Human Rights in Morocco

Since King Mohammed VI acceded to the throne in 1999, Morocco has made important progress in promoting democracy and respect for human rights - Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

In its annual report 2007 about the situation of human rights in the world, issued on Thursday in Geneva, the observatory, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), underlined that "the reform of the Family Code (moudawana) in 2004 was one of the reforms undertaken by Morocco."

"The introduction of legislative reforms and the establishment of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (Instance équité et reconciliation - IER) in January 2004 have also been marks of the profound change the country has experienced in recent years," said the report.

The document recalled that the goal of this commission was to provide a global policy for the issue of the serious human rights violations committed between 1956, the date of independence, and 1999, the date of the creation of the Independent Arbitration Commission, whose only mandate was that of compensation for victims. It added that "after two years of work, the IER presented its recommendations to the King, who ordered the immediate publication of the final report and entrusted the Advisory Council on Human Rights (Conseil consultatif des droits humains - CCDH) with its implementation."

Since then, compensation and health care has been put into effect for nearly 10,000 victims recognized by the IER, as has a programme of community reparation for regions and communities collectively affected by serious human rights violations, the report concluded.


Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news