Three questions to Hamid El Kam, CDIFDH Director

- Four months after the National Symposium on the Launch of the Process of Drawing up the National Action Plan in Human Rights and Democracy (PANDHD), what are the latest?

The official launch of the process of drawing up the PANDDH in the late of April marks the transition to a second step in this process after seven months of work devoted to organizational diagnosis of the Centre for Documentation, Information and Training in Human Rights (CDIFDH). This event was attended by high-level government officials, national institutions, trade unions, members of parliament, civil society activists, media and international organizations. It was a strong sign of the willingness of the State to commit itself to a process that will enable it to have a public policy on democracy and human rights in our country.

This activity allowed us to initiate a process of consultation during the last three months in two stages:

- Bilateral briefings with organizations and institutions (trade unions, professional bodies, media and national institutions) around the PANDDH in terms of output and oversight institutional mechanisms for its preparation;

- Four meetings of consultation in Marrakech, Agadir, Mekness and Tangier with local players in the regions, thereby strengthening:

- The participatory approach favoured by the Advisory Council on Human Rights (CCDH);

- The approach of proximity and promotion of access to human rights, and the strengthening of the territorial and local aspect of every human rights-based planning.

The consultation meetings enabled the CDIFDH to meet about 400 players from different segments of society (trade unions, associations, media, local elected officials and external services of the State), covering almost all the Moroccan territory.

2 - What are the major themes that emerged from the consultation meetings?

The CDIFDH team is now analysing the available reports of the workshops of the four meetings, which will help to cluster the main priority themes and identify a number of concerns of the players encountered. However, the general trends are about the institutional, regulatory and procedural aspects related to all human rights and democracy.

3 - What are the next stages of the PANDDH?

In addition to aspects of management, programming and positive interaction with all emerging citizen initiatives, whether self-proclaimed or self-managed, we are ready to interact with any proposal or feasible and achievable concern in the field.

On the basis of practice, international standards and terms of reference governing our engagement with the international community, the European Union in particular, it is worth mentioning that our goal is not only to meet the need to draw up a claims register encompassing all wishes and expectations expressed to protect and promote human rights, but also to develop a national and societal policy on democracy and human rights in our country. Practically, it is about:

- Implementation and completion of recommendations as regards CDIFDH performance, included in the interim restructuring plan of emergency developed by the CDIFDH team following the organizational diagnosis;

- Completion of the process of consultation with various stakeholders;

- Setting up of operational entities to be in charge of political steering and managerial governance of the process of drawing up the PANDDH;

- Conducting feasibility studies on the PANDDH regarding:

- The historical and institutional context of the PANDDH;

- The diagnosis of the current state of sector-based programmes, projects and policies in field;

- The state of the treaty practice of Morocco vis-a-vis its normative and procedural commitment to international human rights law;

To conclude, our goal is to enable our country, through this process, to have a normative, axiological and operational framework that will guarantee its real transition to the rule of law.

Hamid El Kam, CDIFDH Director