Despite strongly worded anti-violence laws, women report a rise in abuse Rate increasing

Activists and sociologists in Tunisia are alarmed over an uptick in domestic violence incidents in the country despite the strong laws designed to protect women adopted in recent years. Statistics from the National Council for Family and Human Urbanism show that about 47 percent of Tunisian women have experienced violence at least once. Respondents reported that physical violence is the most common type of assault, with 32% saying they had experienced it directly. Nearly thirty percent of the women surveyed said they had also suffered psychological violence at the hands of men- mostly relatives. In 2017 Tunisia’s parliament passed Law 58, distinguished as the first piece of legislation in the Arab world to take a comprehensive approach that combined measures for the prevention of violence and support for survivors. Psychologist Sherifa Tlili told A24 that the rising rate of violence against women results from a lack of funding to enforce Law 58, including the absence of support for women seeking to press violence claims in the court system. Meanwhile, women are reporting the rise of new forms of abuse in online spaces where digital abuse occurs, with victims harassed by blackmailers through photos or videos.