Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi on Friday headed an ordinary cabinet session scheduled to address draft-laws on national emergencies and achieving gender equality in inheritance.
The draft-law on regulating national emergencies was first proposed in November 2015, in light of terror attacks targeting a presidential convoy. Presidential spokeswoman Saeeda Qarrash said the bill will bolster respect for individual freedoms.
It also stipulates the mandatory supervision by the national judiciary for all decisions taken by the interior ministry, providing guarantees that were not previously available.
During the government's crackdown on corruption in 2017, there were arbitrary arrest campaigns under claims that those being detained presented threats to national security. The interior ministry warranted the arrests without judiciary’s involvement.
Tunisia received considerable criticisms and condemnations from human rights watchdogs and the international community for the indiscriminate incarcerations it authorized.
The new law also allowed pressing charges against the interior ministry to the national administrative court – the body empowered by the constitution to hold authorities accountable when breaking the law.
Tunisia’s cabinet also approved the law of gender equality in inheritance, which will later be sent to the parliament to be further discussed and ratified before going into effect.
It was proposed by Essebi in August 2017 on the occasion of national women’s day.
It was also around the same time he formed the Individual Freedoms and Equality Committee, which aimed to propose reforms for the Tunisian legislative system and expand freedoms in the state.
However, a 2017 survey by the International Republican Institute showed that 63 percent of Tunisians, including 52 percent of women, oppose equal inheritance.
Earlier in August this year, Tunisia’s Ennahda political party, which dominates the parliament, rejected the president’s proposal and said that it would vote against any bill that imposes secular laws in the country.
The chairman of Ennahda’s shura council, Abdel Karim al-Harouni, said that he would defend the rights of women with regards to inheritance, but “within the bills and laws that respect the identity of the country”.
