development programmes. In particular, he said that Tunisia had accomplished pioneer work in the promotion of women's rights and in the progressive elimination of discrimination based on gender. The modern history of Tunisia could be read through the growing role of women, he said.

Discussion

Following the presentation of the report, Committee members raised a number of questions on such topics as the protection of children in the Penal Code; the existence in Tunisia of human rights institutions which did not exactly reflect the spirit of the Paris Agreement on the subject; the interpretation of Islam in the Tunisian society; illiteracy among the female population; and discrimination against women.

In response to these questions, the members of the Tunisian delegation said that the country's Penal Code article number 210 on parental killing of a child did not attribute the responsibility to the father as alluded to by an expert. The Arabic version of the article said that in the case of a crime against their child, both parents were responsible and not only the father.

Concerning the interpretation of Islam in the context of Tunisian society, the delegation said that Islam was a religion of which the only source of reference was the Koran. However, there were different schools of interpretation of the sacred scripture. In the 10th and 11th centuries, there had been 300 legal schools dealing with the interpretation of the Koran. But now, there were 4 major schools, including Tunisian interpretation of the Koran. In Tunisian society, the practice of polygamy had been dropped on the basis of this interpretation. The verses of the Koran said that if a man could be just with all of his wives, he could marry more than one; but since he could not be just, he should be restricted to one wife. In addition, Tunisian women considered the second wife of their husbands as evil and harmful to the first one. Thus, with progress and women's emancipation, the practice of polygamy in the Tunisian society had ended.

With regard to labour laws and the labour code in Tunisia, the delegation affirmed that any foreign workers had the freedom of access to the work market on the basis of labour contracts. There was no specific type of work sector or region reserved for foreign workers as long as they concluded their contracts with their employers with the consent of the Ministry of Labour. An enterprise could hire up to four foreign workers without prior authorization of the labour authorities. Any termination of contract did not oblige the foreign worker to leave the country, instead he or she could look for another job. A worker should first regulate his employment contract with the previous employer before taking another one.

Commenting on the rights of Tunisian women, the delegation charged that media propaganda gave a distorted image of Tunisian women. The fact was that women in Tunisia enjoyed all rights as men did. The practice of Islam did not curtail the full rights of Tunisian women as alleged by some quarters. Tunisia women were proud to be Muslim and this did not affect their rights at all. In 1993, Tunisia had accorded men and women the same rights. In a 1998 additional article to the country's Constitution, the principles of non-discrimination had been included. In addition, political parties were committed to encourage women to take part in their respective programmes.

Moreover, 23 women had been elected to the Chamber of Deputies during the last legislative election, the delegation went on to say. Concerning education, Tunisia had widely succeeded in increasing the number of female students during recent years. The gap between males and females had been reduced both at primary and secondary levels of schooling. Since girls better succeeded in their studies, their applications for the baccalaureate examinations had significantly increased. There was no situation in which girls were discriminated against in education or other sectors, said the delegation.