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Morocco - Consideration of reports of submitted by States Parties under Article 44 of the Convention: Addendum [2003] UNCRCSPR 2; CRC/C/93/Add.3 (12 February 2003)
UNITED NATIONS
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CRC
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Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Distr. GENERAL
CRC/C/93/Add.3 12 February
2003
Original: ENGLISH
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COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER
ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION
Second periodic reports of States parties due in 2000
MOROCCO[*]
[13 October 2000]
[Original: Arabic]
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
Introduction 1 -
3 6
PART ONE: COUNTRY PROFILE 4 - 58 6
I. GEOGRAPHIC AND
DEMOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION 4 - 18 6
II. GENERAL POLITICAL STRUCTURE
19 - 28 8
III. GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF HUMAN
RIGHTS 29 -
58 9
A. Constitutional provisions 29 - 33 9
B. International
conventions 34 - 35 10
C. Judicial, administrative and other
authorities 36 - 45 10
D. Recourse against human rights violations
46 - 47 12
E. Measures taken in the field of the rights of the child
48 - 58 12
PART TWO: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION 59 -
670 13
I. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION 59 -
158 13
A. Measures taken to harmonize national law and
policy
with the provisions of the Convention (art. 4) 60 -
73 13
B. Measures taken for the collection of data 74 -
80 15
C. Measures taken to guarantee economic, social
and
cultural rights 81 - 137 16
D. Action taken to make the
principles and provisions
of the Convention widely known (art. 42) 138 -
157 25
E. Measures adopted to make the national report
widely
known (art. 44) 158 29
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
II. DEFINITION OF THE
CHILD (art. 1) 159 - 162 29
III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES 163 -
186 30
A. Non-discrimination (art. 2) 163 - 170 30
B. The
best interests of the child (art. 3) 171 - 179 32
C. Right to life,
survival and development (art. 6) 180 - 185 34
D. Respect for the
child’s views (art. 12) 186 - 187 35
IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND
FREEDOMS 188 - 235 35
A. Name and nationality (art. 7) 188 -
195 35
B. Preserving the child’s identity (art. 8)
196 37
C. Freedom of expression (art. 13) 197 -
204 37
D. Access to information (art. 17) 205 -
214 38
E. Freedom of thought, conscience and
religion (art. 14)
215 41
F. Right to freedom of association and to freedom
of
peaceful assembly (art. 15) 216 - 217 41
G. Protection of
private life (art. 16) 218 - 222 41
H. Right not to be subjected to
torture or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment
(art. 37 (a)) 223 - 235 42
V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND
ALTERNATIVE
CARE 236 - 336 45
A. Parental guidance (art. 5)
236 45
B. Parental responsibilities (art. 18, paras. 1 and 2) 237
- 249 45
C. Separation from parents (art. 9) 250 - 254 48
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
D. Family reunification
(art. 10) 255 - 257 49
E. Illicit transfer and non-return of
children
abroad (art. 11) 258 50
F. Recovery of maintenance
for the child
(art. 27, para. 4) 259 - 264 50
G. Children
deprived of a family environment (art. 20) 265 - 286 51
H. Adoption
(art. 21) 287 55
I. Right to periodic review of placement for
purposes
of care, protection or treatment of a child’s
physical
or mental health (art. 25) 288 - 291 55
J. Protection
of the child against any form of abuse and
neglect, including
rehabilitation and reintegration
(art. 39) 292 -
336 56
VI. HEALTH AND WELFARE 337 - 455 62
A. Child survival
and development (art. 6, para. 2) 337 - 352 62
B. Disabled children
(art. 23) 353 - 371 65
C. Health and health services (art. 4) 372 -
409 69
D. Social security and childcare services and
facilities
(art. 26 and art. 18, para. 3) 410 -
431 75
E. Standard of living (art. 27) 432 -
455 79
VII. EDUCATION, LEISURE AND CULTURAL
ACTIVITIES 456 -
566 82
A. Education and vocational training (art. 28) 456 -
535 82
B. Aims of education (art. 29) 536 -
551 97
C. Leisure, recreation and cultural activities (art. 31) 552 -
566 100
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION
MEASURES 567 - 670 104
A. Children in situations of emergency (art.
38) 567 - 571 104
B. Children in conflict with the law 572 -
613 105
C. Children in situations of exploitation,
including
recovery and social reintegration 614 -
667 112
D. Children belonging to a minority or an
indigenous
group (art. 30) 668 - 670 120
List of annexes
121
Introduction
- Pursuant
to article 44 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the
Kingdom of Morocco in June 1993 and published
in the Official Gazette in
December 1996, the Kingdom of Morocco hereby submits the second periodic report
on the implementation of the Convention.
- The
Government of Morocco has noted with satisfaction the comments made by the
Committee on the Rights of the Child on the measures
taken by Morocco on the
institutional and legislative levels in order to give effect to the provision of
the Convention and to promote
the rights of the child.
- The
Moroccan Government has also taken into account all the remarks and
recommendations made by the Committee in the course of the
latter’s
consideration of the initial report by the Kingdom of Morocco (CRC/C/28/Add.1)
on 24 and 25 September 1996. In response
the Government has intensified its
efforts to put into effect these recommendations through a number of actions and
measures to advance
the rights of the child to the required
level.
PART ONE: COUNTRY PROFILE
I. GEOGRAPHIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
- The
Kingdom of Morocco is situated in the northern extremity of Africa between
latitudes 61° and 32° north. The total area
of Morocco is 710,850 sq
km; it is bordered by the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and
shares land borders with
Algeria to the east and Mauritania to the
south.
- According
to recent statistical data the population of Morocco is estimated
at 28.2 million, with a relatively low rate of growth
ranging from 2.6
per cent between 1971 and 1982 to 1.7 in the period from 1994 to
2000.
- The
lower rate of growth is due to a decreasing fertility rate from
5.5 children in 1982 to 3.1 children in 1997. This is explained
by a higher use of contraceptives, the higher marriage age and the declining
rate of illiteracy. Notwithstanding these indications,
the population continues
to grow, with children under 15 accounting for 33.8 per cent of the total
population in 1982.
- The
segment of active population between ages 15 and 59 has moved from 51.5 per cent
in 1982 to 59 per cent in 1998.
- The
number of women of childbearing age, i.e. between 15 and 49, went
from 47 per cent to 54 per cent in
1998.
- In
Morocco, the rate of urbanization moved faster with urban population
representing 54 per cent of total population.
- Migration
was the major reason for this trend, accounting for 47 per cent of the rate of
growth of urban population.
- Positive
developments in the areas of health and education led to a decline in mortality
rates: the crude rate went down from 10.6
per 1,000 in 1980 to 6.3 per 1,000 in
1998. This decline reflected marked improvements in rural areas where the
mortality rate moved
down from 12.9 per 1,000 to 7.4 per 1,000 as opposed
to a decline in urban areas from 7.5 per 1,000 to 5 per 1,000 in the same
period.
The decline of infant mortality rates was even more striking, going
down from 57.3 per 1,000 in 1988-1992 to 36.6 per 1,000 in
1992-1997.
- Maternal
mortality has also declined, moving from 332 per 100,000 live births in the
period 1985-1991 down to 228 per 100,000 live
births in the period
1992-1997. This decline is demonstrated by a Survey on Maternal and Child
Health (PAPCHILD) undertaken by the
Ministry of Public Health in
1997.
- In
urban areas the rate of maternal mortality went down from 284 to 125 per 100,000
live births in the same period. However the rate
in rural areas went down by
only 15 per cent in this period.
- The
lower mortality rates were reflected in the higher life expectancy rate which
moved upward, from 47 years in 1962 to 69.2 years
in 1988. In spite of
continued efforts to combat adult illiteracy, the rate of illiteracy continues
to be high among adult population
in the age group of 10 and above. In
1998, this rate stood at about 48.3 per cent.
- The
rural population and women are the more severely affected by this situation. In
rural areas illiteracy amounts to 65 per cent
against 33.7 per cent in urban
areas. Among women the rate of illiteracy on the national level is 61.9 per
cent against 33.8 per
cent among men. Notwithstanding these difficulties, a
significant breakthrough has been registered in 1998/99 with the number of
beneficiaries of programmes for literacy and adult education
reaching 181,000 people, of whom 62 per cent were women. Following
is a
breakdown of these beneficiaries by programme:
General campaign
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89,500
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Sectoral and public institutions
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69,000
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Business entities
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1,500
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Associations
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21,000
|
- In
1995 unemployment reached 16 per cent of the active population. Urban
unemployment registered a significant growth with an average
annual increase of
8.3 per cent. This brought the rate of unemployment from 15.8 per cent in 1990
to 23.4 per cent in 1999.
- An
important feature of urban unemployment is the significant proportion of
females. In the third quarter of 1999 females accounted
for 31 per cent of
the unemployed against 21 per cent among males in the same
period. The 34-45 age group accounts for 45.3 per
cent of the
unemployed, followed by the 15-21 age group accounting
for 39.5 per cent.
