The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the fragile socio-economic situation in the countries of North Africa, compounded existing challenges and created new challenges to democratization in the region. While much attention has been paid to the question of the consequences of COVID-19 for electoral processes, its impact on constitutionalism and the rule of law in the countries of North Africa has received relatively less attention.

It is against this backdrop that the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) organized, in partnership with the Department of Political Affairs of the African Union Commission (AUC), a webinar on the subject of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on constitutionalism and the rule of law in the countries of North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, the Sahrawi Republic and Tunisia).

The webinar was based on two premises: first, the need to consider constitutionalism and the rule of law in terms of their ultimate goals, i.e. to guarantee respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens in both ordinary and extraordinary situations; second, the adoption of a holistic perspective that enables the consideration not only of civil and political rights but also of the economic and social rights of citizens in the context of the COVID-19 crisis in the countries concerned.