ISO: TUN
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The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth
World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
Secretariat.
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AS WRITTEN


Tunisia'’s Message to the Fourth World Conference on Women

Beijing 4 - 15 September 1995


Your honors the delegation heads,
Ladies and Gentlemen, 

To begin with, please allow me to express my warmest congratulations to 
the chairwoman of our Fourth World Conference on Women, wishing her 
every success as our works progress. 

r am also pleased to address our most sincere thanks and esteem to the 
People's Republic of China for the cordial welcome it has extended to us 
ever since we arrived in this friendly country. 

I should like to applaud here the efforts made by the organizers of this 
conference, expressing particular thanks to the United Nations and its 
different agencies, and above all to the commission on women, headed by 
Mrs. Gertrude Mongella, who has consistently and with great talent 
handled the responsibilities of the general secretariat of this 
conference, and has coordinated all the various phases in its 
preparation. 

Let me take this opportunity to convey to you the greetings of President 
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who is following the works of this conference 
with interest—the same interest, indeed, that he takes in all 
undertakings devoted to serving humanity, moved by the convictions that 
led him to carry out the Change of 7th November in Tunisia and to place 
the status of women and women's rights among the great priorities of the 
change and of reform. 

Madam chairwoman, 

The fact that this conference, crowning a determined and sustained 
effort to give concrete expression to the principles of equality, 
equality of opportunity, and liberation of women from all forms of 
discrimination, coincides with a time at which all humanity is 
celebrating the international year of tolerance, proves that the noble 
values and universal principles confirming our common destiny are 
triumphing, at a time when humanity has reached a degree of awareness 
and maturity that enables it to play an active role and to serve as the 
essential motor for the changes taking place in the world. Humanity is 
on the threshold of a new century, and is today experiencing many 
paradoxes. Just as we see the values of good, peace, justice and the 
ethic of democratic conduct prospering, we witness at the same time a 
renewed outbreak of violence, and the emergence of backward, 
reactionary, fanatic attitudes that endanger the values of solidarity 
and humanitarian cooperation. 

Just as all UN indicators are registering an intensification of the role 
played by women in the development efforts of the communities to which 
they belong, and advances in the concepts related to their rights, at 
the very same time we see the material and moral situation of -women 
deteriorating. Important symptoms of this are deterioration in women's 
and children's health, the growth of poverty to the point of famine, 
increased unemployment, the spread of illiteracy, disturbance of 
environmental balances, and the extension of conflict and war, not to 
speak of the increased burden of the debt and the imbalance in exchanges 
which are obstructing the development efforts of developing countries, 
including those of intermediate revenues. 

The commitment of women throughout the world to achieving equality, and 
the choice of this goal as one of the themes of this conference, amply 
confirm the faith we all have in the active role women can play in 
building societies. The correlation of this noble goal with the 
attainment of development and peace provides absolute proof of the 
organic link that exists between these different values. By their very 
essence, peace, development and equality confirm the global 
understanding of human rights as universal values that transcend 
national borders, and gain acceptance as a humanitarian cause which, by 
its moral grandeur and its breadth, is particularly ambitious. 

Madam Chairwoman, 

Tunisia's new-era government has applied itself to setting up civilized, 
democratic relations among the various members of society, through a 
policy of moderation, realism and globalism that has been pursued in the 
aim of promoting the Tunisian citizens, enhancing their existence, and 
giving them the opportunity to live their century fully, with all the 
necessary self-assurance and skill, knowing that they are both the 
ultimate beneficiary and the chief instrument of development. 

Our country has derived this policy from the combat carried out by 
Tunisian women, and from the constants of the movement of national 
reform and liberation, whose beginnings date back to the second half of 
the last century, and which was strengthened during the first half of 
this century, our country having been a pioneer within its geographic 
area. The Change of 7th November then imparted to this movement its true 
meaning, setting it back on course. 

