CULTURE
Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and other Arabic countries are involved in the Council of Europe’s compendium of cultural policy profiles - a monitoring system for culture and art.
DEMOCRACY
Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia are all members of the European Commission for Democracy through Law - better known as the Venice Commission – the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters.
DISCRIMINATION
The Council of Europe’s European Commission against racism and intolerance issued an opinion on the Moroccan draft parity law.
DRUGS
The Council of Europe’s Pompidou Group has worked to improve access to treatment in Morocco for drug dependent users, set up treatment services in Egypt for women who use drugs, provides reliable information on use of drugs by school aged children in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, trains medical staff in Morocco and Tunisia through MedSPAD and runs the MedNET cooperation network in fifteen Mediterranean countries.
EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
The influence of the European Court of Human Rights is worldwide and its judgments are regularly cited and relied on by other international courts, in particular the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
FREE EXPRESSION, MEDIA, INTERNET
As observers in the Media and Information Society Committee, Morocco and Tunisia are part of discussions on how to address challenges posed by a rapidly evolving digital environment.
The Council of Europe is backing Tunisian efforts to reform its legal framework on audio-visual media and to help Tunisian journalists better cover events such as elections and terrorism.
The Council of Europe is working in Morocco to grow freedom of expression, media independence and plurality. Morocco regularly participates in the expert committee working on media freedom and journalism in the digital age.
GENDER EQUALITY
Thanks to the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission equality between men and women is part of the Constitution of Tunisia. Women’s rights and their involvement in building their future in the Southern Mediterranean are intrinsic to the work of the North-South Centre.
GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCE
The Council of Europe’s North South Centre is a leader on global education, spreading principles and values in both formal and non-formal education beyond Europe, particularly in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. The global education guidelines have been translated into Arabic and young people from organisations in the Southern Mediterranean are trained yearly in democratic culture, youth participation and human rights. The Centre also works alongside the African University on Youth and Global Citizenship in Cape Verde and Kenya and the Mediterranean University on Youth and Global Citizenship in Tunisia. It has helped to create youth networks such as the African Diaspora Youth Network in Europe and the Network of International Youth Organisations in Africa, and is working to create a Tunisian National Youth Council via these partnerships.
JUSTICE
Morocco and Tunisia both have observer status with the Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ). Morocco modified its civil procedure code as a result and includes indicators for court efficiency in national judicial statistics according to CEPEJ standards.
SEXUAL VIOLENCE & ABUSE
“Kiko and the Hand”, the children’s book that helps parents talk to children about child sexual abuse, is available in Tunisia, Morocco, South Africa and Mauritius.
The North-South Centre has trained experts on gender equality from the Southern Mediterranean. The Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) is used as a framework for civil society in the region.
YOUTH
Online hate speech has gained recognition and awareness as a human rights issue in Morocco and Tunisia thanks to the Council of Europe’s No Hate Speech Movement.
Council of Europe approaches are used in human rights education with young people in the South Mediterranean and Arab countries.