- As
for unemployment in rural areas, the number of the unemployed evolved
from 291,503 in 1990/91 to 384,186 in 1995 and then to 301,000
in the
third quarter of 1999. The corresponding percentages are 5.7, 8.5, and 6.1
respectively. Public authorities have undertaken
a set of measures and actions
to stimulate employment, including general contracting and creation of projects.
Other measures were
in the areas of training and integration through the Job
Initiative Programme which helped to create more than 23,000 contracting
jobs
since its introduction in October 1997.
II. GENERAL POLITICAL STRUCTURE
- Under
article 1 of the Constitution, Morocco is a democratic, social and
constitutional monarchy. The Constitution further provides that sovereignty
shall be vested in the people who exercise it directly or indirectly through
constitutional institutions.
Political parties, cultural associations,
community organizations, and professional chambers strengthen the organization
and representation
of the population.
- The
King is the supreme representative of the nation and the symbol of the unity
thereof. He is the guarantor of the perpetuation
and the continuity of the
State. He is the defender of the faith and the protector of the Constitution.
He is also the protector of the rights and liberties of the citizens, social
groups and organizations.
- The
legislative authority is exercised by the Parliament. The Constitution, as
revised in 1996, provides that the Parliament shall consist of two
chambers: the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors
(Senate).
Members of the House of Representatives are elected by direct universal suffrage
for a term of five years. Three fifths
of the House of Councillors shall be
constituted by members elected by an electoral college in each of the regions of
the Kingdom.
This electoral college is comprised of local representatives. The
remaining two fifths of the membership shall be constituted by
members elected
nationally by electoral colleges made up of representatives of trade chambers
and wage earners.
- The
Government is composed of the Prime Minister and the ministers. It is
answerable to the King and the Parliament. Under the responsibility
of the
Prime Minister, the Government shall ensure the enforcement of laws. The Prime
Minister may delegate some of his powers to
the ministers. The Prime Minister
is also responsible for the coordination of ministerial
activities.
- The
judiciary is independent from both the legislative and the executive branches.
Magistrates are appointed by Royal Decree upon
a recommendation made by the
Supreme Council of Magistracy. Article 86 of the Constitution stipulates that
the Supreme Council of Magistracy shall be presided over by the King. The
Council consists of nine judges and the
Minister of Justice serves as its
Vice-President. Members of the judiciary are subject to the rules of the
Judiciary Statutes.
- The
Supreme Council of Magistracy ensures the implementation of the guarantees
granted to magistrates with respect to promotion and
discipline. Magistrates on
the bench are not to be removed or transferred except by law.
- The
administrative divisions of the country are regions, provinces, districts and
urban and rural communes. Morocco is made up of
16 regions. The law of April
1966 provides for a new legal framework for the regions. Accordingly, regions
are now run as local
communities with a council that enjoys the power of
decision-making, subject to its own deliberations and under the supervision of
the executive branch.
- Regions
cover 10 welayehs (governorates) that are made up of 13 provinces
and 24 districts, in addition to 31 provinces which are also divided
into rural and
urban communes.
- Local
communities elect their own councils to administer the affairs of the community
democratically in accordance with conditions
established by the law. These
councils are elected by a simple majority of individual votes cast in one round
of universal suffrage.
The councils of provinces and districts are elected by
the members of the Communal Councils on the basis of lists, and are chosen
from
those lists proportionately according to the highest numbers of votes obtained
by the lists. The remaining seats are filled
according to a formula of
proportional representation. Only members of the municipal councils are
elected. These councils also
include one elected representative of each of the
professional associations, chambers of commerce and industry, chambers of
services
and guilds of traditional crafts, agriculture and
fishing.
- Regional
councils are composed of representatives elected by local communities and
chambers of trades and of wage earners. They also
include members of Parliament
representing the region concerned. The regional councils also include
presidents of the councils of
the provinces and communes in the region but they
attend meetings only in an advisory capacity.
III. GENERAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF HUMAN RIGHTS
A. Constitutional provisions
- Developments
in Morocco since the early 1990s point to the determination of the Kingdom to
ensure, safeguard and promote human rights.
- The
Constitution of Morocco stipulates in its preamble that the Kingdom of Morocco,
being an active and dynamic member of international organizations,
reaffirms its
determination to abide by the universally recognized human
rights.
- In
April 1998, His Majesty the late King Hassan II appointed for the first time in
the political history of Morocco a Government with
a majority made up of
opposition political parties. In its policy statement to the House of
Representatives, this Government declared
that the vindication of human rights
was one of its principal orientations.
- In
Chapter One (arts. 1-18), the Moroccan Constitution guarantees the basic rights
of all citizens, such as equality before the law, equal political rights for
both men and women, freedom
of movement through, and of settlement in, all parts of the Kingdom, freedom
of opinion and
expression in all forms and of public assembly, freedom of
association and the freedom to belong to any union or political group of
their
choice. The Constitution also establishes the rights to work and to hold public
office uniformly for all citizens. It further guarantees the right of all
citizens to strike and to own private property.
- In
article 10, the Constitution stipulates that no one shall be arrested, taken
into custody or penalized except under the circumstances and procedures
prescribed
by law. It also affirms that homes shall be inviolable and that a
search warrant shall be issued and an investigation ordered under
the conditions
and procedures prescribed by law.
B. International conventions
- The
Kingdom of Morocco has acceded to numerous international instruments related to
human rights and has ratified several conventions
in this field. These include
for example:
- International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1979.
- International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified in
1979.
- Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,
1993.
- International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, 1970.
- Convention
against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
ratified on 21 June 1993.
- Morocco
has also ratified the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the
Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices
Similar to Slavery. Moreover, it
has ratified a number of conventions of the International Labour Organization
(ILO), the last of
which was the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) which
was ratified on 19 March 1999.
C. Judicial, administrative and other authorities
- All
Moroccan authorities have, in the exercise of their functions, a mandate in the
area of the implementation of internationally
recognized human rights. They are
bound by both the obligations emanating from international treaties ratified by
Morocco and the
fundamental rights provided for in the Moroccan Constitution.
Moreover, the terms of reference of the judicial branch require the judicial
authorities to ensure and oversee respect for human
rights.
- On
8 May 1990 an Advisory Council for Human Rights was established with the task of
assisting His Majesty the King in dealing with
all matters relating to human
rights, and formulating views and suggestions in all human rights
cases.
- In
January 1991 a special branch for public liberties was created in the Ministry
of the Interior, under the name of Department of
Personnel Training,
Codification and Public Liberties. The terms of reference of this Department
include ensuring the sound implementation
of legal provisions relating to public
liberties and taking all necessary organizational measures with a view to
elucidating and
interpreting any ambiguity or uncertainty in the legal texts.
The Department is also required to develop full mastery of the legal
provisions
in the matter of public liberties and to endeavour to provide legal assistance
to the various departments of the Ministry
to enable them to settle disputes in
the field of public liberties.
- On
8 July 1990 the National Council for Youth and the Future was created as a
consultative body seeking to encourage, through dialogue
and consensus, economic
and social partners and representatives of executive and legislative organs to
integrate the youth in active
life.
- The
Ministry in Charge of Human Rights was created on 11 November 1993 and was
assigned the task of elaborating and developing a government
policy for the
defence of human rights in coordination with other relevant ministries, and
ensuring that domestic law was in conformity
with the various international
instruments. It also has a role in disseminating human rights culture within
the fabric of society.
Its function is also to broaden and enhance the ongoing
dialogue and consultation with local, national and international bodies
directly
concerned with the issues of human rights.
- On
24 November 1994 an Advisory Council was set up to pursue social dialogue. The
Council is composed of representatives of the Government
and of various economic
and social sectors involved in this process. The Advisory Council works with
His Majesty the King and is
chaired directly by His Majesty. It aims at
bringing representatives of various interest groups to maintain liaison among
themselves
in order to examine social questions and reach consensus on formulas
for appropriate solutions.
- These
mechanisms were further consolidated with the creation of government departments
within the current Government with functions
strongly linked to the field of
human rights.
- The
Ministry of State in Charge of Social Care and Family and Child Affairs was
created with functions including the advancement of
family, women and children
and the improvement of the condition of social life of the elderly. It also
aims at the development and
institutionalization of organizations active in the
social field and the promotion of social partnerships between local communities
and non-governmental organizations in coordination with the competent
ministries.
- In
the same context, a Ministry of State for Solidarity and Humanitarian Action was
created in order to educate and sensitize segments
of the population who are
vulnerable to social risks and to set up appropriate structures for assistance,
rehabilitation and shelter
in the pursuit of social advancement and combating
poverty.
- One
of the very first actions taken by His Majesty King Muhammad VI was the creation
of a separate arbitration body under the umbrella
of the Advisory Council for
Human Rights to decide on compensations to victims of involuntary disappearance
and arbitrary detention.
