Conservative NGO slams Tunisia ‘gender equality’ report

By Yusra Ouanes

TUNIS (AA) - A conservative NGO is urging Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi to withdraw a report recently issued by a presidential commission that calls for tolerating homosexuality.

At a Thursday press conference in capital Tunis, the National Committee for the Defense of the Quran and the Constitution denounced recommendations made in the report.

According to the NGO, some of those recommendations -- particularly those pertaining to sexual behavior -- are “incompatible” with Islamic teachings and values and would, if implemented, threaten Tunisian society.

Noureddine al-Khadimi, an NGO member and former religious affairs minister, said that Muslim scholars had been barred from contributing to the report.

“While the report has several positive aspects, it must be revised in terms of what it says regarding the family’s role in society,” al-Khadimi said.

He went on to point out that, according to Tunisia’s constitution, Islam is the country’s official religion.

The report was prepared by Tunisia’s Committee on Individual Liberties and Gender Equality, which was appointed by President Essebsi last summer.