Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi, has stated that the Moroccan Kingdom, by an initiative from His Majesty King Mohammed VI, who takes care of human rights, has opted to be among first countries which have created national mechanism to be in charge of implementing, drafting reports and following up human rights, under the name of “Ministerial delegation in charge of human rights.”
In his statement made at the opening session of an international conference held under the topic “National mechanisms to implement, reports drafting and follow up in the field of human rights”, in Marrakech on December 7 & 8, 2022, Minister of Justice Mr. Ouahbi has highlighted that the creation of that mechanism has come out of the Moroccan Kingdom’s awareness of developing a national policy in human rights field and strengthen the process and action means; and of improving relationships with the Moroccan Kingdom’s world commitments since Morocco is part of all basic agreements in this field and in most annexed protocols.
The Minister has added that the creation of such an institution has also come out of the Kingdom’s eagerness to keep up with increasing new developments regarding international commitment taking into consideration specialties requirements and institutions governance to attain coordination, dialogue and consultation with all various players from government, parliamentary, national institutions sectors and civil society NGO’s.
Minister Ouahbi has informed the attendance of this international event about the Kingdom pursuit to make of that national mechanism an institutional platform to bring together different players interested in reinforcing human rights, in terms of consulting with international commitments in the human rights field as a national strategic irreversible option. The national mechanism will be responsible for preparing national reports to be submitted to several sides including the human rights council and other bodies, to oversee reactions and responses presented to the Higher Commissioner for Human Rights; in addition to be in charge of consulting visits and special measures to the Moroccan Kingdom.
The Minister has reiterated that the Moroccan Kingdom has made of its respect of international commitments in the human field a fundamental part of the government’s policy, as the Government President has insisted on the fact that the Ministerial delegation should pay necessary attention to follow up the implementation of international commitments regarding presentation and assessment of national reports to UN organizations and consequently the recommendations issued in the aftermath of those reports.
The Government President’s call on the ministerial delegation was to prepare a vision about activating the recommendations of the commission of anti-discrimination against women after monitoring the fifth and sixth national report.
Minister Ouahbi has confirmed that the Moroccan government is fully aware of the importance to create such an institution and improve its working means and interventions in full implementation of royal instructions as announced in the supreme royal letter on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the word declaration for human rights in 2018.
Minister Ouahbi has clarified that national option to create the ministerial delegation in charge of human rights is being reinforced today than any time before with an increasing orientation by different countries to create similar national mechanisms over the last decade, in the aftermath of the report issued by the Higher Commissioner for Human Rights for 2012 about the system of agreements bodies.
Finally, the Minister has expressed his hopes that this important international conference will constitute a founding initiative at the level of sharing successful experiences and exchanging the best practices and expertise and also an opportunity to exchange viewpoints and thinking about achieving required cooperation among national mechanisms to be in the service of human rights, confirming that the Moroccan Kingdom will remain fully ready to respond to all bold initiatives that would reinforce the UN position and empower its role as regard to human rights in a world where risks, major problems and challenges are prevailing.