Tunisia

This chapter investigates the influence of the board composition and leadership on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure. The empirical study of 68 Tunisian listed companies and 100 Egyptian listed companies reveals that board independence, foreign directorship, female directorship and state directorship, influence positively CSR disclosure. However, these findings indicate that CEO duality has a negative impact on CSR disclosure. Overall, the findings are consistent with the agency theory as well as the stakeholders theory and suggest that CSR disclosure seems to result from the willingness to meet shareholders' expectations in terms of transparency and voluntary disclosure of non-financial information.

This chapter interrogates how activist social media communication in authoritarian contexts is shaped through the mutual articulation of social media user practices, business models, and technological architectures, as well as through the controlling efforts of states. It specifically focuses on social media protest activity and contention in China, Tunisia, and Iran, authoritarian states which have made a large effort to control online activity. The analysis shows that instead of blocking or repressing social media activism, authoritarian states rather shape online contention. Online censorship and offline repression push users to adapt their communication by creatively misspelling words, using synonyms, symbolic language and parody, and through self-censorship. Simultaneously by using commercial platforms activists effectively lose control over their data, and over the spaces through which they communicate. This is particularly problematic in authoritarian settings, in which activist communication depends on specific technological arrangements and on the ability to keep sensitive data out of the hands of the authorities. Finally, while activist social media communication is shaped by Internet censorship and encapsulated by commercial social platforms, activists are constantly exploring new ways to evade censorship, but also to regain control over their collective data. They do so through technical means, especially filtering circumvention tools, but also by posting and translating information across different social media services, and by setting up their own platforms to curate their data.

This paper compares solid waste management in Lebanon, Jordan, and Tunisia; countries that are at different stages in terms of waste management but they share similarities pertaining to waste practices, sources and types of waste, demographics, waste infrastructure, and governing systems. By applying a cross-country comparison, similarities are identified and differences pertaining to the governance of the sector highlighted. The effort would help establish an exchange platform for policy-related issues and lessons learnt.

FRIDE is an independent think-tank based in Madrid, focused on issues related to democracy and human rights; peace and security; and humanitarian action and development. FRIDE attempts to influence policy-making and inform public opinion, through its research in these areas.

Anecdotal evidence on hidden inequity in health care in North African countries abounds. Yet firm empirical evidence has been harder to come by. This article fills the gap. It presents the first analysis of equity in the healthcare system using the particular case of Tunisia. Analyses are based on an unusually rich source of data taken from the Tunisian HealthCare Utilization and Morbidity Survey. Payments for health care are derived from the total amount of healthcare spending which was incurred by households over the last year. Utilization of health care is measured by the number of physical units of two types of services: outpatient and inpatient. The measurement of need for health care is apprehended through a rich set of ill-health indicators and demographics. Findings are presented and compared at both the aggregate level, using the general summary index approach, and the disaggregate level, using the distribution-free stochastic dominance approach. The overall picture is that direct out-of-pocket payments, which constitute a sizeable share in the current financing mix, emerge to be a progressive means of financing health care overall. Interestingly, however, when statistical testing is applied at the disaggregate level progressivity is retained over the top half of the distribution. Further analyses of the distributions of need for-and utilization of-two types of health care-outpatient and inpatient-reveal that the observed progressivity is rather an outcome of the heavy use, but not need, for health care at the higher income levels. Several policy relevant factors are discussed, and some recommendations are advanced for future reforms of the health care in Tunisia.

Hepatocellular carcinoma represents the fifth most common cancer worldwide and account for approximately 90% of primary liver cancer. Men have a higher prevalence than women; the sex ratio varies between 2:1 and 4:1, depending on the geographic region. To determine the influence of gender on the clinicopathologic characteristics and survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. A retrospective analysis of medical records was performed in 63 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and their clinicopathologic features and survival were compared in relation to gender. The data was summarized by descriptive statistics and analysed with SPSS version 11.5. Among these patients, 36 were men (57.1%) with male-to female ratio of 2:1.5, the mean female age was 59.8 years (p=0.054). Serum albumin level was significantly lower in women (p=0.0061).The average size of the tumor was 45.8mm and the difference was not significant (p=0.638). Hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly more preval...

