The effectiveness of rights and freedoms shall not be limited only to relevance and adequacy of laws, but also to an assessment of their ability to change the reality and to facilitate citizens' access to basic human rights, declared Amina Bouayach, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) in her statement as part of her participation in the meeting on the report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on the State of World Population 2019.

This meeting was organized on 26 September 2019 by UNFPA, in partnership with CNDH. It also coincided with two historic events: the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the first International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of UNFPA.

At this meeting, Ms. Bouayach highlighted the important role played by UNFPA in ensuring universal access to reproductive health for populations and its contribution to the implementation of these rights for future generations. Furthermore, she said that this report is part of a long process to implement rights, education and raise awareness on major issues such as sexual violence and the marriage of minors, devastating factors in the lives of girls and women.

Therefore she shed lights on CNDH's commitment in this process. The Council has always advocated for implementing the commitments of Morocco, including those taken at the ICDP in 1994 to ensure education, especially for girls, equity and gender equality, and the promotion and protection of the rights of the most vulnerable groups.

CNDH Chairperson also emphasized the campaign launched by CNDH, last March, on the "Marriage of minors: Abolish the exception ... Restore the norm". This campaign was launched from the perspective of the amendment of the provisions of the Family Code, including the exception provided by Article 20 of this Code which allows judges to authorize the marriage of minors based on their discretion.

CNDH believes that minors’ place is at school benches and will spare no effort to ensure that girls in Morocco can fully enjoy their rights to education, declared Ms. Bouayach on this occasion.

The UNFPA report shows tremendous progress made in reproductive health. This includes maternal mortality, access to contraception and family planning. However, much remains to be done to enable women and men enjoying fully their reproductive rights.

Today, 214 million women around the world wish to avoid pregnancy but they also lack modern contraception. Furthermore, every day, more than 800 million women die of causes that could be preventable during pregnancy or childbirth. The keystone remains the empowerment of women, since the lack of access to rights is linked to poverty.

Download the statement of CNDH Chairperson (Available in French)