Morocco: Mobilization around the International Convention against enforced disappearance

18 Mar 2009

Since the beginning of March 2009, and in the context of the international campaign for the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance , the FEMED (Euro-Med Federation against Enforced Disappearance), the ICAED (International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance), Aim for Human Rights, the AMDH (Association Marocaine des Droits Humains - Moroccan Association for Human Rights), the OMDH (Organisation Marocaine des Droits Humains - Moroccan Organization for Human Rights), the FMVJ (Forum Marocain Vérité et Justice - Moroccan Forum Truth and Justice), and the Coordinating Committee of Families are mobilizing to urge Morocco to ratify this international instrument.

Around twenty activists met between 15 and 16 March to attend a training session on international mechanisms for the protection of human rights. At the end of this session a discussion on the Convention, to which a dozen Moroccan human rights associations were invited, was held.

All participants agreed on the necessity to protect all persons from enforced disappearance, specifically in the Moroccan context which is particularly marked by this practice.

Between 17 and 18 March, these associations met with the General Secretaries of the Prime Minister's office and the Human Rights Consultative Council as well as the Ministry of Justice's Director of Pardon and Penal Affairs. In the context of these meetings, the NGOs were told that the new draft Penal Code currently in elaboration would include the criminalization of enforced disappearance, as required by the Convention.

The Moroccan authorities have reiterated their attachment to the Convention and their commitment to its ratification which should take place, according to their statements, before the end of 2009. The ratification process is therefore underway and the Convention, after having received approval from all the concerned ministries, is currently being examined by the General Secretariat of the Government.

Given this unanimous willingness to engage firmly and definitively in favour of the Convention, the concerned NGOs ask the Moroccan Authorities to ratify the Convention as soon as possible.

Morocco