Tunisia’s final draft constitution includes no mention of ‘shari’a law’, but limitations on religious freedoms and other key rights have prompted calls from human rights groups for amendments.
The document was made public on June 1 but work is ongoing to build a consensus around the main contested issues before the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) votes on the draft.
One of the main points of dispute has been the role of Islam. A representative of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party said that they do not want to mention shari’a, that they have preserved the first article of the former constitution which states that Tunisia is a republic, its origin is Islam and its language is Arabic. He also said that they have tried to reconcile references to Islam and to universal human rights.
