Human Rights Watch notes impressive strides in rights and backsliding
Morocco, Politics, 10/22/2004

"Morocco has made impressive strides in human rights over the last fifteen years" says human rights watch in its latest report published this Thursday, warning however that this progress is "endangered" by measures taken to fight terrorism.

The report which notes that "Morocco has been no exception to the global backsliding in the protection of civil liberties and basic freedoms in the name of counter-terrorism," insists that "counter-terror measures, however, must be conducted in ways that comply with Morocco's obligations under international human rights law."

HRW assistant-director for north Africa and the middle east, Eric Goldstein, stressed at a press conference in Rabat this Thursday "these advances have included greater respect for basic civil and political rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of association." "This period, he went on, especially since the accession (to the throne) of King Mohamed VI in 1999, has also witnessed efforts to address issues of impunity for serious and systematic past crimes."

The report, compiled after field visits by the organization in January and February 2004, analyzes the Moroccan government measures to address the problem of impunity for those responsible of past human rights abuses. The document also devotes several chapters to the Justice and Reconciliation commission set up in January 2004 and to the performance of Moroccan justice following the Casablanca terrorist attacks of May 2003.

The report also cites as "another positive development," the state-created Commission on Equity and Reconciliation that "has begun its work of documenting grave human rights abuses committed in past decades, including hundreds of unsolved cases of forced disappearances."

It has the power to compensate victims and their survivors, as well as to recommend means to rehabilitate and assist them and to memorialize the injustices they endured.

The report which praises the creation of this commission as "a significant advance over past efforts in Morocco to address past human rights abuses and surpasses all other state institutions yet established in other Middle East and North African countries to address past abuses."

"Human Rights Watch welcomes the affirmations by Moroccan authorities of their commitment to meet the country's human rights obligations, the acknowledgement of grave past abuses, and legal reforms that have been taken or are pending."

It also hails Moroccan authorities' constructive responses to human rights criticism in 2004. "They stated their intent to introduce a draft law criminalizing torture and to withdraw formal reservations they made when ratifying several international treaties on human rights. They vowed to carry out investigations when international or domestic human rights organizations present evidence of torture," the report states.

Previous Stories:
  AIHR Chief praises Moroccanexperience in human rights violation Settlement   (10/16/2004)
  Morocco holds Algeria responsible for blocking search for a political solution to Sahara dispute   (10/11/2004)
  Morocco, an open country where women hold important status, Premier   (10/8/2004)

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