Rabat-Driss Benzekri Institute for Human Rights
Established by the National Council for Human Rights (CNDH), the National Human Rights Training Institute aims to enhance the capabilities of actors involved in human rights protection and promotion. In 2017, His Majesty King Mohammed VI named it after the late Driss Benzekri, honoring his valuable contributions to the transitional justice process in Morocco.
To support the Institute's work, an international scientific committee was established in 2019, consisting of members with diverse academic and field expertise. This committee works towards promoting intellectual diligence, facilitating debates and enriching the human rights movement with cultural and intellectual contributions. Its overarching objective is to transform the Institute into a beacon for human rights at both regional and national levels, serving as a platform for discussions, reflections and capacity-building within the field.
In accordance with CNDH’s Rules of Procedure, the Institute is in charge of developing training programs on various human rights topics, formulating continuous training courses for CNDH’s members, personnel and regional commissions, and providing trainers’ training to institutional and economic stakeholders. It is also tasked with identifying and addressing the training needs of civil society actors involved in human rights protection, and fostering partnerships with similar institutes.
Since its inception, the Institute has organized numerous training courses for beneficiaries from various sectors, civil society organizations, and national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in the Middle East and North Africa. These courses cover topics such as the international human rights ecosystem, the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (NPM), the rights of the child, rights of persons with disabilities, gender-related issues, migration, election observation, climate justice, discrimination, participatory democracy, entrepreneurship, human rights and the right to a fair trial.