In celebration of International Archives Day, which coincides with June 9 of each year, Ms. Amina Bouayach, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), presented, in a press conference organized on Friday 9 June 2023, the CNDH’s most significant achievement in the implementation of one of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (known under its French acronym IER) recommendations related to preserving the national archives.

Mr. Mounir Bensalah, CNDH Secretary-General took part in this event.

Within this context, the CNDH Chairperson shed light on the 23,360 arbitration decisions collected in 167 volumes, including 5,749 arbitration decisions issued by the Independent Arbitration Commission and 17,611 arbitration decisions issued by the IER and its follow-up committee on the implementation of its recommendations. The CNDH also made digital copies of 263 files that have not been delivered to the institution of Les Archives du Maroc.

At this meeting, the CNDH presented a digital database that collects and organizes information, data and documents related to the files of the victims and the rights holders and facilitates access to information and the necessary statistics.

Ms. Bouayach stressed that this step is a significant achievement in terms of protecting and preserving all the data and files related to the victims who lived in this period of the history of Morocco. She also added that the CNDH will deliver the rest of the files to the institution of Les Archives du Maroc within the framework of an agreement between both institutions. This process aims to preserve files of Moroccan victims of gross human rights violations.

This event was an opportunity to define the key procedures and achievements conducted by the CNDH as part of the implementation of the provisions of Law # 69/99 on archives, which focus particularly on requirements related to the implementation of the CNDH institutional archive management program, including structures, tools, instruments, and processes.

In appreciation of the preservation of memory, the CNDH presented compiled biographies of victims of detention and enforced disappearance and all bibliographical references revealing the suffering associated with past violations. 185 publications were issued between 1969 and 2023. Each book contains the title, author’s name, date of publication, publishing house, language, country in which it was issued, translation if any, gender, and the cover image. This action will contribute to facilitating access to these writings by researchers and historians to enrich and adopt them in reading contemporary history.

The CNDH with its human resources and structure will continue, in coordination with Les Archives du Maroc, to make digital copies of the paper archive, which were delivered to the institution.