Rights. Freedoms. Effectiveness.
A Journey of Proactivity, Transformation, and Growth
Today, the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Morocco’s National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), founded on May 8, 1990, an anticipatory and forward-looking step taken at a time of profound global reform and transformation. Created three years before the adoption of the United Nations Paris Principles, this milestone marks not only the birth of an institution but also a sustained process of institutional evolution and a cornerstone in the construction of Morocco’s national human rights system.
On this occasion, CNDH Chairperson Ms. Amina Bouayach underscored that commemorating this anniversary is both a celebration of institutional progress and a reaffirmation of the Council’s mission to promote and protect human rights in a constantly evolving national and international environment. She described the past 35 years as a journey of transformation and consolidation, one that began with an advisory body, evolved into a constitutional national institution with regional commissions in 2011, and, since 2018, has operated under an expanded and more comprehensive human rights mandate.
She further recalled that Morocco has, from the outset, pursued sovereign and voluntary fundamental reforms, notably addressing past human rights violations through a truth, justice, and reconciliation process, whose twentieth anniversary was marked in 2024. Within this trajectory, the CNDH has played a central role in major national reforms, including judicial reform, constitutional review, family code reform, election observation, and criminal justice reform. The 35th anniversary thus represents the celebration of a coherent national choice grounded in convergence, collective engagement, and sustained commitment.
As one of the pioneering countries to establish an NHRI, Morocco marked an early and decisive step in building a comprehensive national human rights architecture. The CNDH was conceived as an integrated mechanism that combines the prevention of torture, ill-treatment, and violations of rights and freedoms with protection, redress for victims, accountability in the pursuit of justice and dignity, and the promotion of a culture of human rights and its universal values.
Throughout 2025, the CNDH will commemorate this anniversary under the theme “35 Years: Rights. Freedoms. Effectiveness.” This commemoration reaffirms the Council’s determination to continue fulfilling its constitutional mandates, preventing violations, protecting and supporting victims, and promoting a culture of human rights, thereby contributing to the consolidation of the rule of law and strengthening the effective enjoyment of rights and freedoms, in full independence and in alignment with the international human rights system.
