The Regional Human Rights Commission of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Region (CRDH), in partnership with the Université Abdelmalek Essaadi and the Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines in Tetouan, organized a meeting on “Gender-based violence in universities and administrative and judicial remedies”, on Monday 31 October 2022, at the Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines in Tetouan, Morocco.

Professors, researchers, administrators, legal experts, civil society representatives working in combating violence against women and students took part in this meeting.

In her opening statement, Mrs. Soulma Taoud, CRDH President, stressed the need to provide more efforts to maintain universities as a space for freedom of expression and thinking within the framework of respecting differences. She also noted that there should be no place for extremism and intolerance within universities.

The CRDH President emphasized that equality, non-discrimination and combating gender-based violence are among the utmost issues addressed by the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) and its Regional Commissions. She also stressed that the CNDH considers sexual harassment in universities as gender-based violence and a violation of human rights.

Mrs. Taoud welcomed the victims' insistence to report cases of harassment courageously and considered it a positive development. She also stressed that the administrative and judicial remedies to ban all acts criminalized by law remain human rights claim needing support and protection.

Within the same context, participants unanimously agreed on the importance of intensifying awareness campaigns in universities, promoting the roles of human rights clubs, teaching gender, philosophy and sociology subjects, strengthening participatory actions with civil society, continuing to provide efforts to change cultural patterns and classical perceptions of women, and promoting equality, parity and equal opportunities at universities, etc.