D. Recourse against human rights violations
- Several
avenues of recourse and appeal are in place for the benefit of any citizen who
suffers any violation of his/her rights. Legal
action may be initiated before
courts of first instance and appeal courts. Cassation of a judgement by these
courts may also be
sought before the Supreme Council.
- To
boost the capacity of the judicial system to ensure respect of legality, rights
and laws, administrative courts have been introduced
since 1991 whose competence
is to settle disputes relating to administrative contracts and to award damages
for actions and activities
of public persons and for arbitrary decisions made by
administrative authorities.
E. Measures taken in the field of the rights of the
child
- Since
its ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Morocco has
spared no effort to put the Convention into effect
in spite of the many
constraints and challenges that are faced by Morocco, as by other developing
countries. Of special relevance
are the challenges of globalization, burdensome
debts and harsh climatic conditions experienced by Morocco, whose economy is
especially
dependent on agriculture.
- In
the period since the consideration of the initial report of the Kingdom of
Morocco, the country has undertaken a variety of efforts
to promote the status
of the child and to give effect to the provisions of the
Convention.
- On
the institutional level, several entities were created, as noted above, to
coordinate actions in the area of the rights of the
child. We recall in
particular the creation of the Ministry of State in charge of Social Care and
Family and Child Affairs. This
Ministry is responsible for the coordination of
the relevant activities of the government departments concerned and civil
society
institutions active in the field of the rights of the
child.
- The
Ministry of State for Solidarity and Humanitarian Action has also made effective
contribution to the improvement of the condition
of children living in
poverty.
- In
this same context, the Office of the Moroccan High Commissioner for Disabled
Persons was upgraded to become the Ministry of State
in Charge of Disabled
Persons.
- In
its policy statement to the Parliament, the Government has declared its
commitment to allocating the appropriate priority to children
and improve their
situation by organizing a number of open-ended workshops. The outcome of these
workshops were several programmes
in favour of children that were developed
according to Royal Guidelines which urged both government and civil society
groups to ensure
the rights of the child on the basis of an integrated and
welldefined framework.
- Following
its ratification of the International Declaration on the Survival, Protection
and Development of the Child, a National Plan
of Action was established in 1992
to achieve by 2000 the objectives set by the International Declaration. In
1999, several workshops
were organized to draft a second National Plan of Action
for the new decade. The second plan took into account the new priorities
in the
area of the rights of the child and a rights-based approach was adopted for its
elaboration so as to reflect the perspectives
of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child.
- Morocco
has also mobilized extensive efforts to translate into actions and measures the
recommendations made by the Committee on the
Rights of the Child in the context
of its consideration of the initial report of Morocco.
- The
Convention itself was published in the Official Gazette on 17 December
1996. Efforts were also made to familiarize both adults and children with the
rights contained in the Convention.
In addition, training courses were
organized for human rights officers in general and in particular for those
dealing with the rights
of the child. More detailed information is given later
in this report.
- Morocco
has also enhanced the mechanisms in place for the coordination of actions in the
area of the rights of children through partnerships
developed with civil society
institutions, as noted above.
- Pursuant
to the recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Morocco
exerted efforts in the area of the realization
of economic, social and cultural
rights of the child. This is clear from the many measures reviewed below in
respect of health,
education, recreation, culture and welfare of destitute
children and children with special needs.
PART TWO - IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION
I. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION
- In
addition to measures reviewed in the initial report, the Moroccan Government has
taken a number of initiatives to promote the conditions
of children and to
protect their rights.
A. Measures taken to harmonize national law and policy with
the
provisions of the Convention (art. 4)
- The
harmonization of national laws with international human rights instruments is an
important task that receives particular attention
by the Government. In this
respect, the Prime Minister has, by circular No. 98138 of 10 September
1998, established a ministerial
committee to harmonize Moroccan law with
international conventions on human rights ratified by Morocco. The Ministry in
Charge of
Human Rights serves as secretary of this committee.
- The
harmonization of Moroccan laws with the Convention on the Rights of the Child
was a focal concern for participants in the fifth
and sixth sessions of the
National Congress on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, organized by the
National Observatory of
the Rights of the Child on 25 May 1998 and in 1999,
respectively.
- At
an initiative by the National Observatory a draft text was tabled for the
harmonization of priority laws, i.e. the Code on Personal
Status, the
Nationality Code, civil status laws, the Criminal Code and the Royal Decree
establishing the Act on Abandoned Children.
- The
Ministry of State in Charge of Social Care and Family and Child Affairs has
constituted a committee to prepare a draft law to
amend and supplement the Royal
Decree establishing Act No. 165 1-93 of 10 September 1993 on Abandoned Children.
The proposed draft
law shall take into account comments and suggestions
submitted by competent government departments and civil society
organizations.
- The
Ministry of the Interior has undertaken a comprehensive review of legal texts
governing civil status with a view to drafting a
new text superseding all others
and establishing modernized and updated rules organizing civil
status.
- The
Ministry of State for Disabled Persons has been engaged in a process of
harmonizing legislation relating to the disabled with
relevant international
standards in order to provide better protection for disabled
children.
- The
Ministry of Justice has completed a draft amendment to the Code of Criminal
Procedure.
- The
draft, which is to be submitted shortly to the Parliament, is based on a new
approach aimed at providing better protection to
children in conflict with the
law.
- Reproducing
the Convention in the Official Gazette was an effective means of making
it widely known. It also entails important legal implications, since the
Supreme Council has ruled
that in case of a conflict between national law and
provisions of international conventions,
these latter shall prevail,
provided the relevant Convention has been published in the Gazette
(decision No. 49 of 1 October 1976, decision No. 5 of 3 November 1972 and
decision No. 162
of 3 August 1979).
- The
publication of a convention in the Gazette makes it enforceable. It may
be recalled in this regard that the preamble to the Constitution declares that
the Kingdom of Morocco “fully adheres to the principles, rights and
obligations emanating from the charters of
[international] organizations as it
reaffirms its determination to abide by the universally recognized human
rights”. By virtue
of the provisions of the Moroccan Constitution, a
convention published in the Gazette becomes part of the domestic
law.
- Since
the rights of the child are deemed to be an integral part of human rights, a
child shall have access to the same judicial remedies
as are open to any citizen
in the area of human rights. In view of the age of the child, rules and laws
dealing with children in
relation to justice provide for their support through
the presence of a lawyer and/or those legally responsible for the
child.
- In
addition to the governmental departments that were created (see above section on
measures in the field of the rights of the child),
the National Observatory for
Human Rights was created by a decree of His Majesty the Late King Hassan II. He
also declared the National
Congress on the Child a permanent body to follow up
the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to evaluate
progress and to mobilize all forces and intensify efforts to accomplish the
objectives of the Convention and to ensure full and comprehensive
realization of
the rights of the child.
- In
this context, the National Observatory has been holding the National Congress on
the Rights of the Child on an annual basis to
coincide with the National Day for
Childhood. The Congress examines and evaluates achievements made in the areas
of health, education,
protection of children in difficult situations,
environment and other areas indicated in the Convention. Each session focuses
its
deliberations on one theme. In collaboration with civil society groups, the
Government endeavours to translate the recommendations
adopted into policies and
national plans of action.
- In
the royal message to the second session of the National Children’s
Parliament, His Majesty said: “We were gratified
to learn that
maltreatment and exploitation of children will be one item of the topics to be
discussed by this important session,
pursuant to recommendations of child
parliamentarians. Indeed, this is a serious phenomenon and it commands the
utmost attention
of official and interested parties.”
B. Measures taken for the collection of data
- Morocco
has exerted extensive efforts in the collection of data and statistics in
respect of children. In this field, the Ministry
of Economic Forecasting and
Planning has, through the activities of its Department of Statistics and Centre
of Demographic Studies
and Researches, prepared a number of researches to cover
the requirements of statistical data, particularly in the social
area.
- These
surveys have helped to gain more insight into the conditions of children under
18. Over the last 10 years the following studies
and surveys were
conducted:
Two surveys on the standard of living of families, 1990-1991 and
1998-1999;
The General Population Census, 1994;
Survey on the time-budget of women, 1998-1999;
Annual survey of
employment;
A study of children in difficult situations, which is to be incorporated in
the ongoing survey of employment;
Research on teenagers in Casablanca, 1999, which is in publication.
- For
its part, the Ministry of Health has undertaken a number of activities in the
area of collecting data and statistics. The most
significant of these
are:
Two surveys on “Population and Health” in 1992
and 1995;
A survey (PAPCHILD) on maternal and child health,
1996-1997.
- Despite
these efforts, shortage of data is to be noted, particularly in respect of
abandoned children, children who are victims of
maltreatment, exploitation and
drug abuse, and similar groups. The data provided by various departments are
not adequate to form
an overall view of the actual evolution of the numbers of
these groups.
