Denmark voices respect and satisfaction over Moroccan human rights record

Denmark voiced Monday "respect" and "satisfaction" over Morocco's experience in human rights and said it is ready to make Morocco benefit from its own experience, as part of a dynamic partnership cooperation between the two countries.

The statement was made by Danish Justice Minister Frank Jensen, during a meeting with Moroccan Human Rights Minister Mohamed Aujjar, who is touring Scandinavian countries.

A statement of the Moroccan Human Rights Ministry said the Moroccan minister's visit aims at informing local officials on the Moroccan human rights experience marked by the adoption as early as in 1958 of a code of public freedoms, the construction of bases for the rule of law and the renewal, by King Mohammed VI, of the priority given to human rights.

King Mohammed VI, in his first throne speech last month, said, "We are attached to the constitutional monarchy, the multiparty system, economic liberalism, regionalization, construction of the rule of law, the protection of human rights and individual and collective freedoms, the safeguarding of security and stability for all...."

Aujjar also focussed on the king's official commitments reaffirming that the march of democracy and human rights in Morocco will deepen and be consolidated. He cited as an example the setting up of an independent commission that will set compensations to be granted to missing persons or their families and to victims of arbitrary imprisonment.

The minister also briefed the Danish official on other human rights issues, related to women, children, and adapting national laws to international human rights standards.

Aujjar is scheduled to hold a meeting this Tuesday with officials at the "Danish Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture." He will also meet with other Danish officials and persons in charge of human rights and democracy associations.

His tour will then lead him to Sweden.