The Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights (DIDH) reacted to the report of the NGO, Human Rights Watch (HRW) for 2021, in its section reserved for human rights in Morocco. In an open response, the DIDH denounced “data without real or legal foundations”.
This organization persists in “its continuous involvement in a political and systematic campaign against our country, by presenting data without real or legal foundations, in contradiction with its approach which it constantly recalls, and which advocates in-depth investigation into the violations and the revelation of the truth on a large scale”, maintains the DIDH.
Regarding the criminal justice system, the Interministerial Delegation indicated that HRW “premeditated and systematic abuse of the role of judges and the conduct of the trial, arguing the legitimization of so-called +coercion and deception as to the signature of trials+”, and this without providing arguments emanating from his observation of the progress of the trials or from a careful reading of the judgments and judicial decisions, and even less from any other professional observation issued by another party.
The Delegation added that HRW “ignored all this, while the court sessions were public, and the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) issued reports and observation statements that deserved ‘to be taken into account’, emphasizing that ‘it was up to an international organization, claiming to be revealing the truth, to go in search of data from a variety of sources, except that it chose the path of political protest”.
With regard to the criminal justice system, the DIDH noted that “the guarantees provided by the current criminal procedure reflect the progress made in terms of respect for human rights in our country as well as its interaction with its international commitments. . As for the development of this system in terms of legal guarantees, it is a matter of national sovereignty and its monitoring depends on the orientations of the executive power and on what parliament decides. In sum, HRW’s attempt to undermine the Moroccan criminal justice system is categorically rejected”.
With regard to the freedom to create associations, the Interministerial Delegation considered that Human Rights Watch persisted in its opposing political approach, since it devoted a paragraph to an association which it considered to be the largest NGO in human rights, claiming that it was obstructed in its action and that the authorities refused to facilitate the official procedures of its sections.
The organization’s report, DIDH continued, does not present, once again, the information attesting to the veracity of the violations nor the related facts, in the sense that it did not reveal any documented data likely to substantiate his claims. Similarly, it has not presented proof that the injured party has taken steps to enjoy what the law guarantees to it before the competent administrative authority or that attesting to a dispute with the administrative justice.
The Delegation affirmed, on the occasion, that its former leaders, for three years and within the framework of the demarches, asked, on the basis of the results of an official meeting, to provide them with arguments relating to the deprivation of the aforementioned association of its right to receive receipts of legal deposit, but they have not received any data on this subject, emphasizing, in this regard, that it can only renew the same position.
According to the Interministerial Delegation, “in all cases, and in accordance with the decisions of the National Human Rights Council concerning the use of administrative justice, and the orientation of the institution of the Mediator of the Kingdom, concerning the respect court decisions, and for the purpose of removing any ambiguity, and protecting the file from political exploitation and in compliance with the constitutional principles of freedom, responsibility and pluralism, Moroccan administrative justice is the only one able to rule on allegations of this kind”.
After stressing that “once again, it turns out that Human Rights Watch’s approach is marked by political exploitation and selectivity without taking into account the data of the national environment which gives itself the right to evaluate it », the Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights has announced that it will soon launch an electronic portal dedicated to the reception and follow-up of allegations of human rights violations, contained in the report of the special examination of the inter-ministerial delegate, published at the end of the past year”.
The Interministerial Delegation affirmed that it will undertake, within the framework of its attributions, the limits of its intervention and in the respect of the transparency, as well as the reception of the requests and the complaints, to follow their execution and to present to the competent constitutional authorities and institutions and to include what relates to it on the occasion of the special examination report which will be published at the end of the year.
With regard to freedom of expression, DIDH pointed out that the HRW report dealt with this issue from two angles, the first related to rumors of alleged hacking and spying on certain people’s telephones, and the second concerning the return to cases, some of which have been tried and others are still being processed by the courts.
The Interministerial Delegation clarified that the organization is returning to the first subject without taking into account the methodology for revealing the truths it claims, this same subject for which the Kingdom had provided sufficient explanations and had recourse to justice.
She added that the Head of Government had declared, firstly, that the organization was required to provide material evidence and scientific expertise, and that, secondly, he had sent a letter to the Secretary General by acting, asking her to provide evidence regarding the allegations contained in her report on the subject, but she did not provide anything to support her false allegations, adding that the Kingdom had recourse to international justice. The Inter-Ministerial Delegation affirmed that “once again, instead of revealing and scrutinizing the facts, and presenting them within the framework of objectivity, HRW has chosen the easy way out by engaging in a hostile political campaign to our country”.
With regard to the cases pending before the courts and involving journalists in the context of common law offences, the DIDH has categorically refused to respond to this aspect, given that the handling and decisions of disputes take place in the courts and between the parties in conflict within the framework of the guarantees of fair trial and under the observation of the parties eligible for this mission or within the framework of commentary on judgments and legal decisions.
And to conclude: “Unfortunately, HRW’s methodology and approach to this subject remain far from rooted human rights traditions. Therefore, his claims in this sense remain one of the political one-upmanship cards and nothing else”.
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