Minister of Justice Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi: Digitalization is a priority in our project reform at the Ministerial working level

Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi, in his statement on the occasion of an international conference about “Legislative basics to digitalize judiciary processes”, held Monday January 17, 2022, in Tangier, stated that digitalization constitutes a priority to the ministry mission and it’s highly important for the ministry project reform, stressing that he has worked on that topic since the first day of holding his position as Minister of Justice.

Mr. Ouahbi added during the opening session of that two-day conference that the Justice Ministry has inaugurated a working process through a committee which includes all interested bodies and partners in the justice sector. He pointed out that this orientation is an embodiment of the wise royal vision calling for an idealistic investment of new technology in developing and improving the judiciary apparatus.

Minister of Justice highlighted that digitalization poses some professional and legal problems; the fact which has appeared clearly during the inauguration of studying the bills about penal and civil codes, since it has been proved that it’s necessary to deal carefully with digitalization and set up a legal context for it, and since this tool is always in constant rapid changes “so we are working on setting up a special regulation which concerns digitalization of judicial measures outside the contents of civil and penal codes” added the Minister.

Mr. Ouahbi has confirmed in the same context, the paramount importance of police custody in terms of digitalization and its altercation sometimes with conditions for a sacred fair trial, “we are not conservatives, yet we like to protect a balance between digitalization and conditions for a fair trial”.

In this context, Minister Ouahbi has called for evoking human factor in a permanent way, and be careful about people’s living conditions since not all the people have the means to deal remotely with digitalization, and also the situation of some prisoners who are illiterate and therefore will find many problems in dealing with the process remotely, adding that Moroccan citizens should be afforded maximum help and support at the level of conditions for a fair trial.

Mr. Ouahbi has considered that the relationship between digitalization and the justice is becoming stronger and stronger, and there is a hard work being done today by the ministry to gather info and data, praising in the same context on following up with this action and efforts until digitalization enters justice courts smoothly and flexibly in the next coming ten years.

Minister of Justice, has again raised the point of privacy and intimacy of humans in relation with digitalization, the point which requires a special dealing to achieve fair trial and to avoid rights abuse, stating in conclusion “we will enter a new world, will humans actually enter this world or will be dissolved in it?”.