- It
is expected, however, that this shortcoming is to be remedied with the
prospective establishment of the National Board of Statistical
Information,
which will centralize data and statistics, including those that may allow a
comprehensive assessment of actions taken
on behalf of
children.
- In
cooperation with UNICEF, a programme was developed to establish social
indicators of the situation of children and targets achieved
under the National
Plan for the Protection, Survival and Development of Children in the 1990s.
- The
main features of this cooperation are:
(a) Training on research
techniques and data analysis;
(b) Formulation of indicators needed as
inputs for drafting the national report on measures taken to implement the
recommendations
of the World Summit on Children;
(c) Strengthening
national capacity for analysis of data relating to children, with the support of
world experts;
(d) Preparation of a report on social indicators in
respect of children, scheduled for late December 2000.
C. Measures taken to guarantee economic, social and cultural
rights
- Notwithstanding
the various difficulties and constraints faced by Morocco in the development
process, major efforts have been expended
to guarantee recognized economic,
social and cultural rights of the child, as an independent person. These rights
cover the rights
of health, education, decent standard of living, mental and
personality development, acquiring knowledge, and participation in social
and
cultural life.
- These
efforts are especially manifest on the constitutional level, where mechanisms
have been developed to implement constitutional
provisions. This preoccupation
has been consecrated by His Majesty the Late King Hassan II in his message to
the First Meeting of
Mediterranean National Human Rights Organizations, held in
Marrakesh in April 1998 and attended by the High Commissioner for Human
Rights,
in which he said: “Safeguarding all kinds of rights hinges on
guaranteeing economic, social and cultural rights.”
On the occasion of
the Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1999),
His Majesty King Muhammad VI
addressed a message to the Moroccan people in
which he affirmed that the course chosen by Morocco in the area of human rights
was
firm and irreversible. His Majesty further said: “Our perspective is
not confined to the legal or institutional aspect, nor
is it limited to
particular measures and actions, but is also extended to social aspects which
lie at the very core of efforts to
preserve human dignity. We continue to pay
attention to the integration the of haves-not, the disabled and rural women, who
suffer
under the most acute conditions of marginalization, since this
constitutes the essence of human rights.”
- Outlays
for social development rose annually by some 9.0 per cent in the course of
the decade, reaching 8.25 billion dirhams, or 42
per cent of total
expenditure under the State’s general budget compared to 38.6
per cent in 1995.
- The
Finance Law for 1998-1999 established an increase of 2 percentage points in
allocations for social sectors in the State’s
general budget, which
clearly reflects the political
will of the Government to advance these
sectors. In 1997 expenditure on the basic social
sectors amounted to 2.12
billion dirhams, representing 2.17 per cent of total budgeted
expenditures.
- The
sector of basic education accounts for the highest share, i.e. 85 per cent
of expenditures on education, whose basic allocations
account for 10
per cent of total expenditures.
- In
its policy statement to the Parliament, the Government has declared its
commitment to giving priority to social development, encouragement
of social
dialogue, enhancement of the function of consultation and involvement of groups
and associations active in social, economic
and cultural
spheres.
1. Constitutional gains in the area of economic, social and
cultural rights
- Successive
amendments of the Constitutions of 1992 and 1996 produced an institutional
development in the field of economic, social
and cultural rights by making
regions the centres for creating local democracy. This orientation was also
given expression in the
royal address of His Majesty the Late King Hassan II on
the occasion of the inauguration of the first two-chamber Parliament in 1997.
In this address His Majesty affirmed that “the House of Councillors
(Senate) is above all a grouping of representatives of
those who work daily so
that Morocco may earn the fruit of its labour, they are the farmers,
wage-earners and traders. It is incumbent
upon us to honour their work and
efforts and their sweat and energy by also giving them a share in deliberating
the affairs of the
country, enacting legislation and having sometimes and in
certain circumstances and under certain conditions, a say in the work of
the
Government. To all this we have added something that is cherished by us, that
is, the regional community, which is an idea that
will make the population of
Morocco equal in rights, even though their levels of growth and development may
not be one and the same”.
- The
Constitution of 1996 has, in article 15, consecrated free initiative as an
effective means to liberate the national economy from monopoly. It
also
stressed the principle of control of public funds by raising the Supreme Council
of Accounts to the level of a constitutional
institution and restoring the
importance of socio-economic development planning, as stipulated in articles 32,
50 and 66.
2. Priority of social development
- The
Government’s policy statement stated that the Government gave social
development the top priority. Social areas of priority
also include combating
unemployment and poverty, eliminating social disparities, eradicating
illiteracy, improving basic educating,
promoting of medical care and reforming
the system of social protection.
- To
achieve these targets, the Government stressed the need to reconsider the
regional and sectoral distribution of social expenditures
in order to accord a
higher priority to the poorer regions and provinces and the needier segments of
society in the new social solidarity
contract.
3. Encouragement of social dialogue and enhancement of the
function of consultation
- In
August 1996, the Government and employers concluded an agreement that laid the
foundation for a new culture and new method of social
dialogue and consultation.
The function of consultation has also grown perceptibly over the last few years
with the augmentation
of the effective contribution of consultative councils in
the decision-making process with regard to economic, social, cultural and
human
rights issues.
- The
role of consultation in the consolidation of social democracy is beyond doubt.
For this reason, in addition to the Consultative
Council for Human Rights and
the National Council on Youth and the Future, the Consultative Council for the
Pursuit of Social Dialogue
was set up to promote the culture of consultation
among all social partners, including the Government, professional bodies,
employers
and trade unions.
- Civil
society organizations are active and effective partners in the area of
development in general. The last decade of the second
millennium has been
marked by the proliferation of active groups, with their number reaching nearly
30,000. The activities of many
of these groups are directed towards the
promotion of group interests, such as rights of women and the child, and towards
active
contribution to the advancement of economic, social, and cultural rights,
including literacy campaigns and combating poverty by setting
up small-scale
projects.
- Steps
were also taken to implement a number of joint projects by the Government and
nongovernmental organizations in various provinces.
These projects are
primarily concerned with economic development, provision of drinking water,
rural electrification, opening up
access to remote areas, etc.
- Support
by the Government to civil society entities takes the form of subsidies and
providing all necessary and possible means to
enable them to carry out their
activities to advance economic, social and cultural rights.
- Under
its obligation to implement the recommendations of the Copenhagen World Summit
for Social Development, the Moroccan Government
laid down a strategy for
integrated social development on the community level. The objectives of this
strategy consist of the revitalization
and enhancement of community actions and
the encouragement of initiatives involving all actors in order to open up remote
areas,
create jobs and reduce poverty.
- The
Government also intends to formulate a system by which to identify categories of
population most in need of assistance to benefit
from the free social services
offered by the State, especially in the areas of health, housing, nutrition and
social assistance.
Work began in the mid1990s to translate this social policy
into a programme of social priorities. Particular attention is given
to rural
areas to improve the access of disadvantaged population to basic social services
such as schools, health clinics, literacy
programmes and employment
opportunities.
- The
programme of priorities addresses three main areas: elementary education, basic
health care and national development. It covers
13 provinces with 43
per cent of the national rural population that are considered to be the
neediest communities.
- Programme
targets in the area of basic education include:
− improving access to basic education, reducing drop-out rates in rural
areas and increasing the number of classrooms;
− reducing discrepancies in access to schools between boys and girls;
launching awareness-raising campaigns to increase school
attendance of rural
girls;
− upgrading the quality of education;
− improving national school curricula;
− supporting school attendance of children by handing out books and other
school equipment free of charge to children of poor
families;
− supporting programmes of nutrition at schools; and
− Enhancing actions aimed at the improvement of the school environment and
the integration of school in the community.
- Targets
in the area of basic health care include:
− Improved access to basic health-care facilities for both prevention and
treatment;
− Renewal, restoration and construction of health care centres and clinics
in rural areas and regional hospitals;
− Provision of medical supplies and instruments, including medicines,
serums, contraceptives, ambulances and motorcycles for
itinerant nurses;
and
− Consolidation and expansion of the no-risk maternity
programme.
- In
the area of national development the targets include strengthening national
campaigns in the area of social development, including
literacy campaigns. For
the purpose of coordination and follow-up of social schemes, the programme of
social priorities will extend
support to the Committee for the Follow-up of
Social Development Policy. This support will be in the form of surveys and
appraisal
studies to be undertaken under the programme as well as an integrated
mechanism for regional information and management.
- The
financial envelope for this programme is on the order of US$ 226 million.
An amount of US$ 150 million has been funded through
a loan from the
World Bank and allocated as following: US$ 54 million for basic education, US$
30 million for basic health care
and US$ 228 million for national
development.
- The
first programme of social priorities was started in 1996-1997.
4. Role of international cooperation in the social development
strategy
- The
last decade witnessed a marked improvement in the identification and exact
definition of areas for intervention, the targeted
groups and priority actions.
This has permitted a more accurate formulation of the required
programmes.
