The South Programme III, entitled “Ensuring Sustainable Democratic Governance and Human Rights in the Southern Mediterranean”, was implemented by the Council of Europe between March 2018 and February 2020. It covered the same beneficiaries as the South Programme IV (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine* and Tunisia) and had the same budget of € 3 334 000 co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Building on the two previous phases, this third phase of the programme aimed at ensuring the sustainability of earlier results by continuing to contribute to reinforcing human rights, the rule of law and democracy in the Southern Mediterranean region based on European and other international standards and following a flexible and demand-driven approach.

 More specifically, the South Programme III sought to:

• Pursue the creation of a common legal space between Europe and the Southern Mediterranean region through the promotion of key Council of Europe conventions, partial agreements and other European and international standards;
• Provide continued institutional support to democratic governance and independent instances, legal expertise, networking and capacity building;
• Promote the expansion of existing relevant networks between Europe and the Southern Mediterranean and support the creation of new inter and intraregional networks;
• Contribute to combating of violence against women using relevant Council of Europe standards, tools and mechanisms, as a transversal priority.

* لا ينبغي تفسير هذا التصنيف على أنه اعتراف بدولة فلسطين كما لا يخل بموقف كل دولة عضو في مجلس أوروبا والاتحاد الأوروبي بشأن هذه المسألة.