The national trade union as an institution was created as a result the industrial revolution and has depended on the simultaneous proliferation of the industrial sector in each country. As labor was forced into modernity via the leveraging of wages, so too was the work force galvanized to stave off the most harmful working conditions by means of the formation of trade and labor unions. Many countries have significant proportions of their working populations involved in a trade union. However, the efficacy and impact of these unions as effective avenues to pursue labor rights remains contentious.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the commonest sustained cardiac arrhythmia, which confers a high risk of mortality and morbidity from stroke and thromboembolism. Altered platelet activation and platelet-dependent thromboembolism have been associated with the pathogenesis of cardiovascular or thromboembolic disorders, which include atherosclerosis, coronary disease and cerebrovascular disease. Platelet adhesion and activation are mediated by human platelet alloantigens (HPAs), a complex of platelet membrane glycoproteins (Gp) and other cellbound Factors. By altering platelet receptor sensitivity, polymorphisms in platelet Gp directly impact platelet susceptibility to activating stimuli, which is linked with an increased risk of atherothrombotic events, including acute myocardial infarction. We wanted to investigate HPA-1 polymorphism in patients with AF who have had a stroke than in healthy controls. Methods: The HPA-1 polymorphism was analysed in 70 patients with nonvalvuler AF who have had a stroke and 65 healthy individuals with no documented episode of AF matched for age, race and sex. Because ethnic differences have been reported for HPA-1. The HPA-1 gene polymorphism was identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Distribution of the HPA-1 gene polymorphism alles (allel 1a, allel 1b) genotypes (1a1a, 1a1b and 1b1b) were determined in study population. Demographic characteristics and risk factors for AF and stroke were evaluated in the study groups. Results: There was no significant difference with respect to age and gender between groups. Genotype and allel distribution of AF patients who have had a stroke and control groups shown in the table. The frequency of 1a1a genotype of HPA-1 polymorphism was significantly lower in patients with AF patients who have had a stroke group compared with control group (49 (70%) vs 57 (87.7%), p¼0.012). The frequency of 1a1b genotype heterozygous genotype was significantly higher in AF patients who have had a stroke group than control (18 (25.7%) vs 6 (9.2%), p¼0.012). Between the two groups were compared according to the dominant genetic model (1a1b + 1b1b vs. 1a1a), The number of patients carrying at least one 1b mutant allele (1a1b + 1b1b) was significantly higher in AF patients who have had a stroke group than control (21 (30%) vs 7 (10.8%), p¼0.006). With respect to allelic distribution (1a vs 1b, additive model), the frequency of the 1b allele was significantly higher in AF patients who have had a stroke (24 (17.1%) vs 8 (6.1%), p¼0.009). Conclusıons: In this study, our data suggest that the HPA-1 gene polymorphisms may be associated with AF patients who have had a stroke from other clinical risk factors, but this should be confirmed in a much larger series of patients. Screening for this mutation may help in identifying patients at risk and in deciding the antithrombotic strategy.

Thirty-six children (27 boys, nine girls) that fulfilled CDC criteria for community-acquired infections were diagnosed with bacteraemia and/or osteomyelitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus during an 18-month period (2006)(2007)(2008). Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by an agar dilution method. SCCmec type, carriage of pvl genes, agr type and spa-typing were determined using specific PCR protocols.

Disponible sur Internet le 30 octobre 2009 MOTS CLÉS Échinococcose ; Paroi thoracique ; Parties molles ; Os Résumé L'échinococcose (EC) de la paroi thoracique demeure rare même en pays d'endémie représentant 0,09 à 0,3 % des cas d'EC thoracique. Nous rapportons l'observation d'un patient âgé de 76 ans, opéré quatre ans auparavant pour carcinome colique et qui présente une masse de la paroi thoracique. À l'échographie, la masse présentait une échostructure mixte. Le diagnostic de métastase pariétale de la néoplasie colique a été suspecté. L'étude anatomopathologique de la masse a mis en évidence des membranes hydatiques. Le scanner thoracique était fortement évocateur d'un kyste hydatique costovertéral et des parties molles. Le traitement a consisté en une résection de deux arcs costaux et d'une apophyse transverse ainsi que des parties molles avoisinantes. L'albendazole a été prescrite en pré-et en postopératoire avec un recul d'un an sans manifestation clinique.

