Femicide in Tunisia is catastrophic and the government has been silent

 

Everyday a or two women in tunisia become kill

#Femicide_in_Tunisia is catastrophic and the government has been silent

Violence kills 30 women in Tunisia in 2025.https://www.assabahnews.tn

Regarding the murders of women in Tunisia, the social crises the country is experiencing have become one of the main causes of these crimes. The report, released Wednesday, stated that violence against women in Tunisia resulted in the deaths of 30 women in 2024, most of whom were under the age of 35.

 Femicide in Tunisia: A Hidden Phenomenon?

This episode of "Hi Al-Hadath" was directed from Tunisia to discuss femicide in the country. A new report titled "Femicide: The Hidden Phenomenon" was released, detailing the increasing rates of these crimes and the reasons behind them, as well as how local laws address the issue and the role of official authorities in combating it. Guest: Sociology Professor and Feminist Activist Fathia Al-Saidi

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The report, presented at a regional symposium that reviewed the situation of women in Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia, highlighted the seriousness of gender-based violence in the three countries, which turns women already suffering from poverty, discrimination, and humiliation into direct targets of heinous murders. According to the testimonies of women victims of violence in the three countries, the tragic situation they find themselves in is the result of a failure to protect women, a failure to assess the risks, slow procedures, a lack of awareness, a failure to seriously address the root causes of gender-based violence, and a lack of effective implementation of laws.

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Sarah Ben Saeed, Executive Director of the Women's Voices Association, says, "There are many similarities in the social conditions that predispose women to crimes against them. They are often victims of previous forms of violence that societies have normalized before later escalating to the level of murder." She confirmed to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the crimes monitored in 2024 proved that the fight against femicide in Tunisia is still far from over, due to the complexity of this phenomenon and its multiple factors, along with the absence of a clearly defined national strategy to combat femicide. According to the association, Tunisia recorded 26 murders last year in 16 of its 24 governorates. Compared to 2023, the geographical scope of the recorded crimes expanded, as the crimes committed during that year were confined to only 11 governorates. According to figures disclosed by the Women's Voices Association, the 26 crimes resulted in 30 victims, given that each crime targeted more than one person in some cases. Ben Saeed says that femicide is no longer committed in private spaces, but rather It has shifted to public space, where women's lives were taken in the street in full view of citizens, in a scene that suggests the perpetrator is seeking to publicize his crime and make an example of the victim. In a related context, she pointed out that this type of crime, despite its horrific nature, is not devoid of vindictiveness and revenge. Examinations revealed clear signs of physical violence, such as bruises, amputations (such as hands), and cigarette burns, confirming the deliberate intent to harm and humiliate before committing the crime.

She added, "Feminist associations demand that the state address violence against women seriously by allocating the necessary resources and comprehensively implementing the 2017 Law on Combating Violence Against Women. They call on the state to not consider victims of violence as mere numbers, but rather as the "lives" of women who grew up under discrimination and domination, who lost support and accompaniment, and who became vulnerable." She indicated that it has become necessary to adopt "murder" as a legal description for intentional crimes committed against victims because they are women, emphasizing that legal scrutiny of the crime's description will enable the consideration of "gender" (discrimination based on sex) as a first step. In order to combat this scourge, according to their assessment, they called for the need to establish mechanisms to assess the level of risk faced by women survivors of violence, in order to adopt legal mechanisms to protect them, considering that leniency toward violence and its perpetrators is a "green light" for abusers to go too far, even to the point of murder.

Tunisia is home to a large number of divorced women, May 15, 2025 (Getty)

Cases and People

The Tunisian Parliament is considering a law to pardon those claiming alimony and divorce debts.

Feminist organizations in Tunisia recommend the establishment of a body within the Ministry of Women to assess the effectiveness of public policy in combating violence and addressing the murder of women. They also recommend conducting an inventory of protection systems for victims of violence with the aim of developing them, and organizing national awareness campaigns involving the various ministries and entities covered by Law 58-2017. They also recommend adopting a "risk assessment index" by the task force responsible for eliminating violence against women and the family court.

