gender

UNFPA Tunisia and its partner the Center for Research, Study, Documentation, and Information on Women (CREDIF) have launched an online campaign to address the issue of cyberviolence against women, following a research paper developed by the CREDIF that studied instances of violence against women on Facebook, titled “Violence Against Women: The Case of Facebook”. The campaign aims to raise awareness among internet users about the different forms that acts of cyberviolence can take, and sheds the light on the impact such forms of violence can have on women, affecting their physical safety, psychological wellbeing, and social relations. The campaign also emphasizes the importance of legal action when such violence occurs, and details the procedure for filing a complaint. The campaign spans over a period of two weeks and its results will be presented during the UN 16 Days of Activism.

As part of the Joint Program to Improve the Care of Women and Girls Victims of Violence, led by UNFPA, the National Office for the Family and the Population’s Psychological Assistance Center for women victims of violence (CAP-ONFP) organized a workshop on the assessment tool for the jeopardization of the safety of women victims of violence. This workshop followed a multisectoral approach that brought together professionals from the health, justice, interior, social affairs, and women's and family affairs sectors, as well as civil society representatives, in order to reflect together on the methods of assessing the safety of women victims of violence by front-line workers and to finalize a standard assessment tool for the jeopardization of the safety of women victims of violence, developed by the ONFP with the support of UNFPA.

Following UNFPA's advocacy efforts with the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, gender-based violence was introduced into the curriculum of medical students, namely in the psychiatry and victimology courses. This represents a major first step in sensitizing professionals who will later be called upon to detect, take care of, and refer victims of gender-based violence. In addition, UNFPA has agreed with the University of Tunis’ Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FSHS) to integrate a module on gender-based violence into the Professional Master’s degree in Criminology, starting from the 2020/2021 school year. UNFPA has provided the FSHS with technical support in setting up this module and this collaboration is all the more important as this Master’s program attracts professionals from various fields such as judges, public servants, and psychologists.

Capacity building of professionals in the care of women victims of violence in the regions on issues of GBV and mixed migration

In September 2020, UNFPA Tunisia and the Ministry of Women, Family, Children and Elders organized capacity building sessions online for professionals of care of women victims of violence on gender based violence and mixed-migration. These professionals, listeners of CSOs and of the help line as well as regional delegates supporting women and families in 22 governorates of the country, have deepened their knowledge on standard operational procedures of care of victims of violence, supportive listening as well as specificities of mixed migration and the legal context of migrants victims of violence in Tunisia. Achievement of these sessions was supported by European Union and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy.

Raising awareness on human trafficking

Tunisia renewed its commitment to the fight against trafficking in Persons, in particular women and children following the adoption of the organic law n° 2016-61 relating to the prevention and fight against trafficking in persons. On 19 September, UNFPA Tunisia and the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, held a seminar, which brought together more than 60 people to raise awareness and inform governmental institutions, CSOs and political parties about human trafficking. The seminar was an opportunity to present the contextual and legal frameworks of trafficking in persons and statistics at the national and regional levels, and to come up with recommendations.