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Tuesday 31 October 2017

Convention Against Torture Initiative: Official Highlights Strategic Plans Developed by Morocco

Vocal synthesis
Convention Against Torture Initiative: Official Highlights Strategic Plans Developed by Morocco

Morocco has developed strategic plans for the promotion of human rights, especially in the fight against torture, said, Monday in Fez, minister of State for Human Rights, Mustapha Ramid.

Speaking at a regional symposium on the Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI), Ramid highlighted in this regard the national plan on democracy and human rights, which is currently being updated with a view to its adoption before the end of the current year, the citizen platform for the promotion of the culture of human rights and the plan of action for monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of the UN human rights mechanisms.

He also recalled that Morocco received, between 2000 and 2017, twelve UN human rights monitoring mechanisms, citing among these them the visit in 2012 of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture.

"Five years after that of the Special Rapporteur on Torture, the visit of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture was an opportunity to stress that Morocco has nothing to hide in this matter and has broken with the serious violations of human rights," Ramid said.

"If individual cases of torture or ill-treatment are recorded, they remain isolated cases and not the result of a systematic policy," he said, adding that these cases are dealt with within the framework of the law and are subject to review by the judicial authority.

In March 2014, the Governments of Chile, Denmark, Ghana, Indonesia and Morocco launched the Convention against Torture Initiative, to mark the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention against Torture. The aim of this global initiative is to have universal ratification of the Convention by 2024 – and that the risk of torture will be reduced in the world.

MAP 30 October 2017