In Tunisia, the critical concept that allows assessment of relations between the government and human rights organizations and opposition groups active in their midst is the element of compromise. Some opposition members of human rights organisations actively seek areas of conflict with the government. The contradiction between the search for a compromise at any cost and the affirmation of an opposing position explains how it is that the only legalized human rights association constitutes the locus of confrontation between political actors, and how the national authority seeks to transform the organisation into a proxy for its own rhetoric on human rights.

The association between human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and development of bladder cancer is variable. Furthermore, the prevalence of HPV DNA in bladder carcinoma subtypes varies from study to study. To clarify the impact of HPV infection on the development of bladder carcinoma, we performed a retrospective study on Tunisian patients to determine the status of HPV infection in urothelial carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma.

The case study describes how the team members of a Tunisian Environmental Scanning Agriculture Observatory dealt with new ways of communicating introduced by technology. An inter-organizational computer supported collaborative work (CSCW) platform was implemented within the agriculture observatory to ameliorate the communication of information and knowledge between the stakeholders. Our study aims to determine what contextual conditions could impede the adoption of the new ways of communicating and sharing knowledge. A diagnostic tool was designed and used to assess the impact of culture, structure and top management attitude, as contextual conditions, on the achievement of the collaborative environmental scanning and knowledge exchange activity. To understand the dynamic between these variables and their interplay during the implementation phases of the CSCW, we conducted a longitudinal study. The results could assist managers at the organizational level; indeed they will be able to avoid failures and to better support the process of organizational change.

Whilst often mentioned and sometimes hammered out, the “economic origins” of the revolution have mostly been ignored. Why is that so? The article attempts to explain this surprising oversight. The emphasis on what was at stake with “the democratic ground rules” has perniciously diverted attention away from the daily economic struggles and their (lack of) regulations as well as the political contradictions they entail. yet, with the end of the “single window approach” of the Democratic Constitutional Rally (Ben Ali’s all-pervasive party), the question of welfare protection and the various shocks it has received remains acute.

Scholars have recently become attentive not only to the institutional designs that constitutions set up, but also to the constitutional change processes. Most authors, who are concerned with the effects the design of constitution-making processes have on outcomes, have focused on the main constitution-making bodies and their characteristics, leaving aside the question of what happens before members of constituent assemblies meet to deliberate. This article makes the point that to better understand constitution-making and its outcomes, we need to take into account the overlooked early stage of constitutional change when political actors debate and set the rules for how a constitution will be made. Building on various political science perspectives and the case study of the 2011–2012 constitutional reform in Egypt, it underscores the inevitably contentious nature of the design of a constitution-making process. It also highlights the impact that unresolved conflicts over the design can have for the agreement on a constitution between political opponents in the context of a democratic transition. In Egypt, adoption of a broadly accepted constitution was hindered by on-going struggles between Islamists and non-Islamists over their preferred constitution-making designs. The article also outlines the factors that make the settlement on constitution-making rules unlikely.

As a collegial institution, the parliament is becoming more and more important in the countries where the democratic processes are taking place, as it is the most favorite political space where the different components of the society can synergize to generate a smooth and effective democratic change. Since the bicameral or the unicameral organization of the parliament can have significant sociopolitical implications, it is important to understand the motivations underlying the choice between the two types of organization.The present research attempts to evaluate the reasons underlying the institution, the reinstatement or the abolition of the second parliamentary chambers in some Northern African countries, namely: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. This evaluation will be conducted within the frame of the comparative approach and with a particular reference to the French tradition as a source of inspiration for the studied countries.

Luxury consumption and the desire for luxury are well-accepted phenomena. Myriad studies have
documented the pervasiveness of the luxury market in the West and the high growth and strong
potential of Asian luxury markets. It is also evident that as resources have grown in a region, luxury
consumption and the desire for luxury products have followed. Nevertheless, the need for more farreaching
studies that explore emerging markets are important to understand the differences in how
luxury may penetrate these markets, given variations in resources and culture. This paper
investigates a number of factors that may contribute to the emergence of new luxury markets.
Specifically, the authors focus on the psychology of luxury consumption in the post-revolution
Tunisian market. In particular, this research attempts to understand the psychology behind the
consumption of luxury items in Tunisia and provide managerial insights into strategies for entry
into such emerging markets. The empirical data was collected using online surveys of participants
from French-speaking Tunisia. Overall, this analysis of the Tunisian market for branded products
and services informs international luxury managers in developing their strategies to penetrate
emerging markets. Besides the managerial insights that the results provide, the hypotheses tested
in this paper relating luxury consumption to the variables of age, income, and education within the
framework of national culture are important contributions from the theoretical standpoint.

