Articles for Morocco

On 22 September 2016, Alkarama submitted its report on Morocco’s human rights situation to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in view of its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which will be held in May 2017. Despite the authorities’ tangible progress in the protection and promotion of human rights, some practices remain in violation of Morocco’s international obligations.

On 9 March 2016, Alkarama provided a half-a-day intensive training on the role of NGOs in promoting and protecting human rights, to members of the Moroccan National Human Rights Council (CNDH) and civil society actors. The training was organised by Geneva Institute for Human Rights (GIHR), which wanted Alkarama to share its experience in assisting victims of human rights violations in the Arab world.

In a report recently made public, the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) submitted its con

Moroccan journalist and human rights defender, Mustapha El Hasnaoui, was recently placed in solitary confinement by the prison administration of Kenitra prison. His family has had no contact with him since 7 January 2016 and is systematically denied the right to visit.

On 4 January 2016, Alkarama seized the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) with the case of Abdelkader Belliraj, a 59-year-old Belgian-Moroccan citizen sentenced by the Moroccan authorities to life imprisonment in 2009 on the sole basis of confessions obtained under torture – which is why his case was dismissed in Belgium in October 2013.

On 23 December 2015, Alkarama seized the Inter-ministerial Delegation for Human Rights (DIDH) regarding the case of Abdul Rahman Alhaj Ali, arrested on 30 October 2014 by the Moroccan police and still detained in Kénitra to this day without any legal basis.

Since 2011, Morocco has undertaken a series of institutional reforms affirming the protection of human rights. The 2011 Constitution embodies several rights and fundamental freedoms, and provides that secret detention is a crime of the utmost gravity. Despite these notable legislative reforms, the Moroccan authorities must do more to assure that certain provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Morocco in 1979, are fully implemented.

On 5 November 2015, Fatima Karmad was sentenced to one month imprisonment by the Taza Court of Appeal after filing a complaint against the Caïd (local State representative), who had abused her a month earlier. Ignoring her testimony, the Taza judicial authorities instead accused this 46-year-old mother of three of "humiliation and violence" against the local Caïd.

On 4 September 2015, during its 73rd session, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) adopted an Opinion in which it acknowledges the arbitrary nature of the deprivation of liberty of Rachid Ghribi Laroussi.

On 16 November 2015, Alkarama sent a communication to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) to inform him of the recent deterioration in the health of Ali Aarrass − a Belgian-Moroccan citizen accused of "participation in a terrorism network and in arms trafficking" under the