Amal Al Hilali - Tunisia

Feminist organizations in Tunisia sounded sirens due to the high rates of marital violence against women in homes, in parallel with the authorities imposing a public health quarantine as a preventive measure to curb the spread of the Corona epidemic in the country.

Governmental concern
The Minister of Women and Family Asma al-Suhairi expressed, in local media statements, her concern, because of the five-fold increase in violence against women compared to the same period last year, in light of the Ministry receiving complaints from abused women and their children.

The Minister stated, "Coordination has been made with the Ministry of Justice in order to activate Chapter 26 of Law 58 of 2017 regarding the elimination of violence against women, which enables the Public Prosecution to compel the aggressor to vacate the home for the benefit of women who are victims of violence and their children."

She pointed to coordination in parallel at the same time with the Ministry of the Interior to secure the work of the units specialized in the investigation of crimes against violence on a continuous basis during the period of public quarantine.

The head of the Ministry of Anti-Violence against Women at the Ministry, Tigris Al-Qatiri, affirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that the ministry has allocated eight shelters for women victims of marital violence with their children, as well as its intention to open additional centers, with the aim of accommodating the largest number of women with fragile social situations.

Free to report violence
She pointed out that the Ministry, in coordination with the centers of the Ministry of Health, has allocated temporary sanitary isolation places for foreign women for a period of 14 days, to ensure that they are free of infection with the Coronavirus, and then permanently place them in shelters.

She noted that the number of calls received on the free green line (1895) designated to receive complaints of women victims of violence in particular, and psychological and legal counseling in general, reached 133 calls during the second half of last March, to double five times compared to the same period last year.

Solidarity campaign
Parallel to the efforts of the Ministry of Women in the physical and psychological briefing of victims of spousal violence during the quarantine period, the Tunisian Women in Search for Development Association launched a solidarity and awareness campaign under the slogan "Only for You" ("You are not alone") addressed to women.

The women's activist in the society, Afaf Toumi, warned that women are running the weakest and most physically and physically affected segment of the quarantine measures imposed by the authorities to prevent the spread of the Corona epidemic.

In her speech to Al-Jazeera Net, she stressed that the solidarity campaign aims to expose all physical violations against women, which witnessed a frightening upward trend during the quarantine period, in parallel with the high percentage of marital disputes.

She stressed that the listening cell, which was created by the association in partnership with the Ministry of Women, has witnessed a steady increase in the number of complaints and reports of cases of violence against women, with the period from 23 to 27 March last witnessing 39 cases of reporting violence compared to 7 cases in the same period From the year 2019.

Psychological care
In parallel with the continuation of the quarantine in the country, the president of the National Union of Tunisian Women, Radia Jribi, made an appeal to doctors, psychologists and lawmen to join voluntarily to reduce the level of tension and provide legal advice to citizens free of charge.

Al-Juraibi confirmed in a statement to the government news agency, that the women’s organization received 20 calls last week to women victims of violence due to pressure and tension in Tunisian families, while the period of domestic quarantine continues.

A satirical campaign launched by activists through the social media pages entitled "Hit your woman, the court is closed", which met with widespread condemnation by feminist activists, who in turn launched a broad solidarity campaign with women victims of marital violence during the period of domestic quarantine.