We have always considered the cause of women as belonging to the cause 
of integral development, their rights as being inseparable from human 
rights, and the safeguarding and development of their gains as being not 
ends in themselves, but part of a more general movement to safeguard the 
family, to ensure the psychological and social equilibrium of the 
individual and of society. The basis for this view is our conviction 
that the family is the fundamental unit of any sound, balanced society, 
and it is the reason for which women's rights have, in our country, been 
completed by the promulgation of a code to protect the child. 

Since the Change of 7th November, Tunisia's policy with respect to human 
development has been based on a two-fold principle. First, it is 
necessary to create the conditions enabling all categories of women to 
participate in the different aspects of social experience such as 
education, training, and health care, to encourage them to conquer all 
of the many domains of production. Second, measures must be taken and 
provisions adopted to promote the presence of women within structures 
and institutions, enabling them thus to participate in the enrichment of 
discussion and reflection, and in the discovery of ways and means for 
strengthening their participation in the task of development. | In 
consideration of the guarantees the law provides to enable

women to enjoy their rights and exercise their functions, and after the 
Code of Personal Status, promulgated in 1956, had reestablished women's 
dignity through laws abolishing polygamy, setting the legal age of 
marriage and regulating divorce, this national accomplishment was 
subsequently enriched and improved to bring it into step with the degree 
of maturity womanhood reached and with social progress. Audacious 
amendments were enacted, and no less remarkable additions were made, not 
only to the Code of Personal Status itself, but at the same time to the 
Labor Code and the Code of Nationality. These provisions, announced by 
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on national women’s day, 13th August 
1992, marked a crucial turning point, the beginning of a new period with 
respect to confirming equality of men and women and developing the idea 
of partnership between them.

This approach led to progress in the sectoral policies favouring women's 
integration and guaranteeing their participation in the development 
effort. It also led to the adoption of coherent programmes aimed at 
raising the intellectual level of women, curtailing the phenomenon of 
early school dropout among girls by reforming the educational system, 
launching a national literacy programme, and developing vocational 
training programmes to prepare girls to conquer the employment market. 
Thanks to this, the proportion of women in the workforce has risen from 
ó% in 1966 to its present figure of nearly 22%. The competence and 
spirit of initiative that women have demonstrated have enabled them to 
adapt to national and world economic changes, and women now occupy 
important positions in the various production sectors and areas of 
investment. This is well demonstrated by the increased number of women 
running farms, and by the large number of women who are promoters of 
projects in the branches of industry and services. Furthermore, 
programmes to provide women with health care and with psychological and 
social protection have made it possible to reduce population growth, 
improve women's health, and reduce the female mortality rate from 14.4 
per thousand in 1966 to approximately 5 per thousand today. 

It was imperative that the negative modes of behavior inherited from an 
outdated epoch be changed, and we therefore devoted all our attention to 
improving the image of women in the media and in such publications as 
school textbooks, so that our young generations would be raised to 
respect the principles of equality and rejection of all discrimination 
based on gender. 

Madam Chairwoman, 

Rural women have been accorded a place of choice in this overall 
strategy, both in the programmes directly aimed at developing their 
skills, and in the many projects designed to improve general living 
conditions in rural areas. There is no doubt that what has been 
accomplished in improving the quality of life in the rural milieu is 
contributing to the achievement of harmonious, integral development, or 
that it will have direct repercussions in improving the condition of 
rural women: provision of basic infrastructure such as electricity, 
drinking water, health centers and social and educational facilities, 
and the programmes made possible by such initiatives as the National 
Solidarity Fund, created at the behest of President Zine El Abidine Ben 
Ali to promote regions that had been neglected in previous development 
policies, and endow them with basic facilities and indispensable 
utilities. 

Given our deep awareness of what migratory movements represent as an 
economic, social and cultural phenomenon capable of promoting contact 
and cooperation among peoples, we have granted all our attention to 
emigrant women, in the context of this policy and in all the initiatives 
Tunisia has taken to preserve their rights and ensure their protection 
in their countries of residence. 

