Moroccan Parliament and PACE Organize Seminar on “Women in Politics: How to Progress towards Equality?” on Tuesday, July 13, 2021
As part of the project, "Support for the development of the role of parliament in the consolidation of democracy in Morocco 2020-2023," the Moroccan Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will organize a seminar on Tuesday, July 13, 2021 on “Women in politics: how to progress towards equality?” at the seat of the Moroccan Parliament in Rabat.
The opening of the seminar will be chaired by Speaker of House of Representatives Habib El Malki, Speaker of House of Councilors Hakim Benchamach, President of PACE Rik Daems, and the Ambassador, Head of the EU delegation to Morocco, Claudia Wiedey.
Moroccan parliamentarians and their counterparts from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, particularly the members of the Sub-Committee on Gender Equality and the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, in addition to the presidents of women wings in the political parties represented at the Parliament and international experts will take part in this seminar. The participants will discuss the means to enhance women's participation in political life and advance the presence of women in representative institutions and decision-making positions.
It should be noted that Morocco has adopted since 2002 encouraging legislative mechanisms that gradually increased the number of women in the Parliament and the locally and regionally elected instances. However, these efforts have not yet succeeded in entrenching gender equality and parity in representation within elected instances, and decision-making positions in particular, as stipulated by the 2011 Constitution of the Kingdom of Morocco.
The project "Support for the development of the role of parliament in the consolidation of democracy in Morocco 2020-2023," funded by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe, aims to support the efforts of both Houses of the Moroccan Parliament in performing their functions, ameliorating the said performance, and enhancing their openness to citizens. The project relies on three main axes, namely supporting the efforts of the Moroccan Parliament in effectively identifying and evaluating the public policies of the Government, opening to citizens and civil society and other partners and consolidating parliamentary democracy, advancing Moroccan parliamentary diplomacy, and fortifying dialogue between the Moroccan Parliament and its counterparts from the neighboring countries and those members of the European Union. The project is implemented following the priorities of cooperation and the particular needs of Morocco, jointly determined by the Council of Europe and Moroccan authorities as part of the Neighborhood Partnership with Morocco 2018-2021.
