17/04/2015
A group of five Moroccan experts on human rights (HR) learned about the work of different Spanish institutions in the defence of HR under the umbrella of a cooperation programme financed by the European Union (EU) and managed by the FIIAPP.
Delegación marroquí en el Ministerio del Interior junto al experto de la FIIAPP y coordinador del proyecto en terreno, Diego Blázquez (dcha).Moroccan delegation at the Ministry of Interior with the FIIAPP project expert and coordinator on the ground, Diego Blázquez (right).
This week, the first study visit by Morocco to Spain within the framework of the cooperation project “Strengthening of organizational capacities and techniques of the Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights (HR) in Morocco”. A total of five workers from this delegation are learning about the work of different Spanish institutions in the area of guaranteeing and regulating HRs.
The Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies (CEPC), the Congress, the Senate, the Ombudsman, and the Ministries of the Interior, Justice and Health were the institutions visited by the delegation. This was the first visit by Morocco during this project financed by the EU and managed by the FIIAPP which was launched in early 2015.
“The project aims to strengthen a central institution for the development of human rights under the new Moroccan constitutional framework”, explains Ángel Sánchez, the Spanish director of this project and Deputy Director General of Publications and Documentation of the Ministry of the Presidency. Morocco has had a new Constitution for five years and the Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights was formed in 2011 in order to promote HR among Moroccan institutions and civil society, as well as to demonstrate the commitment Morocco has assumed in this area.
“Morocco has started a process of ratifying international treaties on human rights. As a result, it is encountering, on the one hand, issues of harmonization of its own regulations, that is, of adapting Moroccan legislation—criminal, procedural, and other codes—to the international commitments derived from the Constitution and these treaties; and on the other, they need to prepare reports of their compliance with these international obligations”, adds Sánchez regarding the needs of the delegation.
“We are working on certain rights to consolidate them in the area of prisons, mediators and public services”, indicates Abdelaziz Karraky, a member of the Moroccan delegation and Director of Coordination and Promotion of HR, with respect to the work they will undertake in Morocco after learning about the Spanish experience in situ.
The project has a budget of 900,000 euros and a duration of two years. During this time, Spain will also address with Morocco the training of experts on the subject, whether in universities or through specialized training. “They need to create a critical mass of people with training in HR who can act as a guarantee both inside and outside institutions ”, concludes the Spanish director of this twinning.