- This
improvement is explained by the importance attached by Morocco to the
implementation of recommendations and plans of action adopted
by the various
United Nations conferences which were held in the course of the last decade of
the second millennium. Thus, activities
under the initial programme of social
priorities were supported by several field operations conducted by international
partners in
many provinces of Morocco.
- Although
the financial resources for these operations were meagre, the activities carried
out under these operations contributed to
the development of the provinces
concerned and the improvement of the situation of children in the provinces
concerned.
- In
this context two programmes may be singled out only as examples of others that
received 50 per cent of their financing from the
UNDP:
(a) A programme designed for the rural areas that was
initiated in September 1996 in the areas of Essaouira, Chechaouene,
Chechaoueh
and Al-Houz;
(b) A programme designed for three urban and
semi-urban centres in Casablanca, Marrakesh and Tangiers that was carried out in
September
1997 at a cost of US$ 2 million.
- The
primary objective of these supplementary programmes is to devise new approaches
to combat poverty which, if successful, could
be extended to other
districts.
- There
were other programmes envisaged to achieve similar
purposes:
(a) A programme sponsored by USAID to provide
elementary education for girls in rural areas, namely in Rachidia, Al-Hoceima,
Sidi
Kacem and Essaouira;
(b) A programme sponsored by the European Union
in the field of elementary education and basic health care at a cost of 70
million
ecus over three years. This programme was elaborated in coordination
with the programme of Social Priorities.
- A
framework scheme was elaborated for United Nations cooperation in the field of
development in the period 1998-2001. The scheme
is intended to harmonize
outlooks and to coordinate interventions of the United Nations in development
efforts within Morocco under
an integrated strategy.
5. Mechanisms for promoting social development
- In
the context of the Government’s strategy for social development, the
following mechanisms have been created:
(a) Social Development Agency
- This
agency is assigned the task of carrying out actions and programmes to improve
the living conditions of segments of the population
that are socially and
economically fragile. It contributes to the direct financing of projects, or
supports projects undertaken
by associations, community groups or public
institutions. It is also concerned with upgrading collective facilities in
areas facing
difficulties in development.
- To
achieve its targets, the agency was given the following terms of
reference:
(a) To contribute to financing social development
projects in priority areas, particularly drinking water, rural electrification,
literacy programmes, basic education, basic health care services and the
development of communications;
(b) To provide material and technical
support for the roll-out of individual and collective projects to enhance the
resources of fragile
population segments and improve their living
conditions;
(c) To contribute to the creation of small-scale ventures in
order to create employment opportunities for population categories who
have
difficulties in being integrated in the job market;
(d) To support
projects aimed at the protection and preservation of the environment;
and
(e) To promote the institutional capacities of non-governmental
organizations, local communities and other entities that pursue objectives
similar to those of the agency.
(b) Agency for Regional Economic and Social Development and
Revival of
Northern Morocco
- This
agency was set up to respond to the specific social, economic and cultural
characteristics of northern regions and districts.
Its objectives
include:
(a) Creation of employment opportunities in the medium
term, with wider involvement of the population in development programmes;
and
(b) Wider access of the population to basic services and facilities
and reinforcement of social assistance schemes for the benefit
of
underprivileged categories, particularly women and children.
- In
pursuit of these objectives, the agency elaborated a number of social and
cultural projects addressed to children. Such projects,
to be spread and
generalized in various northern regions and districts, include
specifically:
(a) Construction of a community youth centre in
the Bougaz area, in partnership with the “Darona (Our Home) Society
for Citizens’ Initiatives”, and a placement and training centre for
youth in difficult situations
in order to reintegrate them after training.
About 50 children, aged 8-16, are to benefit from this
initiative;
(b) Construction and equipment of six soccer fields in six
rural communities in AlHoceima region, in partnership with community councils
and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
- The
agency has also participated in the organization of a Children’s Books
Week, sponsored by the Society for Child Care and
Family Orientation in March
1999. The agency provided financing for the publication of the Society’s
bulletin on the Children’s
Books Week.
- In
addition to the creation of the two agencies, the two Houses of Parliament
unanimously approved in November 1998 a draft law on
small credits, widening the
scope for initiatives in the area of small income-generating ventures. The
benefits of these ventures,
which will raise family standards of living, will
reflect positively on guaranteeing the basic rights of the
child.
6. Sectoral programmes for the installation of basic utilities
in rural areas
- The
Government’s social development strategy opened up three major work areas:
programme of rural electrification, programme
for the construction of rural
access roads and the integrated programme for providing drinking water to rural
areas.
- The
importance of these programmes emanate from their contribution to the creation
of a normal and healthy social environment for
the child. For example, these
programmes help
curtail child mortality caused by diarrhoeal and infectious diseases; they
also raise the level of school attendance, especially for
girls in rural areas,
as a result of reducing the burden of tasks required of these girls to cope with
the absence of basic utilities.
(a) Programme of Rural Electrification (PEGER)
- Efforts
have been made to introduce electricity in the rural areas but they have not
achieved their expected results. Electricity
coverage reached only 18.5 per
cent of rural households in 1996, even though the pace of extending electricity
to villages accelerated
from an initial coverage of 577 population centres
with a total 70,000 families in 1996
to 1,044 centres in 1997 and 1,127
centres in 1998, and is expected to reach 1,500 centres
in 1999.
- If
this pace is maintained, the benefits of the programme may well reach
some 43 per cent of the rural population, and the overall
electrification coverage may reach 65 per cent and 80 per cent in 2003
and 2006, respectively.
(b) National Programme for Rural Access Roads
(PNCRR)
- Roads
play a vital role in the field of communications and can contribute effectively
to the economic and social activity within countries.
On a regional and local
level, a road is considered an important tool of any policy of national
territorial development and for
facilitating investment projects. Roads are
indeed the means for the transportation of people, goods and services and thus
ensure
an orderly distribution of production activities.
- Rural
access roads aim at bringing remote rural areas out of their isolation to enable
their population to communicate, which in turn may lead to a development of
economic
activity.
- The
National Programme for Rural Access Roads has been given a significant boost
since 1995 when 4,261 km of rural roads were built,
of which 3,809 km were
already opened for traffic.
- Implications
of road building in rural areas reflect positively on the standard of living of
the rural population in general, and
of children in particular. These
implications include higher rates of school enrolment and improving the living
conditions of rural
women.
- Studies
by the World Bank demonstrate that rural roads have a direct impact on the rate
of school enrolment of rural children; when
paved roads are built, this rate
jumps dramatically from 21 per cent to 76 per cent, especially in the case of
girls.
- A
study was carried out by the Ministry of Public Works in 1998 of the
implications of two roads built in Beni-Mellal and Tinzit as
part of the
National Programme for Rural Access Roads. The study demonstrates that with the
construction of these two roads, school
attendance grew by 12 per cent among
boys and 23 per cent among girls.
- In
the area of education, roads also contribute to raising the quality of
education. Roads make access to remote villages easier
and that in turn reduces
the absence of both teachers and children from school.
- Improvements
in transport conditions in the rural areas of the country, as a result of the
achievements in implementing the road construction
programme for rural areas,
have had a positive impact on the status of women, enabling the introduction of
health programmes for
the mother and the child (see the section on medical
services).
(c) Integrated Programme for supplying drinking water to
rural areas (PAGER)
- PAGER
was inaugurated in 1995 after the drought that Morocco, and its rural areas in
particular, witnessed in 1992, 1993 and 1995.
PAGER aims at providing drinking
water in the medium term for 31,000 rural villages, with a population of about
11 million, at an
investment of 10 million dirhams. From the beginning of
the project in 1995 to 1999, 3 million people benefited, for the first time,
from access to drinking water. Today, around 4.8 million inhabitants, or 38 per
cent of the rural population, have access to drinking
water.
- The
programme aims at achieving the following objectives:
− Improving the living and health conditions of the rural
population;
− Control of water-related diseases;
− Improving the conditions for rural women by alleviating their burden
related to the search for water;
− Control of rural migration;
− Improving school attendance in the rural areas, especially among
girls.
- The
programme is being implemented in partnership between the Government, local
communities and the beneficiary inhabitants.
- The
National Bureau for Drinking Water participates in the planning and production
of drinking water at the national level, and ensures
that children are direct
beneficiaries both from the point of view of health and prevention, and of
improving their living conditions.
- In
this regard, special mention should be made of the role of the National Bureau
for Drinking Water in improving water conditions
in the rural areas. It has
organized a number of activities, notably:
Campaigns for the control of trachoma in the areas of Ouarzazate, Taza,
Rachidiya, Zakoura, and Figuig;
Awareness campaigns to stimulate and enhance awareness of the importance of
maintaining the quality and rational use of water, organized
in partnership with
other interested parties;
Support for the institutions and non-governmental organizations involved in
the wellbeing of children. Some 20 agreements of support
and cooperation have
been concluded with non-governmental organizations.
