In the frame of the EuroMed Rights’ Gender Working Group meeting, the North-South Centre organised a one day training on the use of the Istanbul Convention by women organisations in Europe and Southern Mediterranean regions.

The training aimed to bring forward a technical knowledge on the roles of NGOs in the Istanbul Convention. It targeted 16 members of the working group among which, six representatives of the Moroccan civil society.

Four interactive sessions took place with experts, Alaa Murabit (Voice of Libyan Women –UN Women Advisor), Françoise Brié (Spokesperson of Solidarités Femmes - France), Maria Guiseppina Muratore (Italian Institute of Statistics) and Tarak Mahdhaoui (Vice-Chair of Lam Echaml, Civic Association Network in Tunisia).

A debate was held among participants to discuss the how to apply of the convention on the field, with matters such as the construction and management of women shelters, the prevention of violence against women through education and media and the relevance of the inter-agencies cooperation, in particular to record and share data and information. Different needs were identified and one of the outcomes was to create a database to record violence against women in order to reinforce regional action in combating violence against women in European and Southern Mediterranean countries