b) The Legislation
57. Legislative, judicial and administrative guarantees had been provided for to
preserve the principle of non-discrimination. Along the same lines, organic law
n° 88-32 of the 3rd May 1988, on the organization of Political Parties stipulates in
its Article 2 that « the political party acts within the framework of the Constitution
and of the law », that it « should within its activities, respect and defend human
rights in particular as determined by the Constitution and the international
conventions ratified by Tunisia » and that it « should moreover ban violence in all
its forms as well as fanaticism, racism and all other forms of discrimination ».
58. Organic law n° 93-85 of 2nd August 1993, amending the Press Code punishes
the various acts of discrimination. Thus, Article 44 (new) enunciates that « any
person who directly either prompts hatred between the races, or the religions, or
the populations, or the propagation of opinions founded on racial segregation or
religious extremism, …or incites the population to break the laws of the country,
shall be punished by imprisonment ranging from two months to three years and
with a fine ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 Dinars ».
Likewise, Article 52 bis of the Penal Code introduced by the Law n° 93-112 of the
22nd November 1993, completing the Penal Code, considers the acts of
incitement to hatred or to racial or religious fanaticism whatever the methods
used, as acts of terrorism.
B) From the practical perspective
59. Tunisia adheres firmly to the objectives and principles of the United Nations
as expressed in the international and regional instruments, in particular those
which relate to non-discrimination for reasons based on race, colour, ancestry, or
to national or ethnic origin. This commitment had been confirmed through the
ratification by Tunisia of the International Convention on the Elimination of all
forms of racial discrimination on the 12th January 1967 and of the African Charter
on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the 6th August 1982.
60. Tunisia has always constituted a crossroads of civilizations. It is her greatest
wealth, and this empirical and historical data simply assumes that the problem of
racial discrimination does not exist in Tunisia.
II- The integration of the principles of the Charter in the
national judicial system
61. Article 1 of the Charter commits the States to putting in place, in keeping with
their constitutional procedures and with the provisions of the Charter, measures
aimed at giving effect to the rights recognized by the Charter.
62. In effect, it is the law which allows the implementation of these rights and
provides them with the procedures destined to ensure their respect. In this
respect, Tunisia has progressively put in place procedures aimed at giving full
effect to human rights, whether they are provided for by the Constitution or by the
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights or indeed by the different human
rights instruments ratified by Tunisia.
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