The Euro Med Feminist Initiative (EFI) launched Thursday a regional campaign on zero tolerance for violence against women and girls in a conference held in Jordan's capital Amman. The conference "strives to highlight, sustain and enhance all achievements in combating violence against women and girls at the national and regional levels." It aims also to "underline the singularity of the action, and stimulate broad civil and political involvement to support national efforts and commitments." The conference will provide space for women's organisations and networks from the Euro-Med region to come together in order to build up a common discourse and launch common actions as a follow up on the Union for the Mediterranean Ministerial Declaration, in particular in the area of violence against women and girls, Women Peace and Security (WPS) and Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE). The overall objective is to contribute to the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the Southern Neighbourhood States, by promoting a social environment that does not tolerate violence against women and girls, and where decision makers address it as a political priority. The EFI previously launched implementation 1 January 2019, with a consortium of women's rights organisations in Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, Algeria, Jordan and Egypt, of a three-year regional project “Combating Violence Against Women in the Southern Mediterranean Region,” funded by the EU. The consortium members of this regional campaign are the Information Centre on the Rights of Women and Children (CIDDEF) in Algeria; the Association for Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development (ACT) in Egypt; the Arab Women Organisation (AWO) in Jordan; the Association Najdeh and Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL) in Lebanon; the Women's Action Union (UAF) in Morocco; the Palestinian Federation of Women's Action Committees (PFWAC) and Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD) in Palestine; and the Tunisian Women's Association for Development and Research (AFTURD) in Tunisia. The campaign focuses on shared regional challenges, such as legal discrimination against women, gender stereotypes, social tolerance, impunity for perpetrators, victim blaming and inadequacy of protection mechanisms for women and girls victims of violence. The campaign also addresses priorities specific to differing national contexts.
