The regional conference of the South Programme "Building a Common Legal Space: A Decade of Joint Action in the Southern Mediterranean Region" was held at Casa Mediterráneo in Alicante, on 8 and 9 June 2022. 

Held on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the South Programme, the Conference was formally inaugurated on 8 June by Mr Pascual Navarro, Secretary of State for the European Union of Spain, Mr Manuel Montobbio, Chair of the Group of Rapporteurs on External Relations (GR-EXT) of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Ms Verena Taylor, Director General of the Office of the Directorate General of Programmes (ODGP) of the Council of Europe, and Mr Pascal Odul, Head of Sector, Good Governance and Security in the MENA region, of the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG-NEAR, EU).

The conference was successful in drawing lessons from a decade of tripartite cooperation between the European Union, Council of Europe, and programme Beneficiaries in the region, and provided a platform to exchange on challenges and perspectives in order to continue the joint action in the next phase of the South Programme to be launched in autumn 2022. 

More than 100 professionals, representatives of authorities, governmental and independent institutions, civil society organisations in region as well as representatives of the European Union and of the Council of Europe participated in the panel discussions reflecting on results achieved, lessons learnt, common trends identified and challenges encountered of the South Programme.

Participants highlighted the added value of the South Programme, its demand-driven and flexible approach and welcomed key achievements since the launch of the programme in 2012, including:

• GRADUAL EXPANSION OF A COMMON LEGAL SPACE

- 19 ratifications of Council of Europe Conventions by 5 countries in the region.

• STRENGTHENED CAPACITIES OF PROFESSIONALS, AUTHORITIES AND CIVIL SOCIETY

- Over 1000 senior public officials of the region participated in 15 seminars of the University for Democracy for the Southern Mediterranean (UniDem Med) held in cooperation with 7 national authorities.

- 2224 users of the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) in the region with over 100 certified HELP tutors and 9 HELP courses available in Arabic

- More than 900 Judges and prosecutors trained by the capacity building programme on human rights for Moroccan magistrates in collaboration with the Head of Prosecutors’ Office.

- New tools and mechanisms developed and established, such as the 1st national referral mechanism for victims of human trafficking in the region launched in Tunisia and the launch and promotion of the first online reporting platforms to combat cyberviolence of children in the region in Tunisia and Morocco to combat cyberviolence of children, in collaboration with Internet Watch Foundation IWF.

• REINFORCED REGIONAL CO-OPERATION

- 8 regional networks created and/or supported to address common challenges for the protection of human rights and rule of law in the Southern Mediterranean region.

  Read the operational conclusions and recommendations for future cooperation

Annex

  See the photo reportage of the regional Conference of the South Programme :

The conference was organised with the support of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to celebrate the ten year-anniversary of the South Programme, which was launched in January 2012.

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.