Minister Ouahbi presents characteristics of the national project report for universal periodic review

Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi, presented last Tuesday, July 19, 2022 at the justice and legislation commission, the characteristics of the national project report for the fourth round of universal periodic review.

​Minister of Justice has confirmed in a statement made before the commission members that the universal periodic review will be dealt with during November of the current year, through proactive dialogue between the Kingdom’s delegation and countries members at the human rights council, while civil society NGOs will contribute with observations and recommendations.

​The Minister has reminded of the role played by our country in pushing ahead for creating this mechanism in 2006, in the context of deep reform of the UN apparatus for human rights,, which among its outcomes was the creation of the human rights council, which has replaced the human rights commission, confirming the characteristics of that mechanism and its cooperation aspect with other countries

Among those characteristics, said the Minister, is the universal periodic review respected by all countries on equal basis and bound with world agreements of human rights and international rule of law, which the state is part of; in addition to voluntary commitments and agreements”.

The second element concerns cooperation nature; and unlike some measures and agreements bodies which are supervised by UN experts, the universal periodic review is characterized by clear monitoring among countries through recommendations made among those countries; the fact which adds a complementary aspect to measures and agreements bodies

The third element, as summarized by the Minister, is about “rich and multifaceted review, which in addition to the national report presented by the state on the review, there’s a proactive dialogue on the basis of two reports supervised by the higher commissioner for human rights, the first one concerns data presented by civil society NGOs and national institution for human rights, while the second one concerns inputs and observations by all human rights mechanisms and UN agencies interested in human rights condition in the country”.

The Minister has reaffirmed in his intervention that our country’s reaction with the universal periodic review has witnessed a noticeable progress by the interest and place the review enjoys from all active players and also reflects the great interest our country gives to human rights issues and the role played by those players in upgrading human rights and therefore make their own contribution to the universal periodic review recommendations.
The Minister has reminded in his intervention of that the national report is being prepared regarding the fourth round of the universal periodic review done in conformity with a national approach endorsed harmoniously with the UN principles about preparing reports on UN mechanisms for human rights.

This approach is based on the participation of a wide range of institutional players at both at central and regional spheres and on opening and consultations with civil society including all the Kingdom’s areas regional and communal territorial councils.

According to the Minister, the report presents in its second part new major developments witnessed by our country in terms of human rights over the period between 2017 and 2022; while the third and fourth parts include practical protection of human rights and efforts and challenges linked to training and reinforcing the culture of human rights; and the last part of the report includes better practices, challenges and difficulties related to the implementation of the universal periodic review recommendations.