MOROCCO: IMPLEMENTATION OF NPM’S PLAN OF ACTION - PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT

Published on 28 October 2020

Ms. Amina Bouayach, Chairperson of Morocco’s National Human Rights Council (CNDH) chaired a meeting a meeting with the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (NPM) on Wednesday 28 October 2020. Dr. Mohamed Benajiba, NPM Coordinator, and Ms Aicha Naciri, NPM member, both attended this meeting, along with the experts who work the Mechanism. The discussions focused particularly on the activities of the mechanism and its action this year, in addition to its human and financial resources and logistics.

The participants also exchanged on the conditions under which were conducted the NPM’s twelve (12) visits to the different places of detention, namely to:

- Prisons in the cities of Tetouan, Tangiers, and Dakhla;

- The juvenile or child protection center in Casablanca;

- Police stations in the cities of Rabat, Casablanca, and Dakhla;

- A Royal Gendarmerie station in Dakhla, and;

- An elderly care institution in Settat.

The NPM took into account the different regions in Morocco and the different groups of people deprived of their liberty, in choosing which places of deprivation of liberty to visit. The visits were conducted from April to the late September 2020, in a context marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions on the different groups of people deprived of their liberty. The NPM drafted visit reports and is planning follow-up visits, to assess the implementation of the observations and recommendations it made to the relevant authorities.

The NPM’s annual reports, including outcome of activities, will be annexed to the CNDH's annual report, as provided for in the new CNDH founding law 76.15. The National Human Rights Council commends the positive cooperation of the authorities administering the visited places with the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture.

CNDH was designated as the National Preventive Mechanism, in fulfillment of Morocco's international obligations, particularly the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The NPM coordinator and members were appointed in September 2019, during the Council’s first General Assembly, as provided for in the new founding law 76-15.