- The
Bureau has concluded a partnership agreement with UNICEF to support the
awareness efforts in support of the rights of the child,
through utilizing the
network of the Bureau.
- In
spite of the efforts made, poverty has increased, with 19 per cent of the
population estimated to be living below the poverty threshold
nationally in
1998/99, up from 13 per cent in 1990/91. The 1998/99 figure reflects 27.2 per
cent in the rural areas and 12 per cent
in the urban areas, up from 18 and 6.7
per cent respectively in 1990/91.
- Reference
should be made to the difficult economic context, marked by slow economic
growth, within which the social development strategy
is being implemented.
Annual GDP growth stood at 2.1 per cent during the period 1994-1999. The severe
drought that hit Morocco
in 1995 has seriously affected the economic and
financial situation in the country, causing a 7 per cent drop in the
country’s
GDP.
D. Action taken to make the principles and provisions
of
the Convention widely known (art. 42)
- The
process of education and wide dissemination of the principles and provisions of
the Convention is being carried out by various
agencies, including government
agencies such as the Ministry in Charge of Human Rights, the Ministry of
National Education, and other
institutions such as the Advisory Council on Human
Rights, the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child, and various
organizations
working in the field of the rights of the child, notably the
National Committee for UNICEF and the Moroccan League for the Protection
of
Children. Copies of the Convention have been printed in a decorative manner
with attractive illustrations and distributed, in
Arabic and French, mainly in
schools and during a number of functions in support of the child, including the
Arab Day for the Child,
the Universal Children’s Day and the National Day
for the Child.
- Copies
of the Convention have also been distributed to, among others, educators,
judges, lawyers, social workers, staff of the Ministry
of Youth and Sports.
This was undertaken in cooperation between the Ministry in Charge of Human
Rights, the Ministry of National
Education, UNICEF, the National Observatory for
the Rights of the Child and UNESCO. The Ministry in Charge of Human Rights
places
great importance on education and orientation regarding the promotion of
the rights of the child and inculcating them as social values
of the community.
It strives to achieve this objective through its various activities, both in the
capacity
of initiator or organizer of such activities and through participation and
cooperation with the civil society organizations and other
interested parties.
Among the various activities of the Ministry in this field, mention may be made
of the following:
(a) Visits arranged by the Ministry to various
schools, as part of the activities of the National Solidarity Week for the
eradication
of poverty. The aim is to educate the children on the right of
every child to a decent life with integrity, thus promoting a spirit
of
responsible citizenship and support for the needy;
(b) Conducting
workshops and study groups at schools and private organizations on the
Convention, at urban and suburban centres;
(c) Participation in the
cultural functions related to the Convention by organizing, throughout the
duration of the function, workshops
on the rights of
girls;
(d) Participation in the First Youth Convention that was organized
in the city of Bouznega during the period 8-11 July 1999, by conducting
a
workshop on “Youth and Citizenship”;
(e) Participation in the
Selection Committee for Children’s Books, as part of a national initiative
organized for 20 selected
primary schools in rural and suburban areas on one of
the items of the Convention, in cooperation between the Ministry of National
Education, UNICEF and the National Observatory for the Rights of the
Child;
(f) Organization of a national drawing competition on the
Convention, in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education and UNICEF.
The result of the competition was announced during an official ceremony
organized on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of
the adoption of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
(g) As part of the efforts for the
wide dissemination of the purposes of the Convention, particular attention was
given to children
with special needs. For example, the Convention was printed
in Braille for the benefit of blind children, in cooperation with the
National
Observatory for the Rights of the Child and the Alawiyya Society for the
Protection of the Blind.
- The
Ministry of Justice, in its efforts to safeguard the interests of children and
delinquent minors in the prison facilities has
prepared, in cooperation with the
National Observatory for the Rights of Children, a special directory for
delinquent minors in prison
facilities, with a view to educating the children
about their rights, especially those stipulated in the Convention and United
Nations
texts regarding the rights of children deprived of their liberty. The
directory has been distributed to all prison facilities.
- The
last few years have witnessed intensive activities in the form of symposiums and
training courses on the subject of childhood
and the rights of the child, both
as government and private initiatives or as public-private partnerships. Such
activities concentrated
on the provisions of the Convention and their
implementation, with participation from all concerned, including child
parliamentarians.
- The
National Day for the Rights of the Child has been set for 25 May every year. It
is considered a landmark that has contributed
to enhancing awareness of the
Convention and its purposes and objectives, and to conducting an annual
assessment of achievements
in this regard.
- The
celebration of the tenth anniversary of the ratification of the Convention was
another occasion for intensifying initiatives and
efforts for making the
Convention and its provisions widely known and for popular participation and
support for the rights of the
child. Celebrations covered all aspects of the
rights of the child, stressing the problems of providing assistance to children
in
difficult situations.
Training and rehabilitation programmes
- Many
actors involved in the subject of the rights of the child conduct training
programmes for workers in this field. Training courses
have been organized for
social workers in the field of child welfare in general, and children with
special needs in particular.
The aim of such courses is to equip social workers
with practical knowledge and know-how in order to ensure the respect of the
rights
of the child in the course of discharging their professional,
administrative or educational duties.
- The
Ministry of Youth and Sports, being an agency involved in human resources
development, has been engaged in conducting a number
of meetings for those who
work with the children directly or indirectly. More than 10,203 officers
participated in this process
as follows:
− 9,133 in the field of camps;
− 500 in the field of child protection;
− 570 in the field of children’s clubs.
- These
courses benefit the staff of a number of public agencies and of non-governmental
organizations involved in child welfare. They
are conducted in collaboration
with UNICEF and the National Association for UNICEF, and some other countries,
including Germany,
France, Italy and Tunisia, in the context of exchange of
experience and the participation of foreign experts.
- Education
in the principles and objectives of the rights of the child is also included in
the programmes that are directed at children,
at children’s clubs,
childcare centres, summer camps, and also through education campaigns that are
organized for the purpose
of improving the conditions of children in rural
areas. All activities are conducted in cooperation and coordination with public
and private agencies involved in work for the benefit of
children.
- Training
and orientation programmes are also directed at workers in the judiciary and the
administration of juvenile justice. For
the judiciary, human rights is one of
the core courses at
the National Institute for Legal Studies, with special reference to
international law relating to human rights, especially international
regulations
and mechanisms relating to human rights and the rights of the child.
International humanitarian law is also covered
under this course.
- As
for correction facilities, the Ministry of Justice has placed greater emphasis
on the training and rehabilitation of prison staff
at all levels. Symposiums
and training courses conducted for such staff now include instruction in human
rights. Since 1994, the
Prison and Reintegration Administration has conducted
regular courses and training workshops which teach standard rules for the
treatment
of prisoners and a Code of conduct for officers in charge of
detention. Those elements constituted 15 per cent of the total training
content.
- In
addition to such courses and workshops, the Ministry of Justice has organized
train the trainers courses, which included the sending
of some trainers abroad
for the purpose of acquiring and exchanging experience.
- At
the academic level, UNESCO chairs have been established at the universities,
including the UNESCO Chair for human rights, the UNESCO
Chair for the culture of
peace, and the UNESCO Chair for the rights of women, all of which focus on the
rights of the child both
in academic courses and in research
work.
- In
that context it is worthwhile mentioning the efforts and intense interest of
Moroccan lawyers in propagating human rights. They
organize symposiums
dedicated to this subject. Human rights is also a standing item on the agenda
of their conventions and meetings.
The recommendations of their latest
convention give considerable prominence to human rights and their implementation
and promotion.
- The
Centre for Documentation, Training and Information on human rights, recently
established by the Ministry in Charge of Human Rights,
focuses on the promotion
of a culture of children’s rights. The Centre was established in
cooperation with UNDP and the Office
of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
- The
functions of the Centre in the field of documentation and information include
the following:
(a) Establishing a data bank and a special
section for human rights documents and publications emanating from human rights
bodies
at the international, regional and national levels, and from universities
and research institutes;
(b) Use of modern technology in the field of
information and documentation;
(c) Production and dissemination of
material that propagates the concepts and principles of human
rights;
(d) Maintaining relations with the agencies and organizations
dealing with human rights issues at the international and national levels,
for
the purpose of exchange of information and documentation.
- In
the field of training, the Centre aims at the
following:
(a) Contributing to the training process in the
field of human rights through organization of specialized and general courses
and
workshops for those concerned with human rights;
(b) Supporting the
efforts of non-governmental organizations involved in the field of human rights
with a view to upgrading their
professional and administrative
capabilities;
(c) Supporting national efforts to promote the concepts
and principles of human rights in the education and information fields.
- Parallel
to the Centre, the Moroccan League for the Protection of Children has
established a research centre for maternal and child
studies. Likewise, the
Ministry of State in Charge of Social Care and Family and Child Affairs has also
established a research centre
for maternal and child studies. The Centre for
Human Rights has also been established at the initiative of the Lawyers
Association.
