Morocco’s ties with the Council of Europe were enhanced in 2011 with the adoption of the Organisation’s policy towards neighbouring regions by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CM). A fully-fledged member of various Council of Europe partial agreements such as the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) or the European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity (North-South Centre), Morocco enjoys an observer status with the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ). The country also obtained an observer status with the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE) in 2019.

Since 2011, the Moroccan Parliament is endowed with the status of Partner for Democracy with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which enables active participation in PACE’s activities, and was the first country to be granted the Partner for Local Democracy status by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (Congress) 2019. Furthermore, Morocco is a Contracting Party to several Council of Europe Conventions, including the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS 108) and its Additional Protocol (ETS 181)  2019 and the Convention on Cybercrime (ETS 185) and its Additional Protocol (ETS 189) 2018, the Convention on the Counterfeiting of Medical Products and Similar Crimes involving Threats to Public Health (Medicrime Convention, ETS 211) and the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (ETS 198) in 2022. Such compromises fall in line with the shared effort to create a common legal space between the Southern Mediterranean and the European continent.

The tangible results achieved by previous Neighbourhood Partnerships with Morocco since 2012, form a basis to further pursue and consolidate political dialogue and technical co-operation with Morocco, in the framework of the actual Neighbourhood Partnership with Morocco 2022-2025. The priorities jointly identified for this new phase of co-operation cover areas where co-operation was already initiated in previous phases, for example anti-discrimination, the implementation of the reform of justice, and human rights training for legal professionals through the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP Programme). Since 2020, support has been provided to the operationalisation of the national preventive mechanism against torture (NPM) and the development of the role of the Moroccan Parliament through a bilateral joint programme funded by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe.¹

In addition to bilateral co-operation, Morocco is regularly involved in Council of Europe regional activities, which encompass a wide array of thematic areas aimed at promoting North-South and South-South co-operation, dialogue and peer-to-peer exchanges, namely through the South Programme, actually in its fifth phase (The South Programme V).

Morocco is also involved in the regional European Union/Council of Europe joint programme CyberSouth which started in 2017 with the aim to strengthen legislation and the institutional capacities on cybercrime and electronic evidence in the region in line with human rights and rule of law requirements. Voluntary contributions from Council of Europe member States constitute additional sources of funding for co-operation activities. 

The Council of Europe Office in Morocco, in place since 2014, plays a crucial role in the co-ordination and implementation of field activities.

¹ Support to the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture and to the development of the key role of Parliament in Morocco, total budget: €2.316 million (EU: 94.99%, CoE: 5.01%), November 2020 – April 2024.

² South Programme V “Regional Support to Reinforce Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy in the Southern Mediterranean”, total budget: €5.556 million (EU: 89.99%, CoE: 10.01%), September 2022 – August 2025.

Through the actions implemented in 2021, the Neighbourhood Partnership with Morocco 2018-2021 contributed to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDG 3 (target 5), SDG 4 (target 7), SDG 5 (targets 1, 2 and c), SDG 8 (target 7), SDG 10 (target 3), SDG 11 and SDG 16 (targets 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7,10, a and b).

More information: Overview of the Council of Europe Contribution to the UN 2030 Agenda.