Expanding freedoms in the public space and raising awareness on rights and the importance of claiming them are the biggest challenges facing our emerging democratic institutions, stressed Amina Bouayach, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH). Freedom of expression is the question that should be answered by our society regularly and sustainably way to extend it, she added.

In an interview with the Lebanese newspaper Annahar Al Arabi, published on January 1, 2021, the CNDH President considered that social media has become the incubator for this emerging model of freedoms. It is a space for deliberation between individuals which then expands to groups and turns into a public act questioning authorities and actors.

Ms. Bouayach said that if communication and its mechanisms are adapting and developing fast, the current legal arsenal cannot frame these emerging practices in the field of freedoms in a way that enhances and guarantees the exercise of rights and freedoms.

She also noted that under this momentum, issues arise with unprecedented and dangerous consequences and practices. They affect the dignity of women and men and undermine rights and freedoms. Massive spread of fake news, disinformation, hate speech and digital violence are the most notable issues.

Concerning the humanitarian issue affecting her the most and which she defends all the time, Mrs. Bouayach stressed that the death penalty is the worst human rights violation. Because life is the inherent and absolute right on which other rights are based.

In this context, she noted with bitterness that the brutality of execution generates pain and sadness. There are testimonies of victims of this inhuman punishment that emanated sad facts. Executions could have killed innocent persons. Mrs. Bouayach affirmed that these are inspiring testimonies that enhance struggles to abolish this punishment.

In this interview, the CNDH Chairperson also indicated that parity in Morocco has become a constitutional principle since 2011. It has also become a strategic goal for actors to implement it in political fields and others. However, achievements in this field have been below the level of this constitutional principle so far. Within this context, Mrs. Bouayach expressed her hope that the 2021 elections would result in outcomes that meet the aspirations of human rights actors and the women's movement and be a quantum leap to achieve the principle of parity.