ZOHOUR AL-MASHRIQI

Tunis — As Tunisia prepares to commemorate the milestone of August 13—carrying profound and deeply rooted significance in the country's history as an occasion to celebrate the gains of the Personal Status Code and the rights it granted to Tunisian women—and with seven decades having passed since its promulgation, the political and societal scene in the country is witnessing tense turmoil and sharp debates.

These debates, in part, are taking a direction that raises serious concerns about the future of the Personal Status Code and the legislative and rights-based system that Tunisia has established over decades. Political and societal actors with conservative orientations are seeking to push for legal reviews and amendments that appear reformative on the surface but could ultimately undermine the gains achieved by Tunisian women and circumvent the progressive societal model that has been one of the most prominent features of the Tunisian experience.

Amid these escalating calls, the rights-based and legislative system guaranteeing rights and freedoms has come under increasing attack, fundamentally aiming to reopen issues historically settled in favor of equality, women's dignity, and autonomy. This raises fears of regression from gains entrenched by generations of Tunisian women, and of reproducing conceptions based on guardianship, marginalization, and the diminishment of women's independence and role in society.

Thus, the commemoration of August 13 today takes on an importance that transcends the symbolic dimension of the occasion, becoming an opportunity to remind that rights-based gains are not a final achievement, but a collective responsibility requiring protection and development, away from any attempts to return Tunisian women to spaces society left behind decades ago.

In the face of this systematic assault and the persistent attempts to strip protective laws of their civil content, civil society remains the first line of defense and the impregnable dam, translating its rights-based struggles into solid field actions that touch the daily concerns of citizens in every corner of the republic.

The battle of civil society in Tunisia today is not limited to media debates or issuing angry statements; its dimensions have taken root in field work aimed at bringing rights-based concepts closer to women in various regions and governorates, especially beyond the capital's walls, to preserve the gains of the Personal Status Code.

In this context, feminist activist Lamia Achach affirmed to our agency that confronting anti-women campaigns and attacks on the Personal Status Code inevitably begins from the depth of collective and field work.

She noted that the establishment of a branch of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women in Sousse since 2012 was not merely a structural addition, but a bold strategic step to root rights-based action in the interior regions, coinciding with the opening of two other branches of the association in Kairouan and Sfax. This regional extension formed from the outset a solidarity network capable of confronting any attempts to restrict women's rights or isolate them from the comprehensive liberation path that has distinguished Tunisia.

 

The Challenge of Laws and Protection of Gains

Anti-women campaigns take multiple forms, ranging from ambiguous rhetoric channeled through some official structures to systematic societal pressure to neutralize progressive laws—pressure that seeks to erase struggles. Hence, the utmost importance of monitoring the legislative system and fiercely defending its actual implementation on the ground emerges.

Lamia Achach recalls a landmark legislative moment in August 2017, which witnessed the actual and legislative adoption of the fundamental law on the elimination of violence against women (Law No. 58 of 2017). She explains how civil society translates this legal text on the ground through the "Listening and Guidance Cell" managed by an integrated team of women volunteers working entirely free of charge.

She considered that this continuous field presence represents the most eloquent practical response to all voices and platforms calling for revision or regression. Providing legal and psychological support to abused women, and introducing the legislative arsenal, firmly closes the door to attempts to re-confine women within frameworks of dependency and marginalization.

She explained that the most prominent and dangerous goal pursued by patriarchal and political anti-women campaigns is to undermine women's independence and their ability to determine their own destiny and choose their lifestyle with full sovereignty. In confronting this continuous societal and legislative guardianship, rights-based structures adopt a precise and principled approach based on full respect for beneficiaries' privacy and their intellectual and psychological independence.

She explains the daily working methodology of the association's Sousse branch, affirming that the team's role does not go beyond careful listening, providing sound legal consultation and guidance, introducing available legislation, while leaving women full freedom to make their personal and fateful decisions without any guardianship or prior direction. This rights-based approach clearly entrenches the principle of full citizenship and liberates women from traditional dependency—precisely what the parties and actors seeking to revise gains and undermine the foundations of the Personal Status Code fear.

The Horizon of the Battle

Events in Tunisia today affirm that civil society's stake is existential and strategic par excellence. Campaigns aimed at revising the Personal Status Code and undermining the rights and freedoms system will not cease soon unless met and confronted with a solid grassroots field system that protects gains and carries them forward.

Through the diligent efforts of structures such as the Association of Democratic Women and its Listening and Guidance Cells in the regions, Tunisians—men and women—who believe in the civil state are proving that defending women's rights is not an intellectual luxury or a passing debate, but an ongoing daily and desperate battle to protect the dignity of Tunisians and consolidate the foundations of the rule of law, institutions, and genuine equality.