Le tasfih (littéralement « fermage », « scellement ») est un rituel profane de protec-tion de la virginité féminine auquel se soumettent par deux fois certaines jeunes filles tunisiennes, obtenant ainsi le statut de msafha: avant leur entrée dans la puberté (séquencefermeture) ; et avant leur entrée dans la conjugalité (séquence ouverture). Pratiquées en mi-lieu urbain et rural, des variantes du rituel coexistent. C’est dans un contexte familial et féminin qu’une opératrice (mère, tante, grand-mère, matrone, voisine, etc.) effectue une légèreincision sur le genou, recueillant le sang avec sept fruits secs. À chaque ingestion, l’enfant doit alors prononcer une formule d’engagement impliquant l’impuissance sexuelle de tous lesprétendants avant son mariage : « je suis un mur, et le fils d’autrui un fil ». La veille des noces, la jeune femme offre sa virginité en inversant la formule.

On s’est beaucoup interrogé sur le pourquoi du « Printemps arabe » mais aucun ouvrage n’avait encore étudié comment il s’était déroulé. Parce que la plupart des chercheurs ici réunis ont observé les événements en direct, ce livre offre une véritable ethnographie des protestations « en train de se faire ».

Les contributions portent sur les pays qui ont connu un changement de régime (Tunisie, Égypte, Yémen, Libye) mais également sur ceux où la répression a permis aux pouvoirs en place de se maintenir au moins temporairement (Syrie, Bahreïn) et sur ceux où les protestations n’ont pas débouché sur une situation révolutionnaire (Maroc, Algérie, Jordanie). L’approche adoptée par les auteurs permet de rendre pleinement compte de la spécificité de chacun des contextes étudiés, montrant comment l’élan révolutionnaire, qui balaie alors le monde arabe, connaît des traductions locales très diverses. L’étude de ces révolutions montre aussi qu’elles ne sont pas une simple éruption spontanée qui viendrait réveiller une société jusque-là apathique mais qu’elles s’enracinent dans l’histoire des contestations de chacun des pays concernés.

Les « témoignages analytiques » proposés ici constituent une source très précieuse pour ceux qui s’efforcent de mieux comprendre le plus grand bouleversement politique survenu dans le monde arabe depuis l’ère des indépendances.

Unemployed protests are the most important form
of socioeconomic contention in Tunisia. Calls
for employment and condemnations of corrupt
recruitment procedures have fueled large-scale
protests since the mid 2000s. Despite massive discontent, unemployed
mobilization has thus far lacked political leverage.
In this working paper, we assess if the dynamics
of mobilization in Tunisia can explain unemployed
protests’ lack of political leverage. Our study reveals
that the majority of unemployed mobilization can
be characterized as unorganized and spontaneous.
Protest actors raised limited claims, mostly demanding
their own employment, and making use of disruptive
protests, such as street and railway blockages. The
nation-wide scene of unemployed mobilization, on the
other hand, is captured by the 2006-formed Union des
diplômés chômeurs (Union of Unemployed Graduates,
UDC). In this working paper we compare these
two forms of activism by the unemployed: those of the
UDC and the unorganized unemployed protests, using
the Gafsa mining basin as our case study.
We have identified two divergent trajectories since
2011. The UDC has expanded its membership, offices,
and contentious actions, and increased its levels of
organization and professionalism. By contrast, the
Gafsa mining basin protesters fragmented, despite an
increase in discrete protest events. We try to explain
these dynamics by explicating the social meaning
of the activists’ grievances. We then compare their
mobilization networks before looking at how diverse
activists have perceived political opportunities
and threats since 2011. Finally, we will try to draw
conclusions on the different forms of unemployed
activism and their interplay with political change in
Tunisia.

