IER to resume public hearings on past human rights violations in Morocco IER to resume public hearings on past human rights violations in Morocco
The Justice and Reconciliation Commission (IER) will hold on March 16 in Marrakech (south) and Al-Hoceima (north-east) a new series of public hearings to shed light on past human rights violations in Morocco during the 1956-1999 period and seek out-of-court settlement to these breaches.
The commission, set up by the government in January 2004, has achieved its objectives and has become part of the Moroccan cultural heritage, said IER member, Salah El-Ouadie in an interview with MAP.
He pointed out that the public hearings opened up regions which suffered from marginalization such as Figuig, Errachidia and Khenifra, and were characterized by the use of Amazigh (Berber) language by women from those regions to speak out their sufferings.
El-Ouadie deems is necessary to cover other regions of the kingdom to look into cases of disappearance and arbitrary detention, compensate the victims and determine the fate of old detention centres and secret prisons.
Ouadie noted that the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) and Truth and Justice Forum (FVJ) are also organising public hearings on human rights violations, but IER hearings are characterized by the fact that the state recognises its responsibility for past human rights violations.
