Politicians in Tunisia who believe that modern liberal values can coexist with Muslim traditions are fighting hard to persuade their countrymen.

… human rights and tolerance are not just European values- Simon Busuttil

The Tunisian uprising was an extraordinary event in many senses. Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor who immolated himself in Sidi Bouzid, on December 17, 2010, sparked off the uprising and immortalised his name by his self-sacrifice. The country’s dictator, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, soon fled the country and there was a new beginning.

From Tunisia, the uprisings spilled over the borders into neighbouring countries and soon engulfed the rest of the Arab world.

Tunisia has always been considered as one of the more advanced Arab countries.

Lacking the petroleum reserves of its neighbours Libya and Algeria, its economic development already had to rely on the endeavours of its citizens. And it did fairly well by developing a strong manufacturing sector, agriculture and agro-food industry as well as tourism.

When democracy arrived, no fewer than 106 political parties were legalised – another testimony to the level of sophistication of the Tunisian society. Of these, some 19 parties and eight independents succeeded in securing seats in the October 2011 election to the Constituent Assembly.

Forty nine women out of a total of 217 members were elected. This amounts to 22.6 per cent which is much higher than our own meagre 10 per cent in Malta.

The biggest party to emerge from the election was the moderately Islamic Ennahda Movement.

Hamadi Jebaliof from Ennahda became Prime Minister while Moncef Marzouki was elected interim President last December.

Mr Marzouki belongs to Ettakatol the smaller partner in the biggest coalition led by Ennahda. He is a well-known human rights activist and in him, Tunisia has a leader who stands on the side of change by peaceful means. He now has the opportunity to implement his ideals.

Last Friday, his spokesman Adnane Moncer said in Carthage that Tunisia must avoid the controversy over women’s gains and rights. Such rights do not belong to women alone but to the whole of society and they are not to be retracted.

That struck a chord with me because I too believe that “women’s rights” are not “women’s” as such, but that they are rights that belong to all human beings, regardless of sex. Frequent use of the phrase “women’s rights” may give the false impression that “women’s rights” exist separately. But in fact we are talking about the same rights that men already have.

Mr Moncer said that Tunisia had reached a kind of consensus that women have a right to equality with men stressing that this consensus needs to be preserved. He said that Constitutional values should not be based on religious interpretations which are often rigid and uncompromising. Instead people should seek to preserve values on which society has achieved a consensus.

That is as good.

But then earlier this month, the Commission for Rights and Liberties of the Constituent Assembly voted by 12 to eight to insert an article in the new Constitution that would put women “under the principle of complimentarity at the heart of the family and as man’s associate in the development of the country”. The Constituent Assembly’s plenary will vote on this controversial article later this month.

Nine of those who voted in favour of this controversial article come from the governing Ennahda.

The new Constitution is expected to be completed by February. But in the meantime it is clear there is a lot to be done to promote greater tolerance in this and other areas.

For instance, Salafists are still actively obstructing cultural events.

Last week in Bizerte, they caused the cancellation of the Al-Aqsa festival in which several foreign performers were invited to take part. Fist fights broke out and several people were hospitalised.

All this shows that it is not going to be easy to pass a Constitution which will be modern and progressive in all aspects. And time and patience are needed to counter a conservative backlash.

But perhaps in the end, a Constitution will emerge which will be worthy of a truly democratic state.

Tunisia’s example has one message which resonates in all the Arab countries. This is that although enormous progress has been achieved since the Arab Spring began, reform is still shaky and the battle for human rights is going to remain of crucial importance in the years to come.

This is a crucial point on which the EU should condition its support to Tunisia and to other Arab countries.

True, it cannot tell them what to do and it should not be patronising. It is up to them to decide. But it should certainly condition its support, especially financial support paid from our taxes, on what they should do.

And after all, ultimately, human rights and tolerance are not just European values.

They are universal.

simon.busuttil@europarl.europa.eu

Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.