- Seeking
to integrate the culture of children’s rights in the social fabric, a
national programme for education in the rights
of the child has been launched in
partnership between the Ministry in Charge of Human Rights, the Ministry of
National Education
and the Ministry in Charge of Secondary and Technical
Education, in the context of agreements concluded between those sectors (see
below under article 29).
E. Measures adopted to make the national report widely
known (art. 44)
- The
initial report was published in Arabic and French and has been widely
distributed, together with the conclusions and comments
of the Committee on the
Rights of the Child, with a view to implementing the recommendations of the
Committee. The present report
will be treated similarly, in order to publicize
information on the situation of the child as well as the comments, proposals and
recommendations made by the Committee after its examination of the report. In
the course of the preparation of the report, consultations
were made with all
relevant organizations, associations and civil society entities, as well as
United Nations agencies involved in
the welfare of the child, especially
UNICEF.
II. DEFINITION OF THE CHILD (art. 1)
- The
Moroccan Government refers to the information given in the initial report of the
Kingdom of Morocco on the implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC/C/28/Add.1), in which an outline is given of the definition of the
child:
(a) For the purposes of personal status, the legal age
of civil majority is 20, as defined in article 16 of the Code on Personal
Status;
(b) For the purposes of criminal responsibility, the age is 16
as defined in articles 138-140 of the Penal Code and article 514 of
the Law
on the Criminal Procedure Code.
- The
Criminal Code defines a minor in terms of three age
groups:
(a) A minor under the age of 12, who cannot be
criminally liable because of immaturity, as stipulated in article 138 of the
Penal
Code;
(b) A minor between the ages of 12 and 16, whose liability
is limited because of incomplete maturity and who can be subject only
to
protection or rehabilitation measures, as defined in article 516 of the Criminal
Procedure Code, or to mitigated punishment as
defined in article 517
therein;
(c) A delinquent person at or above the age of 16: the law
allows for the treatment of a suspect between the ages of 16 and 18 as
a minor
if the judicial body so decides, with proper justification.
As pointed
out in the initial report, the minimum age for employment is 12, and the
conscription age is 18.
- The
Government has taken the following measures to adapt the legal age to the
requirements of the Convention:
(a) According to a new draft
Penal Code and a new Criminal Procedure Code, the age for legal criminal
responsibility will be raised
to 18;
(b) The Criminal Procedure Code
specifies certain measures for treating prisoners under the age of
20;
(c) Under law No. 11 of 1999, which amends and supersedes section
446 of the Penal Code, a child is defined as a person under the
age of
18;
(d) The minimum age for employment has been raised to 15, following
the ratification by Morocco of ILO Convention No. 138;
(e) The age
of conscription has been raised to 20.
- The
above developments reflect the determination of the Kingdom of Morocco to
provide adequate protection for the child by aligning
its legislation with the
advances in the rights of the child at the global scene. Other actions
contemplated by the Government,
especially in the field of basic education,
include raising the compulsory schooling age to the age of 16.
III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
A. Non-discrimination (art. 2)
- Non-discrimination
and equality are principles that have been embodied in the Moroccan
Constitutions since the first Constitution of 1962, and have been reiterated in
the last Constitution of 1996. The constitutional provisions stipulate that all
Moroccans are equal before
the law (art. 5) and in the enjoyment of political rights (art. 8), of the
freedom of movement, freedom of expression in all its forms,
freedom of assembly
and of association (art. 9), and in the right to work and education (arts. 12
and 13).
- The
principle of non-discrimination has been reinforced by the ratification by
Morocco of United Nations and specialized agencies
instruments,
including:
ILO Conventions Nos. 100 and 111, relating respectively to equal pay for
equal work, and non-discrimination in employment;
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination in
Sports;
International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination in
Education;
Convention on the Political Rights of Women;
in addition to the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
- Amendments
to national legislation consistently reaffirm the principle of
nondiscrimination. For example, the draft Press Code provides
in section 39 bis
that “whoever uses any of the means referred to in section 38 to incite
discrimination, hatred or violence
against any other person or persons on the
basis of their origin, sex, colour, or ethnic or religious affiliation shall be
punishable
by either a prison term of six months to one year or a fine of 3,000
to 30,000 dirhams”.
- Draft
law No. 65 of 1999 on the Labour Code provides in article 9 that “There
shall be no discrimination between workers on
the basis of descent, colour,
disability, marital status, belief, political opinion, professional affiliation,
or national or social
origin that may endanger or encroach on the principle of
equal opportunity, may result in inequality of treatment in employment or
in the
practice of a profession or trade, especially as related to employment,
management of the workplace and assignment of duties,
training, wages and
benefits, or the enjoyment of social benefits, and to disciplinary measures and
separation from work.”
Consequently, the following specific rights are
guaranteed:
(a) The right of a married woman to enter into an
employment contract without the concurrence of her
husband;
(b) Protection from any discriminatory measure based on trade
union affiliation or activities related to trade unions or wage
negotiations;
(c) The right of a woman, married or unmarried, to join
any professional or trade union, and to participate in the management or
operation of such union.
- Law
No. 35 of 1999 concerning the organization and functioning of the prison
facilities provides in article 51 that “there shall
be no discrimination
in the treatment of detainees on the basis of race, colour, sex, nationality,
language, religion, opinion or
social status”.
- Nondiscrimination
is the rule; any exception to the rule is specified in the law, and is meant to
safeguard the best interests of
the child. Examples are found in the difference
in the mandated minimum age for marriage, which is 15 for females and 18 for
males,
and the legal age for ending the custody of children (hadana),
which is 12 for males and 15 for females. These differences, which are based on
Islamic law and are specified in the Code on Civil
Status, are not intended to
differentiate between sexes but to secure the welfare of the child. However,
the present orientation
of the national legislation is to take into
consideration the developments in western society and to take appropriate
measures to
secure the basic principles of human rights. In this context, the
Government has prepared a national plan of action, as part of
the followup to
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, for the integration of women in
the development process. The Plan
represents a manifestation of the political
will expressed in the government declaration on the improvement of the status of
women
in the economic, cultural, and social fields. Among the priorities
adopted as a basis for the Plan of Action are the following:
Enhancement of the legal, economic, social, and political aspects of the
development of women. The proposed procedures in relation
to nondiscrimination
include raising the minimum age for marriage to 18 and making the age for the
end of custody (hadana) uniform for boys and girls, ending at the age of
15;
Education and elimination of illiteracy;
Reproductive health and basic health education;
Employment, training, and alleviation of poverty.
- A
number of measures have been taken at the national level with a view to
narrowing disparities between the regions, between the sexes
and between social
groups. Foremost among them are the elimination of illiteracy and the national
programmes for healthcare coverage,
the solidarity campaigns for the eradication
of poverty, and narrowing disparities that exist between different groups of the
society.
- The
disparities that exist in school attendance, health services, employment, or
basic infrastructure are related to economic and
geographic factors, as well as
cultural factors that are inherent in the cultural and traditional values of
certain communities within
the society. Nonetheless, the Government intensifies
its efforts in the field of information and orientation in order to change
such
attitudes and implant the values of universal equality.
B. The best interests of the child (art. 3)
- In
its endeavour to secure the protection of the child, the legislation bases
itself on the principle of best interest. The same
applies to the legal
provisions relating to the protection of the child’s person and money in
the Code on Personal Status as
well as in other laws.
- The
basic institution for the best interests of the child is custody
(hadana), and the related functions of nursing, financial support and
education. Custody is intended for the protection of the child, as
far as
possible, from any harmful effects, to give the child proper education and to
maintain his or her interests (Code on Personal
Status, sect. 97). The
prescribed conditions for custody (hadana) give express priority to the
interests of the child. The guardian must be an adult of sound mind and
character, who must have the
ability to bring up the child and maintain him or
her physically and morally. He or she must be free from any communicable
disease
and from all limitations that inhibit his or her ability to provide
adequate care of the child (ibid., sect. 98).
- The
judge decides on the matter of custody (hadana) when a marriage is
dissolved. Where both parties are eligible, the judge decides on the party that
is best suited to undertake
the responsibility, in the light of the provisions
of article 101 of the Code on Personal Status.
- In
other sections, the Code directly addresses the interests of the child. An
example is the provision of article 109, which stipulates
that the child sleeps
the night with the female guardian unless the judge decides that his or her best
interests require a different
arrangement. Also, section 111 stipulates the
conditions under which visitation may be arranged for a person other than the
guardian;
such visitation is to be decided by the judge “taking into
account the best interests of the child”.
- The
law pertaining to the protection of abandoned children stipulates in article 18
that the decision related to sponsorship or cancellation
thereof shall be made
“taking into account the best interests of the child”.
