Realizations

Objectives:

OVERVIEW

The Change: A historic turning point: The constitutional accession of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to the highest executive office, on November 7, 1987, ushered the country into a new era, often referred to as the Change.

Democratic reform: Since the first days of the Change, President Ben Ali initiated several major reforms anchoring democracy and enlarging political participation. Reforms did away with "presidency-for-life" and made it easier for Political candidates to compete for the presidency. Electoral reforms also made it possible for the opposition to enter Parliament for the first time, in 1994, and then to garner 20% of the seats during the 1999 and 2004 elections. The same percentage of seats was set aside as a minimum for the minority candidates in municipal councils after the local elections, of 2000.and 2005.
In November 2001, President Ben Ali announced further democratic reforms: constitutional sanction of human rights; creation of a second legislative body to reinforce legislative power, giving the Constitutional council more powers to ascertain the regularity of presidential and legislative elections. All provisions were part of a constitutional reform adopted by popular referendum in May 2002. Tunisia's second legislative chamber, the chambers of advisors, was inaugurated in August 2005.

Promoting human rights: Numerous measures have been taken to promote human rights and translate them into facts. Institutions were created and legal mechanisms introduced so that every member of society can enjoy all his rights, be they political, civic, economic, social or cultural. Since 1987, and within this comprehensive approach, political and civic participation has been widened, pre-trial and preventive custody were regulated, the State Security Court abolished, a general amnesty decreed, a Constitutional Council was established and its rulings rendered binding, a code for the rights of the child was adopted, gender equality was further promoted, and the rights of all to decent living transformed into reality. Freedom of thought and expression is protected by law and the Press Code of the Press is expected to be amended a third time, soon, to further promote freedom of the press. The values of human rights, pluralism and tolerance are taught at all levels by educational and training institutions.
Measures announced in the year 2000 included the decision to transfer authority over incarceration and correction institutions to the Ministry of introduction of liberal amendments into the Press Code. The transfer took place since then. The Chamber of Deputies has also adopted a bill guaranteeing the rights of prison inmates. In May 2001, it adopted another bill amending the press code. In July 2005, the administrative requirement of filing copies for published press material was abolished. The bill scrapped prison terms as possible sentences and did away with the charge of "defaming public order".

Sustained economic growth: Freeing private initiative and revitalizing market mechanisms have been part of far reaching structural reform which opened the Tunisian economy to the outside world, diversified productive sectors, and made the economy overall more efficient and more resistant to external shocks.
Since 1987, the GDP growth rate has averaged about 4.5% a year (with a significant acceleration over the past four years) as compared to only 2.4% during the 1982-86 period. The stabilization of the macroeconomic framework and improvement of the overall balances is reflected in the curbing of the inflation rate from more than 8% in 1987 to 2.8% in the year 2003, as well as in the reduction of the balance of payments and the state budget deficits which in turn led to a substantial improvement in the debt parameters.
Integrating the world economy: In 1995, Tunisia became the first country south of the Mediterranean to sign an association and free-trade agreement with the European Union. Tunisia has also entered into free trade agreements with several Maghrebi and Arab countries, and diversified its cooperation and partnership relations all over the world.
The benefits offered by Tunisia to foreign firms led to an increase of more than 100% in foreign investments during the 1987-2004 decade in comparison with the preceding decade. Those results were the fruits of a new situation characterized by a climate of political and social stability; greater competitiveness and efficiency of the economy; an overall effort to enhance the efficiency of business and industry; adoption of new vocational training methods better adapted to the country's needs; modernization of the transport and communication infrastructure; and diversification of economic activity.

Sharing the fruits of growth: Various indicators show a substantial improvement of the living standards of all Tunisians . Thus, life expectancy increased from 67 in 1984 to an average of 73 years in 2004. The annual rate of population growth dropped from 1.7% in 1994 to 1.1% in 2004. The per capita income increased from 952 dinars (in 1986 ) to reach 3,580 dinars ( in 2004).
Approximately three-quarters of the population are considered middle class and about 80% of Tunisian families own their own homes. The poverty rate has dropped to about 4%. A special fund, the National Solidarity Fund, was created in 1993 by President ben Ali to channel donations and extra-budget allocations into programs benefitting needy areas and individuals. Building on the exceptional success of this fund in fighting poverty, a new fund –the National Employment Fund– was launched in January 2000 for the purpose of creating job opportunities. Created in 1998, the Tunisian Solidarity Bank has offered thousands of micro-credit loans to young graduates and small businesses.

Investing in human resources: President Ben Ali has made the promotion of human resources a pivotal concern in Tunisia's development strategy by giving priority to education, training and improvement of the citizens' living conditions.
In order to promote socio-economic progress through the dissemination of learning, a number of measures have been undertaken including a comprehensive reform of the educational system, the upgrading of the system of vocational training, and the implementation of a myriad of projects aimed at raising the level of competence and adapting qualifications to the needs of higher economic performance.
In addition to free public education at all levels of learning, the educational reform provides for compulsory schooling until the age of 16. The percentage of school-age children of both sexes in full-time education is in excess of 99%. The new curricula prepare pupils and students for meeting the challenges of modern life and aim to instill in them with the values of openness, tolerance and civic responsibility.
A focus is put on foreign language acquisition and computer technologies. A large-scale effort is underway to quickly connect all businesses as well as all education and research establishments to the Internet.

Women: equality and participation: Since 1987, various steps have been taken to consecrate the new status of women as real partners with men. Women today enjoy their full rights and assume a major role in the development process and in all walks of life. This success is also reflected in women's accession to the various sectors of work, production and investment. Politics is no exception, as there are today 7 women in the Cabinet. Women also constitue 22.7 % of the members of the Chamber of Deputies and 15% of the members of the Chamber of Advisors.

Diplomacy: President Ben Ali's foreign policy includes among its priorities working for regional integration in the Maghreb, inter-Arab consensus-building and co-operation, and Euro-Mediterranean co-development. Under Ben Ali's leadership, Tunisia has actively contributed to the search for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, offering an unwavering and concrete support to the Middle East peace process. Ben Ali's chairmanship of the Organization of African Unity in 1994 demonstrated a strong commitment to seeking negotiated solutions to the conflicts shaking the continent and to preventing armed confrontations in Africa.
During his visits abroad, his meetings with the Heads of state and Kings and his discussions with world leaders, President Ben Ali invariably pleads the cause of a more just, more united, more stable and more prosperous world. In his view, globalization should be a source of universal progress and mutual development, not a factor of imbalance or domination. In 1999, he announced an initiative for the creation of a World Solidarity Fund to fight more efficiently poverty and marginalization all over the world. ." Read more...
The UN General Assembly voted in December 2002 to adopt a resolution calling for the creation of the Fund.

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