The Moroccan Commission for Human Rights (IMDH) threatened to hold its third national conference in public streets in Bouznika after being denied authorization from regional prefecture, according to an official statement.
The commission expressed its categorical “rejection of any forms of restriction, siege, and prohibition” exercised on them, including the recent refusal they received from the Bouznika prefecture banning them from holding the national conference scheduled for December 1, 2, and 3, 2023 in Bouznika.
The commission wasn’t permitted to hold their third conference for 4 years now, calling the refusal suppressive and retaliatory.
“We have sent several letters through the mediator, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Human Rights, but received no response. The National Council for Human Rights or the mediator informed us that they had contacted the Ministry of the Interior but without any response or awaiting a response,” Mbarek Athmani, the president of the Moroccan Commission for Human Rights.
Athmani said that some of their branches didn’t receive the legal receipt as well.
“We raised our questions in Parliament, but the Minister of Interior said that it may not be an approved policy, but rather the personal actions of some authorities in the regions,” recounted the president of IMDH.
MoroccoLatestNews reached out to Bouznika Prefecture but the authorities weren’t immediately available for comment.
The president of IMDH described these acts as a violation of the law, and constitution, as well as an interference with the role of human rights associations. “This is a discredit to Morocco’s reputation and international conventions, and a lack of respect for the role played by human rights associations,” said Athmani.
He confirmed to MoroccoLatestNews that the conference will be held at the same time and in public streets. This was the desire of the activists at the national level, and this decision will be endorsed by a meeting of the National Council for Human Rights on November 11.
The commission urged “the Head of Government to assume the responsibility entrusted to him to enforce respect for the law and to stop the violation of the right to organize,” according to their official statement.
In 2022, two associations were denied legal deposit receipt –be it temporary or final.