The National Human Rights Council (CNDH) conducted several initiatives at the national level, through its reports and memoranda and its recurrent calls on the Moroccan government to vote for the UN resolution to a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Thus, Ms. Amina Bouayach, CNDH Chairperson, shed light, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on the Moroccan experience, particularly, the development of requirements and provisions aiming to protect the right to life, underlined the civil society dynamism advocating for the abolition of the death penalty and called on Morocco to vote this year for the United Nations resolution to moratorium on executions.

The CNDH Chairperson affirmed that as human rights defenders and advocates for the right to life, it is not possible to imagine effective justice without canceling a flagrant violation of the right to life… not only in the international human rights system but under the Constitution that expresses the will of a nation. The will of more than 40 million people and a homeland extending over more than 712,000 square kilometers.

These declarations were part of the CNDH statement at the UN international meeting organized by the Together for the Abolition of the Death Penalty organization.

Diplomatic representations, experts, international human rights activists, facilitators leading the consultations on the UN resolution (Australia and Costa Rica), European Union, and the representation of France in New York participated in this event.
 

Ms. Bouayach, on behalf of the Movement of Defenders of the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Morocco, stressed the necessity for Morocco to vote for the UN resolution to stop the use of the death penalty. She also emphasized the importance of continuing pleadings to break the cycle of confusion and hesitation of the legislator at the debate on reforming the Criminal Code.

The CNDH Chairperson said that the fundamental role of the State is mainly to protect its citizens from violence and rights violations, foremost of which is the right to life, regardless of the circumstances or motives.

Morocco has not implemented the punishment since 1993, meaning that Morocco has been working for 30 years with the contents of the UN resolution to stop the use of the death penalty without voting in its favour, while the Moroccan courts continue to issue death sentences, she added.

Voting for the UN resolution to stop the use of the death penalty does not mean abolishing the death penalty. It is an essential and symbolic important human rights step, which translates for Morocco an already existing situation, as a country that is not using the death penalty.

Key numbers

- 144 countries have abolished the death penalty in law and practice

- 90 countries have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of the death penalty

- 33 out of 57 countries in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have abolished the death penalty or do not use the death penalty

- The number of persons sentenced to the death penalty in Morocco is: 76 people, including one woman (17 of them in terrorism cases)

- The number of death row inmates who benefited from the royal pardon: 213 since 2000 to date.