The increased commitment to the path of reform which Tunisia embarked 
upon immediately upon attaining independence to ensure the promotion of 
women, arises from the very nature of our society, and from the concern 
that it evolve gradually. without being denatured, at the same time 
attempting to eliminate the consequences of underdevelopment and 
ignorance, through reference to our heritage of civilization, culture 
and religion, in accordance with a true perception of the legal 
principles that call upon us to honor the individual, law and tolerance, 
preaching excellence through effort, and breaking with the forces of 
reaction and obscurantism which claim to legitimize slavery in its new 
form, and seek to paralyze the mind and stifle the God-given flame of 
knowledge. Thus is confirmed our conscious adherence to the humanitarian 
and universal principles of human rights; thus is reinforced the 
Tunisian experience, which is unique in the Arab and Muslim world for 
having reconciled mastery of the attributes of modernity with the 
safeguarding of the foundations of the Arab Islamic civilization to 
which we belong.

Madam Chairwoman, 

Based on its unshakable faith in humanitarian values, Tunisia has, under 
the impetus of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, worked consistently to 
catalyze the efforts of the United Nations, making all manner of 
proposals and taking several initiatives intended to reinforce security, 
peace and balanced co-development in the world. Our country was one of 
the first to ratify and apply the provisions of the international 
charters and treaties confirming human rights and fundamental liberties, 
starting with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 
conventions that subsequently arose in its wake, particularly the 
convention pertaining to the eradication of all forms of discrimination 
against women, and the United Nations convention on the rights of the 
child. Tunisia was also among the first to formulate concrete proposals 
to resolve the problems arising from the debt in developing countries, 
recommending that it be recycled into projects for development. 

Madam Chairwoman, 

However different our approaches may be to humanity's causes, the 
question of women's emancipation from all forms of discrimination 
remains, basically, a single, undivided question in the face of the 
magnitude of present and future challenges. In the final analysis, 
specificity and authenticity reside only in the way they are realized 
and confirmed in actual experience. 

It is my personal conviction that we should, each on her own level and 
within the framework of our respective national policies, demonstrate 
the woman's capacity to be a true partner in the various domains and 
sectors, for the status of political and economic partner that we wish 
to confirm as an element in social relations is one element in the 
legitimate rights of women. It is the duty of us all to work by every 
possible means to acquire this status, and to prove that we are worthy 
of it. The task is an arduous 

one, and we will not be able to assume it unless we believe in the 
future, casting aside fear of failure and any attitude of reliance upon 
assistance. 

The experience we have accumulated since the Mexico and Nairobi 
conferences has taught us that the accomplishment of women's ambitions 
for equality, progress and well-being resides in the creation of a truly 
organic link joining peace, security and stability, on the one hand, 
with integral development on the other. Intensified cooperation among 
peoples and the reinforcement of programmes of egalitarian partnership 
on the path of co-development, with all the attendant assumptions in the 
way of appropriate strategies for the accomplishment of such goals, now 
appear as major priorities, to which we should devote all our attention 
during our sessions. 

It is to be hoped—indeed, it is necessary— that, at this century's end, 
humanity break free of the after-effects of a terrible past marked by 
expanding poverty and unemployment, the destruction of the environment, 
and pollution, all of them curses that are afflicting more particularly 
the countries of the South. No longer can we approach these problems 
narrowly, using traditional methods, without giving women their rightful 
place and without guaranteeing their participation in this innovative 
historic process. 

Madam Chairwoman, 

However sincere may be our intentions, however determined our 
resolutions, I do not believe that effective solutions for these causes 
involving the future can be found in isolation. It is our duty during 
this conference to act with confidence and hope, to advance 
beyond all forms of sterile polemic around constants that we all now 
recognize as so many universal values and common denominators for 
humanity in its entirety. During our meetings we must also, and more 
than ever, study the overall situation connected with affirming women's 
rights, and see how these can be placed in a suitable framework of 
civilization; we must carefully examine the dialectic relationship with 
the accelerated transformations the world is experiencing today in both 
the political and social economic spheres. 

Let us therefore join our voices, our wills and our efforts in a 
collective, conscious, decided leap impelled by the strength of our 
conviction that there can be no salvation for a society from which women 
remain excluded, or in which they are marginalized, any more than there 
can be no equality or development or peace without real participation on 
the part of women. 

Thank you for your attention.