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Sexual harassment

1. The Committee notes Act No. 2004-73 of 2 August 2004 amending and supplementing the Penal Code with regard to the repression of offences against morality and sexual harassment. It notes that new section 226 ter of the Penal Code establishes a penalty for sexual harassment of one year of imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 dinars, and defines sexual harassment as "any persistence which embarrasses another person through the repetition of acts, words or gestures likely to prejudice that person’s dignity or offend her or his decency and with the aim of causing the said person to submit to the sexual desires of the author of the acts, words or gestures or the desires of a third party, or exerting upon the said person pressure such as to weaken her or his will to resist such approaches". The Committee requests the Government to indicate in future reports any court decision applying this section in cases of sexual harassment at work.

2. In view of the very general nature of the definition of sexual harassment and the absence of any specific reference to the working environment in section 226 ter of the Penal Code, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether legal texts and/or measures of a practical nature specifically intended to prevent and punish sexual harassment in the working environment, and relating to the various matters referred to in the general observation made by the Committee in 2002, have been adopted or are envisaged.

Promotion of equality between men and women

3. The Committee notes the progress achieved in recent years in reducing the illiteracy rate of women, raising the school enrolment rate of girls and reducing their early school drop-out rate. Noting that the Government’s objective is to reduce the illiteracy rate in 2006 to 16 per cent of the population as a whole and 22 per cent of women, with the total eradication of illiteracy among young persons under 30 years of age, it hopes that the next report will indicate the results achieved.

4. The Committee notes the progress achieved in recent years with regard to the situation of women on the labour market. According to the data provided in the report, the proportion of active women has increased from 22.9 per cent in 1994 to nearly 27 per cent at the present time; the unemployment rate of women fell over the same period; and women are participating in ever greater numbers in vocational training programmes, employment promotion and enterprise creation, and are making use of the services of the National Employment Agency. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on policies and programmes to promote equality between men and women in employment, the difficulties encountered and the results achieved.

5. The Committee notes that training for girls continues to be focused on traditionally female sectors, such as services, paramedical activities, textiles and clothing and the tertiary sector. The Committee asks the Government to continue its efforts to encourage and enable girls and women to turn to training and employment in sectors that are not traditionally female and are better able to offer them attractive conditions with regard to remuneration and career prospects, and particularly new, more highly qualified and specialized occupations based on new technologies.

6. In its previous direct request, the Committee asked for information on the follow-up to the proposals of the Commission on Equality of Opportunity established in 1997 within the Ministry of Women and Family Affairs with a view to promoting women’s participation in the labour market and enabling them to reconcile more effectively their family and professional responsibilities. In the absence of such information in the last report, the Committee hopes that the next report will indicate the measures adopted or envisaged to enable women and men to reconcile their family and professional responsibilities more effectively.

Equality of opportunity and treatment with respect to other grounds

7. For several years the Committee has been noting that the Convention requires the Government to declare and pursue a national policy designed to promote equality of opportunity and treatment with a view to eliminating any discrimination in employment on the basis not only of sex, but also the other grounds enumerated in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention, namely race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. The Committee also observes that the existence of legislation which makes no distinction based on these various grounds is not sufficient in itself to ensure the full application of the Convention.

8. The Committee notes that the Government’s last report still does not contain information on any measures adopted to promote equality of opportunity and treatment on the basis of criteria other than sex. The Committee notes in this respect that, in its concluding observations in 2003, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) noted the absence of statistical data in the Government’s reports on the ethnic composition of Tunisian society, and particularly on the Berber (or Amazigh) population and recommended that increased attention be given to the situation of Berbers as a specific component of the Tunisian population. The Committee trusts that the next report will contain detailed information on the situation of minority groups of the population, and particularly the Berber (or Amazigh) in relation to employment and occupation, and on the measures taken to ensure that these groups are not discriminated against and that they enjoy equality of opportunity and treatment with the majority of the population.