460. In the judicial bodies, the women represent 27% of the corps of Magistrates,
31% of the Bar. A number of them hold the positions of President of the District
Tribunal, of State Counsel to the Court of Appeal and the Cassation Court. Three
women magistrates sit in the Supreme Council of the Magistracy.
461. The same is true at the level of the regional institutions where the women
are represented with a rate of 32% within the regional Councils of the 24
Governorates, and this in conformity with the decision taken in 1999 aimed at
consolidating the participation of women in public affairs.
b) In Civil Society
462. Tunisian women participate actively in associative life which underwent a
decisive stimulation in the consolidation of the democratic process and the
strengthening of the foundation of civil society. They represent more than 1/3 of
the members to the 8,913 Associations that exist in the country. They also occupy
21% of the senior positions in the Associations and in the national and
professional organizations.
463. Reassured by the acquisitions from the legal arsenal, the women continue to
make progress in the field of emancipation. Their perception of themselves
changed, amending de facto other peoples’ perception in their regard, but their
requirements also changed. What is gained in the area of protection and
promotion of the rights of women is not only the respect for a right: it is a symbolic
revolution and a discovery of the new values which have consequences on the
type of intra-family relationships (especially the education and future of the
children), in the social field and in the field of civic rights. It is the path of new
social links, of freedom and the responsibility of citizens. It is no longer the rights
of women which are at the basis of social progress, but the rights of the civic
woman whose right to participate in the management of the affairs of the City
implies the enhancing of her faculties of appreciation through the full satisfaction
of her right to instruction, to training, to culture, to health and to employment.
III- Protection of the Child
464. In Tunisia, the children have a right to protection and to the care necessary
for their well-being. In all activities relating to children, whether they are carried
out by the public authorities or by private institutions, the child’s supreme interest
should be a priority consideration.
465. The protection of the child is guaranteed by the family, the society and the
State. The Tunisian positive law has fine-tuned a legal arsenal allowing the
optimal protection of the child without any discrimination based on race, sex,
religion, or the social environment. Various measures had been taken in order to
translate the commitments made in relation to the ratification by Tunisia of the
international instruments on the rights of the child into action and to pursue its
action in promoting the protection of the rights of the child.
466. Under the terms of the law n° 2002-42 of the 7th May 2002, Tunisia had
acceded to the additional Protocol to the Convention on the rights of the child
which pertains to the involvement of children in armed conflicts. It also approved,
through the law n° 2003-5 of 21st January 2003 the additional Protocol to the
99