Tunisia: Tunisia hosts Euro-Med forum on violence against women

Maghrebia

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis -- 27/04/09

Women's rights activists from North Africa, the Middle East and Europe met for a groundbreaking regional forum last week in Tunis, where they launched an ambitious programme to combat gender-based violence in the Mediterranean region.

The three day conference, part of the EU-funded Euro-Mediterranean Program for the Promotion of Equality between Men and Women, concluded Thursday (April 23rd) with an action plan to gather data and provide more accurate and comprehensive information to governments, media and non-governmental organisations.

Attendees agreed on a unified approach to collecting information on violence against women and set out guidelines for surveys that participating countries, "especially Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon, intend to conduct".

The workshop recognised the progress made in Tunisia in the field of women's rights, and called on the country to "to finalise a model document" on its achievements, expenses and problem-resolution mechanisms so as to help guide other nations.

The attention of Arab societies to gender-based violence is still far from the desired level, said former Egyptian minister Amina Chafik.

Heightened attention by non-governmental organisations, however, has "made governments pay attention to violence against women", she added.

"We are in need of long breath and a change of mentalities, as this must be made step by step and firmly."

Hassiba Houacine, head of a department in the Algerian Family Ministry, said that Algeria began working up a plan to confront violence against women in 2005. The plan is now in its second stage.

"We are now about to start a new experiment, which is the establishment of a unified information system to monitor violence against women," Houacine said.

In Jordan, meanwhile, physical violence against women includes honour killings and rape, journalist Samar Haddadine told Magharebia.

"The government and civil society organisations have tried to change the existing laws that punish the perpetrators of honour killings," Haddadine said, "but the Parliament rejects that because it is dominated by conservatives and Islamists."

According to Faiza ben Hdid, a European expert in social gender affairs, one in three women is subject to beatings, forcible sexual assaults, or other attacks. In most cases, the assailant is someone known to the victim.

"One in four women is subject to attacks during pregnancy," she noted.

Sarra Jeraya Kanoun, Tunisian Minister of Women, Family, the Elderly and Children's Affairs, said that to "achieve a better understanding of women's rights and protect their future, change must come from the people".

"We need to strengthen people's awareness to take practical and effective steps to establish policies and joint action plans that can produce a tangible and specific shift in the efforts aimed at combating discrimination and violence against women.”