International center for human rights training to be set up in Morocco

Morocco is poised to set up an international center for human rights training that will provide adequate training to those in charge of law enforcement and to NGO members.

The announcement was made in London Monday by Moroccan Minister in charge of Human Rights Mohammed Auajjar before the British House of Commons.

Morocco is also working out a national program for human rights education with the objective of making schools promote human rights values among mounting generations, the official said.

Another program for the promotion of human rights through mass media was launched with the aim to make TV, radio and newspapers adhere to the dissemination of human rights culture and fostering freedom of opinion, Aujjar said.

He added the government is implementing a major program for adapting the national legislation to international human rights charters and conventions. The initiative started with public liberties as the constraints limiting freedom have been eliminated and the prisons law which is now compliant with the international standards.

Auajjar, who surveyed the efforts targeting women and children, said Morocco is about to set up networks for the legal and psychological support of women and children in difficult situations and is pondering a number of laws to make them more compliant with international human rights conventions.

He stated further that the issue of political prisoners and missing persons was definitively settled and that the settlement of these files is "a sign from the Moroccan state that such practices will never occur again."

The official equally spoke of the democratic process in Morocco, the constitutional amendments--underlining that Morocco "is committed to human rights as they are known internationally"-- and the coming of the opposition to the government that represents, he said, a special experience in the region.

After his presentation, Auajjar answered a number of questions by the British MPs on Morocco's democratic experience, the constitutional reforms and the identification process in the Sahara.

Chairman of the Moroccan-British friendship parliamentary group, Kerry Pollard, said the Moroccan experience in matters of human rights was an example to be followed by developing countries.