Press and Publications

In 2019, EuroMed Feminist Initiative (EFI) established the Regional Civil Society Observatory (RCSO) in the frame of the regional project “Combating Violence against Women in the Southern Mediterranean Region” (2019- 2021), funded by the European Union. The RCSO is hosted at EFI Amman regional office as a civil society mechanism to follow up on the implementation of the Ministerial Declaration of the 4th Union for Mediterranean (UfM) Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society (November 27th 2017, Cairo), in the area of combating all forms of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG), implementation of Women, Peace, Security Agenda (WPSA), and Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE).

The 2021 Regional Index on Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) was launched during the two-day conference organised by EuroMed Feminist Initiative in partnership with Jordan Inter- Ministerial Committee for Women ́s Empowerment, in the frame of the EU funded regional program “Combating VAWG in the South Mediterranean”.

In 2019, EuroMed Feminist Initiative (EFI) established the Regional Civil Society Observatory (RCSO) in the frame of the regional project “Combating Violence against Women in the Southern Mediterranean Region” (2019- 2021), funded by the European Union. The RCSO is hosted at EFI Amman regional office as a civil society mechanism to follow up on the implementation of the Ministerial Declaration of the 4th Union for Mediterranean (UfM) Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society (November 27th 2017, Cairo), in the area of combating all forms of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG), implementation of Women, Peace, Security Agenda (WPSA), and Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE).

In the frame of the project “Combating Violence against Women in the Southern Mediterranean Region”, funded by the European Union, the EuroMed Feminist Initiative (EFI) organized on 17 June 2019 in Beirut, Lebanon, a regional experts roundtable “Combating Discrimination Against Women in Legislation”. The roundtable gathered 26 legal and gender experts and researchers from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, France and, Sweden, as well as representatives from the Office of the Minister of State for Economic Empowerment of Women and Youth (EEWAY) and the EU Delegation to Lebanon.

One hundred and fifty-four participants from eighty-seven civil society organisations, together with decision makers, ministerial representatives, legal and gender experts, as well as media from twelve countries from the South Mediterranean gathered on 10-11 December in Tunis for the Regional Forum on Combating Discrimination in Legislation held in the frame of the Regional Campaign on Zero Tolerance for Violence Against Women and Girls, funded by the European Union.

As part of the Regional Campaign on Zero Tolerance for Violence Against Women and Girls, funded by the European Union. The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD), Palestinian Federation of Women’s Action Committee (PFWAC), the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization Against Violence Against Women (Al Muntada) and EuroMed Feminist Initiative held a National Consultation on Developing Regional Guidelines for Women, Peace and Security Agenda on November 10th in Ramallah, Palestine. The consultation aimed at fostering a common understanding of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda and developing guidelines for the implementation of the agenda on national and regional levels.

The Regional Forum, organized in partnership with Jordan Ministry of Education aimed at sharing experiences and discussing strategies to achieve more equality in and through education in the region. The Forum also provided unique opportunities for teachers from the pilot schools to come together and exchange lessons learnt so that best practices can be scaled up at national level.

The Regional Guidelines were developed in a participatory process involving a series of national and regional consultations and expert meetings on VAWG and WPSA. The Regional Guidelines may be seen as a firm step in the direction of achieving inclusive peace and social safety in the region. Building regional agreements, platforms and bases for cooperation and policy making, such as these Guidelines, play a critical role in the formulation of normative frameworks that strengthen accountable national institutions, and provide conditions conducive to inclusive and sustainable development. They allow for a better understanding and cooperation between States and thus contribute to peace and stability in the region, and the promotion and protection of human rights for all.

This report is intended to reflect the discussions during the regional conference aimed to launch the 2021 Regional Index on VAWG and discuss the main results, scope and use of the findings on the national and regional policy levels. The conference also aimed to provide policy recommendations on combating VAWG.

The Syrian Civil Society Women’s Rights Conference to combat violence against women and girls as a main obstacle to women’s participation in decision-making and peace building was held over two days on December 9-10 2021, in Brussels, in-person and online. The conference brought together more than 100 representatives of Syrian women’s rights organizations, civil society organizations and local initiatives, and representatives from international organizations, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN).

This brief sheds light on areas of combating violence against women and girls (VAWG) and focuses on legal reform needed to prevent and combat it. The analysis for the situation of VAWG provided in this brief is based on the explorative study conducted by the Regional Civil Society Observatory (RCSO) in 2020 and the regional index on VAWG. The brief summarises the study and its findings pertaining to legislation. The brief is intended to provide recommendations to governments to improve the laws based on informed decisions and to Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to advocate and contribute to the change. To combat VAWG, the brief recommends reforming the legal framework by removing discriminatory articles and adopting a specific and comprehensive law on VAWG in which all forms of violence are mentioned as defined in United Nations legal and policy instruments and are comprehensively criminalised.

On December 21st, 2020, the Regional Civil Society Observatory (RCSO) hosted by the EuroMed Feminist Initiative (EFI) launched the Regional Index on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) during an Online Roundtable aimed at presenting the Regional Index, over 70 decision-makers, ministerial representatives, EU and UfM representatives, UN agencies, legal and gender experts, researchers, and representatives of women’s rights organizations from the Euro-Med region, discussed recommendations to improve data collection in the region, and different tools to better address collectively the challenges identified by the RCSO through legislative change, policy-making and increased multi-actor cooperation, nationally and regionally.