Mr. Jamal Eddine Naji, Director-General of the High Authority for audiovisual communication, participated in an international African-European conference on “Perspectives on the political representation of women ", that was organized by the association Jossour-FFM in partnership with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, on 14^th and 15^th September 2017, in Rabat.

Also participants in this event were, Mrs. Omayma Achour, the President of Jossour-FFM association, Seija Sturies, permanent representative of Fridrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Leila Rhiwi representative of the UN Women multi-national office in the Maghreb, Messrs. Mohamed Aujjar, Minister of Justice and Driss El Yazami, President of the National Human Rights Council, as well as many female figures representing different sectors, elected municipalities, MPs, representatives of civil society, in addition to a panel of experts coming together from Belgium, Germany, Spain, Niger, Cameroon, Algeria and Tunisia in order to carry out a common reflection and share experiences on this subject.

This event is part of a study conducted by the two associations on the evaluation of the mechanisms of the promotion of women’s political representation in Morocco. As a matter of fact, the situation of the country sheds lights on the tenacious problematic of the roles and positions that women occupy in the political life.

Chairing a session entitled "North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa", Mr. Naji stressed that the representation of women in the political arena is conditioned by the work done at the local level, indicating that “"The transmission of values and the negotiation of powers that we find at the national level rises basically from the local level first”. To illustrate, the director has cited several examples demonstrating that the power of women emanates from an every-day long-term and close-knit social work in the country-side as well as in the cities.

The Director of Audiovisual Communication also confirmed that the media, in particular community radio, is a societal project that helps strengthen the voice of women and promote a culture of gender parity and equality in many countries in Asia, Africa and especially Latin America. In this regard, Mr. Naji dwelt on the role played by the HACA in guaranteeing the freedom of communication of the audiovisual media while ensuring that they comply with the rules and obligations relating to the principles of parity and equality, in accordance with the draft of the democratic society promoted by the 2011 Constitution through a number of principles and provisions.

He also shed light on the fundamental need to preserve and consolidate the achievements and advancements in social and political equality between women and men; in particular, those related to the provisions of the 2011 Constitution, the Electoral Code, the Family Code, and certain ancestral practices with a potential of equality yet diverted or redirected from their original spirit as a tested and proven social praxis.

It should be noted that the HACA signed an agreement with UN Women and Unesco last March in Rabat to promote the fight against gender stereotypes in media content and to emphasize the culture of gender equality through the audiovisual media, with an approach based on rights, particularly human rights, whereas the right to freedom of expression and the right to equality between the sexes are, like all human rights, universal, inseparable, indivisible and interdependent.