President of the National Union of Tunisian Women, Radia al-Garby, praised the contents of the draft law on the elimination of violence against women, adding that these measures will reduce the phenomenon and to achieve gender equality.

"The law included many positive points such as the expansion of the punishment of the crime of assault on a minor and the criminalization of incest in addition to other mechanisms cited by the the draft law," she added.

Al-Garby pointed out, in an exclusive interview with Arabs Today, to the need to avoid some shortcomings such as lack of articles support the efforts of civil society in combating violence against women, noting that the Women's Union received 47 abused women sent by the Ministry of Women.

 

She said that they received shocking statistics indicating that three women are raped every day in Tunisia, according to recent statistics, as cases of violence inflicted on women, after the revolution, rose by 60%, and there are 60 women out of every hundred cases in a mental hospital who suffer from stress.

Al-Garby stated that the reasons for these cases are returning to the high cost of living, social pressures, unemployment and high consumption of alcohol and drugs.

Concerning Women's Union activities, Al-Garby said that the workers in the union help the elderly, spread of science in marginalized and remote areas, in addition to a large awareness campaigns for birth control, literacy and the dissemination of culture in general, and the establishment of battered women center.

She explained that the status of Tunisian women in need of tender and many sacrifices in order to be a model especially for Arab women,  believing that women have made gains of several terms of the rights and freedoms and laws, but they still suffer from economic, social and legislative violence.