Tunisia Society

Despite laws and support centers, violence against women in Tunisia has not stopped

May 31, 2025

Despite laws and support centers, Tunisian women continue to suffer from male violence, which dominates them by all means. The latest data presented by the Ministry of Family and Women reveals a doubling of murders against women in Tunisia.

The image shows graffiti reading, "Law 58 protects women from sexual harassment and considers it a form of violence against women." Location: Tunis

She thought the home she shared with her dentist husband would be a safe haven, but it turned out to be the most dangerous place for her life. In a moment of reckless violence, her husband stabbed her with a knife, nearly killing her. She miraculously survived after undergoing surgery in the hospital, while her husband ended up behind bars on charges of attempted murder.

The crime occurred in May, just days before the investigation was released, but it wasn't the only shocking crime that month. This raises fundamental questions about the prevalence of violence against women in Tunisia, despite the country being considered a leading country in the Arab region in terms of legislation and laws criminalizing such violations and crimes, as well as support initiatives and listening centers established to receive complaints.

Has violence become a common sight?

The latest data presented by the Ministry of Family and Women and the "Aswat Tounes" association reveals that murders of women quadrupled between 2018 and 2024, reaching 26 murders. The data also reveals the involvement of male relatives, such as husbands, brothers, fathers, and even sons, in more than 70 percent of these crimes.

However, the bloodshed continues. The report's findings were released alongside two crimes that shook public opinion in Tunisia and confirmed the dangerous and disturbing trend of violence, even to the point of murder, perpetrated by the same perpetrators of these violations. The photo shows a mock trial organized by the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women to raise awareness and denounce the killing of women. Photo from:

One victim was a lawyer whose charred body was found dumped in a valley in the Manouba region near the capital. Authorities have begun investigating her relatives, with suspicions surrounding her close family circle.

The second victim was stabbed to death by her husband last April. The perpetrator then fled, leaving his wife in a pool of blood and his daughter suffering from serious injuries.

According to sociology professor and researcher Mamdouh Ezzedine, the widespread phenomenon of premeditated murder of women, despite the existence of a legal arsenal to protect them, entails profound sociological problems linked to social, value-based, and institutional transformations.

The researcher explained to DW Arabic that perpetrators often justify their crimes with arguments based on "honor," "jealousy," or "a sense of betrayal," "which reveals a cultural preoccupation that justifies male violence as a tool to control female behavior. In some cases, the crime is presented as a socially "legitimate" or "understandable" act, especially in conservative or vulnerable circles."

The suffering is compounded when victims are often viewed by certain social groups with a sense of "blame," which, according to the researcher, leads to further marginalization and their inability to seek early protection.

This is the case of "Najeeba," who hails from a rural area near the city of Kairouan in central Tunisia. Speaking to DW Arabic under a pseudonym for security reasons, the forty-year-old woman spoke about her long-standing and ongoing suffering with her life partner and a member of her tribe, who is ten years older than her. This suffering began with her arranged marriage at the age of twenty.

Najeeba recounts her shock when she began noticing her husband's violent behavior a few weeks into the marriage. Even with the birth of her first child, the violence and beatings, often stemming from minor disagreements, continued unabated. When she attempted to separate, her conservative family rejected the decision, and she finally reached the point where she decided to take a rodenticide. This nearly killed her, had it not been for the help of doctors in the emergency room.

"My family used to tell me that beatings are part of married life," Najiba says, recounting her story in a voice laced with sadness and brokenness. "We all went through the same thing, and with time, everything will go away."

But the situation turned into a seemingly endless cycle for her. So she decided to try contacting support centers for women victims of violence to present her problem, hoping to find a solution.

Listening Centers: Are They the Solution?

