Women's rights

It was a tipping point for women’s and children’s rights activists in Tunisia. Article 227bis of the Tunisian Penal code, the “article of shame” as they called it, had to be repealed. In December 2016, the Court of First Instance of Kef, a small town North-West of Tunisia, ordered a 13-year-old girl to marry the man who had raped her and gotten her pregnant. “When it comes to a 13-year-old, we cannot talk about sex with consent. It is rape,” said Houda Abboudi, head of the child protection services of Kef. “The court decision did not take into account the interest of this child ... who, on top of that, will have to marry her rapist,” which constitutes “a violation of her physical and mental integrity,” she stressed. Article 227bis did not recognize sex with a minor as rape as defined by international standards. It introduced the concept of “sexual aggression with consent” which also enabled an adult to marry a minor with whom they had had sexual intercourse without violence and...

GENEVA (22 August 2017) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Tuesday warmly welcomed the repeal of laws in Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan that allowed rapists to avoid criminal prosecution by marrying their victims. “To punish a rape victim by making her marry the perpetrator of a horrible crime against her – there is no place in today’s world for such hideous laws. I warmly welcome the stand that lawmakers in Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan have taken towards eliminating violence against women and ensuring that perpetrators of such violence are held to account,” High Commissioner Zeid said. On 16 August, Lebanon voted to repeal article 522 of its penal code, a law that provided that if a person accused of rape agreed to marry the victim, the accused not be subjected to criminal prosecution. Two weeks earlier, on 1 August, Jordanian lawmakers also voted to abolish a similar provision – article 308 of its penal code. The High Commissioner welcomes these positi...