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Marry-your-rapist law
Tunisia boasts a history as a forerunner of women's rights revolutions in the Arab world; however, women have been subject to noteworthy legal oppression. Article 227 of the Tunisia Criminal Code provided a rapist the exemption to avoid all investigations or legal consequences if he married his victim. Laws of this kind have been termed “marry-your-rapist” laws. There has been an increasing trend towards repealing laws providing this impunity, with Tunisia following suit in July 2017.

Background
Laws of this type are historically common and still exist around the globe. Tunisia is a nation that places great cultural importance on the chastity of women. In such cultures, the loss of chastity has significant societal consequences for the woman and her family; regardless of whether this violation has been non-consensual. The duty to be a virgin was found to be considered a “social rule to be maintained” by 90% of Tunisian women aged between 15 and 59 years.

Therefore, the rationale for marry-your-rapist laws is rooted in shielding the victim from the cultural shame of rape. Marriage is a way for the family to escape the “scandal” of what has occurred. Salma Nims, the secretary general of the Jordanian National Commission for Women, explained this state of affairs in saying, “a woman who is the victim of a sexual assault is actually considered responsible for the honour of the family and may have to get married to whoever assaulted her in order to protect that”. Proponents believe the law protects women as, in Tunisia, prospects of marriage decline considerably in the instance of rape. Thus, the law was aimed at providing a victim with the opportunity of a husband despite the cultural taboo of a loss of virginity.

The Tunisian Government acknowledged that the relevant legislation was premised on striking a balance between the rights of the woman and those of the family. It was explained the law was motivated by consideration of the position of the victim and her family, however advantageous this may end up being for the perpetrator. Further, there is the view of a rejection of legal interference into the private affairs agreed to among the rapist, the victim and her family if marriage is settled upon as the solution. Under the law, a victim must still consent to the marriage, with the option available to her to refuse the marriage.

Marry-your-rapist laws certainly raise debate as to the appropriateness of such laws in the cultural context of a country like Tunisia. Opponents of the law in Tunisia criticise the “second assault on a rape survivor’s rights” that the law supports by trapping the victim in a marriage to her rapist. Issue has been raised with the law as it assumes that the best remedy for a victim of rape is marriage, without consideration of her own rights to freedom, dignity and autonomy. Article 227 has also been condemned as providing immunity to rapists by encouraging private settlements between the victim’s family and the rapist rather than reporting of the crime for prosecution. While the victim has the option to refuse the marriage, there may be significant pressure from her family to accept the marriage for provisional reasons, particularly in the case of the rape resulting in pregnancy. Frequently, fault is focused on the victim’s actions to bring about the rape, thus creating a sense of responsibility for the cultural dishonour brought upon the family. Victims are often blamed and shamed into extracting a report of rape in favour of hiding the occurrence to conserve the honour of the victim’s family.

Campaigns
Opposition to article 227 has been voiced through broader advocacy campaigns pressuring governmental action to end violence against women in Tunisia. On December 13th 2016, by authority of article 227, a Tunisian Court ordered a 13-year-old girl was to marry her 20-year-old rapist and the man who had impregnated her. A fellow judge in the case made comment on the judgement, calling article 227 an antiquated law but accepting it must be applied. This decision ignited protests of public outrage in Tunisia calling for the revocation of article 227. The day following the Court’s decision, politicians, legal experts and members of the public were involved in a protest demonstration outside the Tunisian Parliament building. In response to this political demonstration, the Tunisian Justice Minister, Ghazi Al-Jeribi, announced the Prosecutor General would file an objection to the Court’s decision as Tunisia was in the process of developing changes to laws like article 227.

Tunisian human rights organisations protested the decision on the basis that it violated international human rights treaties as well as Tunisian laws protecting the rights of children. Amnesty International raised concern that the law contravenes Tunisia’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide particular protection for children from sexual coercion and violence. The marriage of the 13-year-old victim to her 20-year-old rapist was also condemned for contravening Tunisia’s international obligations to prevent marriage of a child under Article 16(2) of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and Article 23(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Tunisian campaigns for repeal were supported by the collective action of regional feminist organisations such as the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women collaborating efforts with activist NGOs like the International Federation of Human Rights. The Tunisian Ministry for Women, Family and Children called for the order to be nullified as a violation of article 20 of the Child Protection Code aimed at safeguarding interests of a minor.

Similar successful campaigns were seen in Lebanon for the abolition of article 522, the Lebanese equivalent of article 227 of Tunisia’s criminal code. Abaad, a Lebanese women’s rights group, lead these campaigns with Parliamentary demonstrations and a viral hashtag of #Undress522 to advocate for the repeal. Reform following public outcry for repeal has been seen worldwide, with Lebanon and Tunisia joining countries such as Costa Rica, Uruguay, Peru, Romania and France that have repealed marry-your-rapist laws. However, countries such as Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Palestine and Syria currently retain provisions providing perpetrators impunity from rape prosecution.

Legislative Reform
On July 26th, 2017, Tunisia’s Parliament accepted wide-ranging new legislation aimed at the protection of women against all forms of violence. The legislation is comprised of 43 articles in five chapters addressing gender-based violence. This law eliminates the impunity provided for perpetrators by repealing Article 227 of Tunisia’s Penal Code, coming into effect in 2018. In the vein of protestor’s arguments against Article 227, Parliament recognised in this legislative reform that psychological violence constitutes a form of violence against women. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, supported the introduction of the new law, even stating there is “no place in today’s world for such hideous laws”.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has appealed to Tunisian Parliament to amend article 227 since 2010, voicing concern about the impunity provided to perpetrators to allow them to benefit from their own violence. The law was carefully drafted over six months due to the social importance of such a change that has been advocated by activists for decades. Tunisian Parliament is unique as more than 30% of representatives are women, the highest female representation of any Arab country. Upon passage of the legislative reform, parliamentarians broke into cheers and chants of the Tunisian national anthem. The comprehensive law has been heralded as revolutionary, predicted to break significant ground in addressing women’s rights issues in Tunisia. Tunisia’s abolition of article 227 follows the repeal of similar provisions in Jordan and Lebanon.

However, commentators on the new reform have still voiced concerns that the legislation does not go far enough to address violence against women. Issue has been raised for the continuance of the social practice of marrying a victim to her rapist despite the legal abolition of a perpetrator’s impunity. Due to the cultural stigma attached to rape in Tunisia, families may still view an arrangement of marriage as the favoured, more private solution. Experts consider legal abolition of marry-your-rapist laws only the first step in truly eradicating the occurrence of this practice. It has been said that raising social awareness of equality at the community level is required in conjunction with legal reform. Amnesty International voiced concern that Tunisian institutions still lacked adequate services to provide protection for child victims with the continued social practice of marrying the victim to her rapist. As a child is legally considered an adult once married, there is no ability for a child protection delegate to intercede to advocate for the child’s continued medical or psychological care. However, as there is also stigma attached to psychological treatment, families of the victim will rarely make this provision for the child of their own accord. Therefore, some commentators on the abolition of marry-your-rapist laws in Tunisia consider there needs to be a conjunctive improvement to protective services for child victims of sexual violence in addition to the repeal of article 227.