Youssoufi meets child parliament members
Morocco, Politics, 7/4/2002

Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi, received in Rabat Tuesday a delegation of members of the child parliament having attended the fourth session of the Moroccan Child Parliament and the ninth session of National Congress on Child Rights convened in Rabat June 25-26 under the topic humanitarian protection of Children.

Youssoufi voiced satisfaction over the progress made by Morocco in matters of child rights improvement and said Morocco took up a huge challenge when it made of childhood one of its national, community and family concerns.

The prime minister hailed the initiatives made by King Mohammed VI and by his sister Princess Lalla Meriem, chairwoman of the National Children Rights Observatory and underlined the efficient commitment of all sides concerned by the promotion and protection of children's rights.

He said Morocco's experience involving children in improving their situation and protecting their rights is an example for several other countries.

The child parliament, he insisted, is not only a training school but also an institution to identify Moroccan children's problems and find ways to securing their protection and security.

Youssoufi voiced the government's pledge to enforce the measures and arrangements made in favor of childhood.

The delegation members surveyed the outcome of the ninth session of National Congress on Child Rights that looked into several issues related to children in Morocco and in the world.

The congress adopted several recommendations calling for enhanced partnership between the state and NGOs to improve the situation of Moroccan children and for involving teenagers in struggle against AIDS. It stressed the need to protect children and teenagers against AIDS and to heed their needs and concerns and called for partnership between institutions operating in the field and for involving NGOs in all anti-AIDS struggle activities.

The congress also insisted on the need to increase the number of AIDS anonymous and free diagnosis centers and to take care of AIDS orphans. It recommended the integration of sexual education in school syllabi and to enhance efforts against child sexual abuse.

The participants also underlined the necessity to set up efficient mechanisms to fight minors' emigration and recommended to consolidate legal implements and conduct social-scientific studies to fight the phenomenon and stage awareness campaigns through the National Observatory of Child Rights.

Other recommendations covered the situation of young girls in Morocco, the economic exploitation of children, homeless children and the children victim of ill-treatment and sexual abuse.

King Mohammed VI had sent the event a message wherein he pointed out that the resolve to root the principles of democracy, citizenship and tolerance can shape the future of peoples and generations and underlined his keenness to make of the Child Parliament "a lasting institution and a school for education to democracy, citizenship and tolerance," being convinced that "the future of peoples and of generations is appraised on the basis of the resolve to root these values."

The sovereign had also stated that "the promotion of a participative culture for the benefit of children, geared towards improving their conditions and guaranteeing their rights, is the best exercise for children."

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