NCA celebrates International Women's Day

National Constituent Assembly (NCA) Speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar said, during a ceremony held Friday in Bardo palace marking the celebration of the International Women's Day, that "Tunisia could never be built without the sacrifice of its women." He said that article 5 of the future constitution "guarantees full equality in right and in duties between the two genders without any form of discrimination." For his part, Caretaker President Moncef Marzouki said that Tunisia should, today, be committed in women's emancipation for defending its socio-economic rights including the right to education, health, decent life and fight against poverty. The ceremony was attended by the NCA deputies, the Finnish Minister of International Co-operation and a number of women ambassadors accredited in Tunis. In an address, Finnish Minister Heidi Hautala underlined that the opportunity opens today in front of the Tunisian women in this stage of democratic transition so as to contribute to the establishment of democracy, consecration of freedom of expression and boosting of its gains. She emphasised the importance of the civil society's role in the success of the democratic transition, reasserting her country's keenness to continue to support Tunisia and strengthen bilateral co-operation in the employment, education and health fields. In turn, Pauline Marie Antoinette Hien-Winkoum, Ambassador of Burkina Faso said that the celebration of the International Women's day is an occasion to focus on the importance of the gains achieved by women, calling the African union to boost men-women equality in the different countries of the continent.