A/HRC/40/58/Add.1 7. Tunisia is a party to fourteen UN human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the first optional protocol to the ICCPR, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention Against Torture (CAT), and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). In 2014, the Government withdrew all the reservations previously made upon its ratification of the CEDAW in 1985. 8. In 2016, the Government submitted reports to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, the Committee against Torture, and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and updated its common core document. The Human Rights Committee last reviewed the situation of civil and political rights in the country in 2008. In May 2018, the Committee adopted the list of issues to be considered ahead of the Government’s scheduled submission of Tunisia’s sixth periodic report. The list does not specifically ask for information on the situation of freedom of religion or belief. 9. Moreover, Tunisia has participated in three cycles of the Universal Periodic Review; in 2008, 2012 (the Government submitted a mid-term progress report in 2014) and in 2017. The Government received 248 recommendations at the outcome of its third review, of which it accepted 189 recommendations. The latter also included the recommendation to establish an interreligious council to facilitate interreligious dialogue and harmony (A/HRC/36/5, para. 126.11 and A/HRC/36/5/Add.1, para. 11). 10. The Special Rapporteur notes that steps taken by the Government to establish institutions for engaging with international human rights enforcement and accountability mechanisms, expanding civic space in the country and a flourishing civil society contributes to this deepening cooperation. This includes the creation of a National Commission for the Coordination, Elaboration and Preparation of the Reports and Follow-up of Recommendations in the field of Human Rights composed of representatives of all Government ministries and chaired by the Minister for Human Rights, which was established in October 2015. III. Political and Economic Context 11. It is estimated that ninety-nine percent of the population of some 11 million persons in Tunisia are Sunni Muslim. Christians (including Roman Catholics, Protestants, Russian Orthodox, French Reformists, Anglicans, Seventh-day Adventists, Greek Orthodox, and Jehovah’s Witnesses), Jews, Ibadis, Shia Muslims, Sufis, Bahais, and nonbelievers constitute less than 1 percent of the population. The Jewish community represents the oldest minority religious community in the country; dating back to over two-and-a-half millennia, with the island of Djerba hosting one of the oldest synagogues in the world –– the El Ghriba, which is also a major site of pilgrimage. According to Jewish oral tradition, those living in Djerba may have arrived there as early as 586 BC, after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. 12. The Tunisian commitment to secular-driven governance has deep roots. This can be observed in such laws as the Ahd al-Aman (Pledge of Security) issued by the ruler Mohammad Bey on 10 September 1857, which was adopted primarily to protect the rights of religious minorities (especially Jewish and Christian), and established the inviolability of persons and property and prohibited religion based discrimination.1 The Pledge of Security guarantees in its first article complete security is “to all subjects … regardless of their religious affiliation, nationality and race.” Upon independence in 1956, Tunisia reaffirmed its commitment to a secular tradition of governance, beginning with the abolition of religious 1 The Pledge of Security clearly proclaimed: in its Article 3: « Muslims and other inhabitants of the country will be equal before the law, because this right belongs naturally to humans just because they are humans and not according to any other criterion. »Article 4 states that Jewish citizens «are not coerced into changing their religion and are not impeded from exercising their religion; their synagogues are respected and shielded from any attacks » 3