An awareness-raising workshop on combating violence against women was organised by the Council of Europe, on 26 April 2022, in partnership with the Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences of Rabat (FSJES) and with the participation of national and international experts specialised in the field.

The event brought together around 50 participants and aimed at raising awareness among students and professors on combating violence against women. National and international legal framework was presented in this field, in particular the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) as well as the online course of the Human Rights Education Programme for Legal Professionals (HELP) of the Council of Europe.

The protection of women against violence is one of the priorities of the Moroccan Presidency of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Following the adoption of the Law 103.13 in February 2018 by the Moroccan Parliament, efforts to raise awareness of representatives of the judicial institutions on the new legislative framework, including the criminal code, regulating cases of violence against women, are of crucial importance. In this context, the Presidency of the Public Prosecutor's Office, with the support of the Council of Europe, has published a compendium of national case law, which includes also legal summaries from the European Court of Human Rights. This compendium was presented during the workshop and can serve as a reference for professionals who are directly concerned by the matter, in particular law students, professors, doctoral students as well as representatives of civil society.

Since 2012, within the framework of the Neighbourhood Co-operation Priorities and the Neighbourhood Partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco, Moroccan authorities have closely involved the Council of Europe in the reform of the legislative and institutional framework structuring their efforts to combat violence against women and domestic violence, as well as building capacities of the actors involved. The Council of Europe has thus provided technical expertise in this field, including completing a comparative analysis to the preparation of the Law 103.13 on combating violence against women.

The South Programme IV is a joint programme of the Council of Europe and the European Union, financed by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.