Morocco and Western Sahara Human Rights

Human Rights Concerns 

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Time for US to Press Morocco on Human Rights Backsliding
Recent actions taken by the Moroccan government against the press and Western Saharan rights activists suggest backsliding on core human rights such as freedom of speech, press, association and movement. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was recently in Morocco but generally praised Morocco’s human rights record despite this disturbing trend. Call on the US government to press Morocco to quickly address these recent abuses » More actions

Repression of Dissent 

Amnesty International Statement: Eight new prisoners of conscience in October

The rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly continued to be restricted. Criticism of the monarchy or views contradicting the official position on other politically sensitive issues, especially the question of Western Sahara, were penalized.

Sahrawi (Western Saharan) human rights activists continued to face harassment, including politically motivated charges, restrictions on movement and administrative obstruction to prevent their organizations’ legal registration.

Hundreds of Sahrawis suspected of demonstrating against Moroccan rule or distributing pro-Polisario Front materials were arrested. Some were released after questioning; others were tried on charges of violent conduct in proceedings that were reported not to have complied with international standards of fair trial. Many complained that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated by security forces during questioning and that information allegedly obtained under torture was used as evidence in convictions.

Hundreds of members of the unauthorized Islamist political organization Al-Adl wal-Ihsan were questioned by police and at least 188 were charged with participating in unauthorized meetings or belonging to an unauthorized organization. The trial of the group’s spokesperson, Nadia Yassine, charged in 2005 with defaming the monarchy, was postponed.

Little independent information was available about conditions in the refugee camps run by the Polisario Front in Algeria. No steps were known to have been taken to address the impunity of those accused of committing human rights abuses in the camps in the 1970s and 1980s.

Excessive Use of Force 

Security forces used excessive force to disperse antigovernment demonstrations, highlighting the failure of the authorities to implement a key recommendation of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER). Established in 2004 to look into grave human rights violations committed between 1956 and 1999, the IER called in 2006 for improved regulation of the state’s security organs.

Counter-terrorism  

Some 190 suspected Islamist militants were convicted of terrorism-related offences and sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to life. According to reports, they included a Moroccan national who had been forcibly returned from Spain. Hundreds of Islamist prisoners convicted after the 2003 Casablanca bombing continued to call for judicial review of their trials, many of which were tainted with unexamined claims of confessions extracted under torture.

Transitional Justice 

The Human Rights Advisory Board, charged with continuing the work of the IER, had still not published the list of all cases of enforced disappearances investigated by the IER. The IER’s final report, published in January 2006, recommended measures to ensure non-repetition of grave human rights violations through a comprehensive programme of judicial and institutional reforms, but these had not yet been implemented. Nor was any progress made towards providing victims with effective access to justice or holding individual perpetrators to account, issues that were excluded from the remit of the IER.

Discrimination: Violence Against Women and Homosexuals

In January 2008, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women called for the legal criminalization of violence against women and active measures to combat it. In November the Ministry of Social Development, Family and Solidarity announced that such a law was being developed. In December, in a further welcome move, King Mohamed VI announced that Morocco would withdraw reservations it made when ratifying the Convention.

In January an appeal court upheld prison terms of up to 10 months against six men convicted of “homosexual conduct” in Ksar El-Kebir, north-western Morocco.  Same-sex sexual relations between consenting adults are criminalized under Moroccan law.

Refugees, Asylum seekers and migrants

Thousands of people suspected of being irregular migrants were arrested and collectively expelled, mostly without any consideration of their protection needs and their right under Moroccan law to contest the decision to deport them or examine the grounds on which it was made. Some migrants were reported to have been subjected to excessive force and other ill-treatment at the time of arrest or during their detention or expulsion; some were reported to have been dumped at the border with Algeria or Mauritania without adequate food and water.

US Policy 

Morocco has had longstanding close relations with the United States. In 2004, Morocco became a major non-NATO ally of the United States. They also entered into a bilateral free trade agreement. Morocco is believed to cooperate with the US government's extraordinary rendition program and possibly tortured some of these prisoners, such as the case of Benyahim Mohammed.

Time for US to Press Morocco on Human Rights Backsliding
Recent actions taken by the Moroccan government against the press and Western Saharan rights activists suggest backsliding on core human rights such as freedom of speech, press, association and movement. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was recently in Morocco but generally praised Morocco’s human rights record despite this disturbing trend. Call on the US government to press Morocco to quickly address these recent abuses » More actions

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