(Rapport Périodique Consolidé Tunisie Charte Africaine

TUNISIAN REPUBLIC CONSOLIDATED PERIODIC REPORT OF TUNISIA UNDER THE TERMS OF ARTICLE 62 OF THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS (1995-2006) Tunisia became a member of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in accordance with the Law n° 82-64 of the 6th August 1982. Its third Periodic Report, in application of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, had been presented and examined by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights along with the second Report at its 18th Ordinary Session, in October 1995. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights had formulated proposals which had been favourably received and taken into account by Tunisia. The present document contains the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Periodic Reports of Tunisia which should have been presented in conformity with the Note Verbale of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights of the 30th March 1995. The latter Note had indicated that several Periodic Reports which are outstanding from Member States to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights can be combined in a single Report. One can usefully refer to the basic documents which constitute the first part of the Reports from Member States as well as to Tunisia’s preceding Report which had been presented in application to the Charter. Tunisia is pleased to maintain the dialogue with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and to discuss the points raised in the concluding observations recently formulated by the Commission. 2 List of Abbreviations ATCT Tunisian Technical Cooperation Agency ATM Tunisian Mothers’ Association ATFD Tunisian Association of Women Democrats CDR Titles Code CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women CICR International Committee of the Red Cross CNUDCI United Nations Commission on International Commercial Law COC Obligations and Contracts Code CP Criminal Code CPE Child Protection Code CPP Criminal Procedure Code CSP Personal Status Code FMS World Solidarity Fund FSN National Solidarity Fund FUNAP United Nations Fund for Population Activities LTDH Tunisian Human Rights League NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development NTIC New Information and Communication Technology OIT International Labour Organization ONFP National Family and Population Bureau OMD Millennium Development Objectives OUA Organization of African Unity PNEA National Adult Education Programme UA African Union UNFT National Tunisian Women’s Organization 3 Table of Contents General Introduction Article 2: Guarantee of the Rights recognized by the Charter Article 3: Equality before the law and equal protection of the law Article 4: The Right to the inviolability of the human being Article 5: The Right to the respect of the dignity of the individual, prohibition of slavery, of human trafficking and of torture Article 6: The Right to the liberty and security of the individual Article 7: The Right to a fair hearing Article 8: The Freedom of conscience and of religion Article 9: The Right to information and the freedom of Expression and of Conscience Article 10: The Right of Association Article 11: The Right of Assembly Article 12: The Freedom of movement and of residence and the protection of foreigners Article 13: Participation in public affairs Article 14: The Right to property Article 15: The Right to work and to equal pay Article 16: The Right to good health Article 17: The Right to education and to participation in cultural life Article 18: Protection of the family, of women, of the child, of the elderly and physically disabled persons Article 19: Equality of peoples Article 20: The Right of peoples to self-determination Article 21: The Free disposal of natural wealth and international cooperation Article 22: The Right to Development Article 23: The Right to peace, security and solidarity Article 24: The Right to a satisfactory and global Environment, conducive to development Article 25: Dissemination of the culture of Human Rights Article 26: The independence of the Judiciary 4 General Introduction 1. The present Report gives an account of the principal legislative and practical measures adopted by Tunisia during the period 1995-2006 to strengthen the implementation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Tunisian Government is pleased with this opportunity which enables it to outline its global and integrated Human Rights approach. 2. Using as basis the national reformist cultural heritage to enrich the rights of the individual and the definition of his rights and making reference to the international human rights instruments, President Zine El Abibidine Ben Ali has consistently initiated a vision of Human Rights which takes into account the dialectic link existing between the protection and promotion of these rights in their entirety, complementarity and interdependence. 3. This global approach to Human Rights stems from the conviction that there can be no effective democracy without human development, nor can there be development without democracy, the one being a corollary of the other. This notion of the globality, indivisibility and complementarity of human rights is inscribed in the Constitution of the Tunisian Republic as had been modified by the Constitutional Law n° 2002-51 of 1st June 2002, bringing substantial reform to the fundamental law of the State. 4. This dialectic, without excluding the functional specificities existing between the various human rights categories involves, in the context of the period covered by the present Report (1995-2006), the preparation and the putting into practice of social democracy by means of national programmes in the sectors of education, training, health, shelter, employment, the family and of political democracy through the consolidation of the right to participation, of the strengthening of civil society and the Rule of Law. This approach generates an impetus and a dynamism for the promotion of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. 5. The dispassionate and progressive approach adopted by Tunisia in the area of protection and promotion of human rights takes its impetus from the political conviction that fundamental reforms constitute a process whose aim is to vitalize the bases of a progressive political life offering the maximum of possibilities for participation to the different actors of an organized political life and of a society which is just, well-stable and interdependent. 6. The development of the democratic process has required the progressive entrenchment of political pluralism in the mentalities and behaviour and in the institutions and components of civil society. This dynamism stems from the choice of a national and sovereign policy aimed at enabling the Tunisians to benefit daily from the advantages of a local, responsible and transparent democracy, and to collectively lay the foundations of a system of good governance based both on equality, on the ethics of responsibility, and on the independence and primacy of the law. 7. The Rule of Law, a fundamental concept in the construction of modernity, is crystallized in the Tunisian context by the equality of all before the law and 5 through the constitutional proclamation of the State’s commitment to respect and ensure respect for legality. 8. Tunisia consistently supports associative activities by guaranteeing, in particular, the provision of the best of conditions for the activities of Tunisian, foreign, regional and international NGOs based on its territory. All the legal Organizations established in Tunisia carry out their activities without let or hindrance. This direct presence of civil society allows the initiation of a certain type of management of public affairs which maintains a stable democratic society in which militancy cannot contravene the rules of the democratic game as defined by the law in force. 9. The progress registered in this respect during the period 1995-2005, is testimony of the important developments observed in the conditions of pluralist democratic practice within the framework of the rule of law and of the concretization of a generalized pace of development conducive to the guarantee of decent living conditions for the citizenry. 10. Tunisia, while rejecting the pre-established models in the area of politics, pursues its own efforts in guaranteeing to its citizens the full exercise of the rights provided for by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Towards this end, a series of laws were enacted and a set of mechanisms, instruments and practical measures were put in place from 1995 aimed notably at consolidating the rule of law and the political institutions, at the strengthening of intellectual and political pluralism, the protection and promotion of human rights and the consolidation of economic, social and cultural rights. I- Consolidation of the Rule of Law and the Political Institutions 11. The Constitutional reforms (including notably those of 1997, 1998 and 2002) have all contributed to the acceleration of the democratic process. The objective is to consolidate the Rule of Law, to enhance the exercise of democracy, to reinforce pluralism in the various fields of political participation, to strengthen human rights and to broaden the area of individual and collective liberties. It is in this manner that the Constitutional law n° 2002-51 of 1st June 2002 amending certain provisions of the Constitution consolidated the bases of the rule of law and of the institutions, enriched the normative arsenal

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