The "Women's Voices" Association, which works in partnership with the European Union to raise awareness of violence against women and support programs to protect against its effects, has established a telephone number for its "Najia Center," which receives complaints from women victims of violence, particularly sexual violence, and provides them with support.

The center operates seven days a week, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., excluding Saturdays and Sundays. The center's experience is still new, having been announced for opening in February 2025. It presents itself as a first step in this field within civil society. However, it was not easy to communicate with its supervisors and monitor its work closely, as the phone number receives requests around the clock.

DW Arabic visited the address of the association's headquarters listed on its official website, but it turned out that it had moved to a new location without updating the address.

After repeated attempts to contact the center, we finally succeeded in submitting a complaint from a victim of male violence to the designated listening number to understand the process. The member in charge of receiving feedback responded by urging her to schedule an appointment with a psychologist or lawyer.

In fact, the "Najia Center" is not the first in Tunisia. A government decree (No. 582) from 2020 regulates the establishment and operation of centers for women and children victims of violence. The decree defines these centers as institutions that provide comprehensive services, including listening, reception, legal advice, accompaniment, health and psychological follow-up, shelter, and social and economic integration.

Previously, since 2008, the Ministry of Women, Family, Children, and the Elderly has allocated a hotline (1899) for listening, advice, and guidance for women victims of violence. The "Amana" digital platform, affiliated with the National Observatory to Combat Violence against Women, was also launched to receive online notifications in a confidential manner that preserves the identity of victims.

Since August 2024, the non-governmental organization "Aman for Family and Children" has been receiving between five and ten daily notifications from abused women, both by phone and through its official Facebook page. The organization listens to victims and guides them toward the legal steps they should take.

The association's president, Reda Marwani, revealed to DW Arabic, "Most of the victims who call are female employees who have been sexually harassed by their bosses and are afraid to file complaints for fear of retaliation through disciplinary transfers or job changes in sectors such as education or large companies."

On the other hand, Marwani, a retired police officer who worked for years as part of a unit specializing in investigating crimes of violence against women and children, says that some victims prefer to remain silent for fear of losing their shelter because they have no alternative to the marital home.

The association is now seeking to establish a temporary shelter in remote areas of the country, where abused women are stigmatized and prevented from filing a formal complaint to secure their rights, despite the state's decades-long arsenal of laws.

Strong Legislation, Weak Implementation

In 2017, Tunisia ratified Basic Law No. 58, one of the most progressive laws in the Maghreb and Arab region. The law criminalizes all forms of violence against women (physical, psychological, economic, political, and sexual).

The law abolished all provisions that previously allowed prosecution against perpetrators to be terminated if the victim withdrew her complaint. It also abolished provisions that granted perpetrators the opportunity to escape punishment or mitigate its consequences, such as exempting a rapist from punishment if he married his victim.

Furthermore, the law establishes provisions for prevention, protection, and litigation, and guarantees victims the right to shelter away from the marital home.

However, the law faces obstacles in its implementation. The first is that it remains unknown to the majority of female victims of violence, as confirmed by a 2019 study conducted by the Center for Research, Studies, Documentation and Information on Women (CREDIF), affiliated with the Ministry of Women.

Human Rights Watch also points to the law's lack of sufficient financial resources for its optimal implementation, along with problematic attitudes within the police and judiciary. These, according to Human Rights Watch, lead to contradictions that have contributed to the state's failure to address domestic violence.

In an interview with DW Arabic, sociology professor and researcher Mamdouh Ezz El-Din summarized the reasons for the failure of public policies in this area, including the lack of immediate protection for victims, the slow pace of judicial procedures, the lack of training for judges and security personnel, and the limited number of centers specializing in hearings and shelters.

The researcher concludes his observation, "Public policies are often more punitive (deterrent) than preventative (proactive), and there are currently no broad national programs for education on equality and the rejection of violence within educational and cultural institutions."