Upon the invitation of Ms. Amina Bouayach, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), Mr. Damilola Olawuyi, Chair of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights (UNWG BHR), will conduct an academic visit to Morocco from January 29 to February 1, 2024.

This four-day visit is part of technical cooperation with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, mainly engaging mandate holders under special procedures. These independent mechanisms are established by the UN Human Rights Council and can be either an individual (referred to as a Special Rapporteur (SR) or Independent Expert (IE)) or a five-member Working Group (WG).

The main objective of this visit is to promote the UN Guiding Principles on BHR. The program includes several working meetings with institutional actors and conferences at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat and Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco.

Training sessions on BHR are also planned for the CNDH staff and the twelve Regional Commissions, as well as the Moroccan National Contact Point and key civil society actors active in the field of BHR. These training sessions will take place at the Rabat-Driss Benzekri Institute for Human Rights.

The missions of the UN Working Group on BHR encompass promoting the dissemination and implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on BHR, supporting initiatives to enhance capacity building and utilization of the Guiding Principles, and, upon request, providing opinions and recommendations on the development of national laws and policies related to BHR.