Five years after the launch of the Fez Action Plan on the prevention of incitement to violence in religious discourse, Morocco, which has continued its efforts to reform and restructure the religious field through training and upgrading of imams and mourchidines and mourchidates for the dissemination of a correct and healthy understanding of an open and tolerant Islam, said Minister of Justice Abdellatif Ouahbi on Wednesday.
On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the high-level symposium for religious leaders and actors, the Minister of Justice took stock of the actions undertaken by Morocco to combat extremist ideas and the promotion of peace, to prevent projects religious radicals who could fall into terrorism.
The Minister affirmed that there is indeed a link between the phenomenon of incitement to violence and hate speech and crimes, considering that religious and intellectual extremism and violence lead to crimes undermine the peace, security and sustainable development and constitute direct threats and serious violations of all types of human rights, foremost among which are the right to life, the right to liberty, personal security, freedom of expression, thought, conscience and religion.
Morocco has continued, over the past five years and in accordance with the objectives of the Fez Action Plan, to materialize its firm will to combat extremism and hate speech, Ouahbi said.
The Kingdom has undertaken actions at several levels, notably in the legislative, religious domain, security, human rights, culture, and development.
At the level of Education, new initiatives have been taken to revise the teaching programs of Islamic education in public and private establishments and those responsible for traditional education, in addition to the reorganization of the University of Al Karaouiyine in order to modernize its education system.
In 2017, the “Moussalaha” program was launched to monitor and mentor those convicted in terrorism and extremism cases. The targeted people are followed by several actors for their psychological rehabilitation and the reinforcement of religious knowledge, to help them with socio-economic reintegration.
At the African level, Morocco has taken several initiatives to publicize its religious model and strengthen the exchange of experiences, this was done in particular with the creation of the Higher Council of the Mohammed VI Foundation of African Ulemas in 2017.
On the aspect of extremism and its link with religious terrorism, Abdellatif Ouahbi indicated that the Kingdom, which is very involved and in a responsible manner in the implementation of the United Nations counter-terrorism strategy, has accumulated a rich national experience. in this area, which makes it an essential model that arouses the interest of many countries, thanks to an effective security policy based on vigilance, surveillance, anticipation and prevention of acts of terrorism and violent extremism.
The country has also demonstrated its determination and its involvement in the fight against extremist discourse with the organization of forums and seminars in which specialized institutions participated, such as the first forum of ulema mediators on the prevention of violent extremism organized in 2016, the 4th international symposium on the follow-up to the Rabat +5 plan in December 2017, the 4th international symposium of the independent permanent human rights body of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation 2017, which was sanctioned by the Rabat Declaration.
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