Pb-Zn barite, celestite, florite, celestobarite, fluorite Ore Deposits in Tunisia (North Africa) , Jurassic, Cretcaceous, Triassic Salt diapris
Jebel El Kohol, Jebel Stah, Jebel Mecella, Hammam Zriba, Jebel Guebli, Fedj el Adoum, Fej Lahdoum, Bou Jaber, Fluid inclusion stable isotopes (sulphur, carbon, oxygen) Metallogeneis

Anna Antonakis’ analysis of the Tunisian transformation process (2011-2014) displays how negotiations of gender initiating new political orders do not only happen in legal and political institutions but also in media representations and on a daily basis in the family and public space. While conventionalized as a “model for the region”, this book outlines how the Tunisian transformation missed to address social inequalities and local marginalization as much as substantial challenges of a secular but conservative gender order inscribed in a Western hegemonic concept of modernity. She introduces the concept of “dissembled secularism” to explain major conflict lines in the public sphere and the exploitation of gender politics in a context of post-colonial dependencies.

En dépit de sa perméabilité aux influences extérieures, le pouvoir en Tunisie n’est jamais resté passif face aux pressions ou injonctions (aussi fortes soient-elles) émanant de ses « partenaires » étrangers. La notion de réajustement est utile à l’analyse car elle comporte deux dimensions interdépendantes que l’on retrouve dans la littérature des relations internationales sur la notion d’agence. La première a trait à la capacité de l’État récepteur de politiques publiques à réadapter localement l’effet et la portée de celles-ci. La deuxième concerne la volonté affichée des États et des institutions internationales émetteurs de politiques publiques de démontrer qu’un transfert a bien eu lieu en direction de l’État récepteur au moyen de conditionnalités et d’incitations financières, ou encore par apprentissage ou simple émulation, même si chaque acteur sait que perméabilité ne rime pas toujours avec applicabilité. Il sera démontré, dans ce cas, que le réajustement pouvait aussi relever d’un accommodement mutuel entre État récepteur et État émetteur. Cet accommodement mutuel répondait, quant à lui, à la prégnance d’une hiérarchie de priorités qui sera explicitée dans le texte. Plusieurs années après les soulèvements populaires de 2011, cette même hiérarchie, fondée sur un paradigme sécuritaire, continue d’orienter les choix des acteurs politiques et institutionnels en Tunisie. Les conditions et facteurs à l’origine de sa persistance sont analysés.

(Tanıtım Bülteninden)
"Arap İsyanları Güncesi", Kuzey Afrika ve Ortadoğu'daki değişimi Türkiye'de en yakından izleyen habercilerden birinin, 3 yıl süresince Tunus, Mısır, Libya ve Suriye'ye gerçekleştirdiği seyahatlerde şahit oldukları üzerine kaleme aldığı bir kitap.

Can Ertuna, Tunus'ta hükümeti deviren eylemlerden, Mısır'da birbirinin peşi sıra gelen iki iktidar değişikliğinin öyküsüne, Libya'daki çöl savaşlarından, Halep'teki kanlı sokak çatışmalarına, İstanbul-Hatay arasındaki "cihat ekspresi"nden, Türkiye-Suriye sınırında yaşananlara kadar birçok olayı, tanıklıklarına, aktarımlara, belgelere dayanarak anlatıyor. Meydanları dolduranların mücadeleleri, rejimlerin sonunu hazırlayan toplumsal koşullar ve uluslararası güç çekişmesinin seyri çerçevesinde, objektif bir habercilik diliyle aktarılıyor.

La signature par 162 États du « pacte mondial pour une migration sûre,
ordonnée et régulière »s, le 10 septembre 2018, a été le fruit d’une large
consultation et d’un compromis de divers acteurs gouvernementaux et nongouvernementaux. Ce pacte réaffirmant la centralité des États dans la gestion des flux migratoires a été toutefois condamné par des défenseurs des droitsdes migrants. Nous présenterons les arguments en faveur de l’adoption de ce pacte et les réserves de certaines Organisations de la Société Civile. En outre, puisque la Tunisie a fait partie des États signataires du « pacte de Marrakech », nous analyserons également les impératifs d’une politique migratoire respectueuse des droits, dans un contexte tunisiens soumis à des contraintes internes et externes.

