Global employment briefing: Tunisia, October 2018

• Africa

• Employment law

03-10-2018

New legislation set to improve women’s rights in Tunisia

Two pieces of legislation are set to improve women’s rights in Tunisia. The first, which came into effect in July, introduces major changes in the approach to combating violence and harassment against women and their children, particularly in terms of prevention and protection of victims.

It includes the establishment of school and university programs to teach the principles of human rights. The new legislation also extends the definition of violence against women. In addition to physical violence, it recognizes, moral, sexual and economic exploitation.

The new law penalizes sexual harassment, the employment of children as domestic servants and includes fines for employers who do not pay men and women equally for the same job.

The second is in draft form. The President of the Republic announced a draft law establishing inheritance equality. Until now, in accordance with Islamic law, women inherit half as much as men.

The proposed change has the support of human rights defenders and more than 2,000 people came together in downtown Tunis a few hours after the president's speech to show their support. However, nothing can be taken for granted. The text must pass the deputies this autumn and it is still unclear if the Islamists, the main party in Parliament, will support this very controversial project.

PPP in employment and business creation

A partnership agreement has just been signed between the Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Enterprises and the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment in order to consolidate their cooperation in the areas of professional training.

Through this cooperation, the public-private partnership (PPP) will undergo a great change with the launch of new training projects, promotion of employment, creation of companies and access to new sources of financing.

The new vision of the PPP will aim to address the major challenges that the country is currently facing in terms of employment and business creation.

A one-day meeting organized at the initiative of the Ministry of Development, Investment and International Cooperation and in partnership with the EBRD and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will examine the prospects that provide public-private partnerships for infrastructure development and support private investment in Tunisia.