In the framework of the EU-funded South Programme III, the Council of Europe organised, in partnership with the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), a study visit and networking meeting for media professionals and representatives of journalists’ unions in the Maghreb-Mashreq region, namely from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Lebanon. The aim was to raise their awareness and in particular to strengthen their capacities to produce ethical journalistic content and media treatment against stereotypes to best respond to the various challenges imposed by their respective contexts.

To that end, leading local and international experts facilitated technical training sessions, which took place during the five days of the visit, to highlight the different local legal frameworks governing press freedom and ethical charters as well as the Council of Europe mechanisms and instruments that prohibit all forms of discrimination and violence against women in the field, in the media and on the Internet. In particular, visiting journalists were sensitised to the importance of adopting self-regulatory mechanisms and internal codes of conduct to promote the equal representation of women and men in newsrooms, media leadership positions and in regulatory and self-regulatory bodies.

Drawing on the Tunisian experience and to support efforts to enable effective regional collaboration in the fight against sexist discourse in media and electronic platforms in the MENA region, participants issued a list of recommendations.

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Press release