This paper adds a different dimension to the educational borrowing, lending, and transfer literature by examining the consequences of educational reforms that are implemented under dictatorships and their lasting impacts. In using Tunisia as an example, we assess the effects of the 2008 Licence-Maitrise-Doctorat ([LMD] Bachelor-Master-PhD) reform under Tunisia's former dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (from 1987 to 2011). The use of coercive transfer and subsequent implementation of LMD reforms by Ben Ali's government were in response to the creation of the European Higher Education Area in 1999 under the Bologna Declaration, which was adopted by twenty-nine European countries. The justification for the indirect coercive transfer of the Bologna model was to ensure the quality of higher education, to encourage student and teacher mobility, to facilitate both the equivalence of diplomas and young people's integration into the labor market. In what follows, we seek to construct a typology of the consequence of wholesaling adopting a reform without tailoring it to the local needs. In this typology, we account for the processes of policy mobilization, local articulation and ownership, structural factors, and path dependency by discussing the power relations through which indirect coercive transfer occur. In doing this, methodologically, we use a comparative-historical approach to Tunisia's higher education policy discourse. Theoretically, we seek to advance the literature of indirect coercive transfer by concluding as to the different factors that should be considered in North-South policy borrowing and transfer.

The presence of broad-spectrum-cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli isolates and the implicated mechanisms of resistance were investigated in 79 food samples of animal origin obtained in different supermarkets and local butcheries in Tunisia. Ten of these samples (12.6%) harbored extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli isolates and 13 ESBL-positive isolates were recovered (one or two/sample), which exhibited nine different Pulsed-Field-Gel-Electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. ESBLs detected were the following: CTX-M-1 (10 strains), CTX-M-1+ TEM-1b (2 strains) and CTX-M-1 +TEM-20 (1 strain). The orf477 sequence was identified downstream of bla CTX-M-1 gene in all 13 strains and ISEcp1 upstream in 9 strains. All ESBL-positive strains were included into phylogenetic group A or B1 (4 and 9 strains, respectively). Three of the 79 food samples (3.8%) contained broadspectrum-cephalosporin-resistant and ESBL-negative E. coli isolates with AmpC phenotype. One isolate per sample was studied, and they showed unrelated PFGE patterns. The CMY-2 type beta-lactamase was identified in one of these 3 strains and specific point mutations in the promoter/attenuator region of ampC gene (at positions −42, −18, −1 and +58) were detected in the remaining two strains. Twelve ESBL-positive and one ESBL-negative E. coli strains contained class 1 integrons with the following gene cassette arrangements: dfrA1+aadA (6 strains) and dfrA17+aadA5 (7 strains). E. coli strains from food samples could represent a reservoir of ESBL-encoding genes and integrons that could be transmitted to humans through the food chain.

La Revolución de los Jazmines fue uno de los sucesos más sorprendentes que podían
haber tenido lugar para la comunidad internacional, pero más aún lo fue, que ésta se
extendiese por la franja norte de África, convirtiéndose en el fenómeno ya conocido como
Primavera Árabe. En esta ponencia se trata de explicar el movimiento social que ocasionó y
fue en sí la citada Revolución, que causas había y los problemas sociales de la sociedad
tunecina que motivaron la Revolución de los Jazmines, con su cenit el 14 de enero de 2011,
que provocó la huida del país al exilio en Arabia Saudí, del que fue hasta ese momento su
principal dirigente el Presidente de la República Zine el Abidine Ben Alí, por el profundo
rechazo que sus políticas habían provocado en la población, especialmente en los últimos
años de mandato, marcados por la corrupción del régimen y de la falta de expectativas para

In Arab and Islamic countries, domestic violence is not yet considered a major concern despite its increasing frequency and serious consequences. Surveys in Egypt, Palestine, Israel and Tunisia show that at least one out of three women is beaten by her husband. The indifference to this type of violence stems from attitudes that domestic violence is a private matter and, usually, a justifiable response to misbehaviour on the part of the wife. Selective excerpts from the Koran are used to prove that men who beat their wives are following God's commandments. These religious justifications, plus the importance of preserving the honour of the family, lead abusers, victims, police and health care professionals to join in a conspiracy of silence rather than disclosing these offences. However, a fair reading of the Koran shows that wife abuse, like genital mutilation and "honour killings" are a result of culture rather than religion.