Rabat – In a speech delivered Sunday at the presidential palace in Carthage, Tunisian President Beji Caed Essibssi has declared he is willing to fight for women’s rights.
Essibssi urged the country’s prime minister and minister of justice to repeal article No 73, a 1973 decree that prohibits Tunisian Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men, which the president said was “an obstacle to the freedom to choose one’s spouse.”
The Tunisian Islamic scholars at Diwan Al-Ifta , showed their support to the president’s planned changes.
The president also called for a legislation that would grant women and men equal rights, promising that his changes correlate with the country’s constitution.
“The Constitution grants the freedom of belief and conscience in its sixth chapter,” asserted the president.
“We will not go through reforms that could shock the people, who are mostly Muslim, but we are moving towards equality in all fields. We are convinced that the Tunisian legal mind will find appropriate formulas that do not conflict with religion and its purposes, or with the Constitution and its principles, towards full equality.”
Despite the wide rights of women in Tunisia compared to other Muslim countries, arbitration in inheritance is still based on the “Sharia” or Islamic law, where the man’s share equals that of two women.
Essibsi also called for equality in inheritance.
“If we think about harmony, because the constitution dictates this, we must go in this direction,” said the president.
“God and His Messenger have left the matter for human beings to act.”
The proposed law would also increase penalties for various forms of violence, sexual assault, and discrimination. The law criminalizes sexual harassment in public places, bans the employment of children, and revokes the article that obliges rapist to marry their victim in order to escape punishment.
Tunisia has long been praised for leading the region in terms of women’s rights. Its laws are considered to be one of the most progressive in the Arab world.