- The
regulations relating to the maintenance and management of the minor’s
money and property also give priority consideration
to the protection and the
best interests of the child. For example, article 11 of the Law on Obligations
and Contracts provides
that a father’s disposal of a minor’s money
and property shall be subject to judicial supervision. It stipulates that
a
father who manages money and property belonging to his minor or handicapped
child requires the permission of the judge for any
disposal of such money or
property
- Under
article 984 of the same law, in the interest of the child, “a father may
not enter into contract with a son or a daughter
under his
care”.
- Various
sections of the regulations expressly specify the objective of keeping in mind
the best interests of the child. An example
is article 525 relating to the
undertaking of all possible investigations in order to uncover relevant facts
and ascertain the identity
of the child and thereby determine the proper
arrangements for ensuring the child’s upbringing. The judge may decide,
with
proper justification, not to undertake any of the investigations or
measures specified in the article in the interest of the child.
Under article
539, the juvenile court may waive the requirement for the child to attend the
procedures relating to his or her case
if, in the view of the court, that would
be in the best interests of the child. In this case the child would be
represented by a
lawyer or other legal representative, and the decision would be
considered as if he or she were present.
- The
importance placed by the Government on the promotion of the rights of the child
is reflected in the measures it has taken and
the training courses it has
conducted for workers in the field of childhood welfare, including teachers,
social workers, workers
at childcare centres, judicial and defence personnel, in
addition to the training provided for other categories of personnel, in
collaboration with national and international non-governmental organizations and
with relevant United Nations agencies, with a view
to institutionalizing the
respect for the rights of the child as part of daily practice.
C. Right to life, survival, and development (art.
6)
- The
right to life is a basic right recognized for every person. Moroccan
legislation has consistently affirmed the protection and
respect of this right
and its inviolability. The child’s right to life enjoys special
protection under Moroccan law, right
from the foetal stage in the mother’s
womb. Abortion is prohibited unless the mother’s or the child’s
life is
in danger. The Criminal Code provides, in section 1 of chapter 8 on
crimes and misdemeanours against the family institution and
public morality
(arts. 339358), that any person who has caused the miscarriage of a pregnant
woman, or a woman who seemed to be pregnant,
with or without
her consent, in
any manner, shall be punishable by one to five years in prison and a fine of 120
to 500 dirhams; if the mother dies in the process the penalty is raised to
10 to 20 years in prison. If the person performing the
abortion is proved to
have practised such operations, the penalty shall be doubled in both cases. In
addition, he or she shall be
deprived of the residency right for a period of
5-15 years, or of one or more of the citizenship or civil rights. The law also
punishes
physicians who perform abortions. Articles 449 and 450 specify the
punishments applicable to physicians, nurses and midwives, and
other health
workers who perform or assist in abortion. Section 87 of the Penal Code also
provides for the suspension of their professional
licences.
- Under
the current legislation, a woman who deliberately causes her own abortion or
attempts to do so or accepts to be aborted, or
uses a means that was shown or
given her for abortion is punishable under articles 454 and 455 of the Criminal
Code. Any one who
encourages abortion is also subject to a punishment of 2-24
months’ imprisonment.
- For
the purpose of protecting the child’s right to survival, article 397 of
the Penal Code provides for the punishment of any
person who deliberately kills
a newborn by the penalties specified in articles 392 and 393, which are life in
prison in ordinary
cases and the death penalty in the case of
premeditation.
- The
protection measures specified in the Penal Code for protecting the child’s
right to survival extend to all forms of mistreatment,
physical abuse, injury,
as well as negligence, that causes a child’s death. In that context,
article 408 stipulates that “a
person who intentionally punishes a child
under the age of 12 physically or deprives him or her of nutrition or needed
care in a
manner that endangers his or her health, or has intentionally exposed
a child to violence or injury in any form other than light
reproach, shall be
punishable by imprisonment for a term of one to three years. If the physical
mistreatment, injury, violence or
deprivation results in an illness or
incapacitation or inability to work for a period of more than 20 days, the
penalty is
increased to three to five years in prison under the provisions of article
409 of the same law. In addition, the culprit may be deprived
of certain
national, civil, or family rights and of residency for 5 to 10 years. If
the result of such crime is a loss, amputation
or incapacitation of an organ, or
any other disability, the penalty shall be 10 to 20 years in prison. If it
results in the death
of the child, the penalty, in the absence of intention,
shall be 20 to 30 years in prison. If it results in incidental death the
penalty would be life in prison; if it was intentional, and the criminal
intention was proven, the death penalty would be applied
in accordance with
article 410 of the Penal Code”.
- Other
guarantees for the child’s survival are provided in the Code on Personal
Status as well as the Labour Law and the Civil
Service Law. The first regulates
personal situations such as custody (hadana) nursing, and financial
support, both in marriage and separation situations. The Labour Law provides
for certain rights for women
relating to pregnancy and delivery, for the benefit
of the mother and the child; and the Civil Service Law provides for a number
of
measures for the protection of the mother and the child, including dependency
allowances.
- Other
sectoral activities and programmes reflect the attention given by the Government
to the child’s right to survival and
development. Reference may be made
in this context to procedures and measures taken, inter alia, in the fields of
health, education,
recreation and social protection.
D. Respect for the child’s views (art. 12)
- Reference
is made to the legal requirements embodied in the initial report of the Kingdom
of Morocco (CRC/C/28/Add.1) concerning the
freedom of expression available to
the child and all other citizens under the Constitution. No provision in the
law in Morocco stands between the child and the expression of his or her views
and, consequently, respect for
such views, taking into account the child’s
stage of maturity, as mentioned in the Convention. Such rights, when the child
is in conflict with the law, are commensurate with the child’s age and
interests, as is the case with listening to the child’s
views. Article
539 of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that “cases shall be decided
after listening to the minor and
to witnesses”.
- The
Code on Personal Status gives the child at age 13 and 15, for males and females
respectively, the right to choose his or her guardian
(art. 102). For abandoned
children, if the child is 10 years of age or older, his or her views as to the
appointment of a guardian
shall be taken into consideration (article 10 of the
1993 Royal Decree).
IV. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
A. Name and nationality (art. 7)
- A
Moroccan child enjoys the right to his or her name and nationality according to
the laws governing civil status, which provide for
the registration of a child
within 30 days of the date of birth, as prescribed by the law of 8 March 1950.
That law, which is over
50 years old, has never been published, but the
requirement for registration of births and deaths has been reiterated in Royal
Decree
No. 2.63.2369 of 4 December 1963. The Criminal Code provides for
punishments for non-registration of births and deaths (art. 468).
- For
children of unknown parents, article 23 of the Royal Decree of 4 September 1915
stipulates that if the parents were not identified,
no reference to this fact
may be entered in the register.
- Ministry
of the Interior circular No. 352 of 11 December 1987 stipulates that a child of
unknown parents must be given a name and
a family name upon notification to the
civil status officer of his or her birth. The circular considered that entries
previously
left blank under family names in such cases should be treated as
material omissions that should be corrected by the civil status
officer without
reverting to court.
- As
mentioned earlier, the Ministry of the Interior has prepared a new bill that
would supersede the above provisions. (See section
on harmonization of
legislation.)
- The
Royal Decree of 6 September 1958 specifies the rules governing nationality,
which is acquired by descent or by birth in Morocco
subject to the conditions
spelled out in the nationality law. In all cases, the law ensures the right of
the child to nationality.
Under section 6 of the nationality law a person is
considered Moroccan if:
(a) His or her father is Moroccan;
or
(b) He or she is born to a Moroccan mother and an unknown
father.
- Under
article 7 of the nationality law, a person is considered Moroccan
if:
(a) He or she is born to a Moroccan mother and a stateless
father; or
(b) He or she is born in Morocco to unknown parents, unless
it is proved, while he or she is a minor, that he or she is a child of
an alien
and that he or she has the right to the nationality of his or her
parent(s).
- A
child is considered Moroccan if he or she is found in Morocco and assumed to
have been born in Morocco, unless subsequently proved
otherwise. The Moroccan
legislation gives the right to acquire Moroccan nationality to a person who
is:
(a) Born in Morocco to a Moroccan mother and an alien
father;
(b) Born in Morocco to alien parents who were born in Morocco;
or
(c) Born in Morocco to an alien father who was born in Morocco,
subject to the conditions specified in the law (art. 9).
- Since
the national legislation guarantees the child the right to a name and
nationality, and in order to avoid situations arising
from non-registration, a
number of activities have been initiated to raise the awareness of the
individuals of the need to have their
children registered in the civil registry.
The media and non-governmental organizations play an important role in this
task.
B. Preserving the child’s identity (art. 8)
- Reference
is made to the initial report, which explains the penalties specified in the law
for a person who attempts to conceal or
otherwise obliterate the identity of a
child (article 470 of the Criminal Code). The same law punishes for
non-registration of children
with the Civil Registry (art. 468), and for
non-reporting of finding a newly born child (art. 469). In the same context, in
the
interest of securing the identity of a child against any harm that may be
caused as a result of error or omission in the relevant
data in the vital
register, the legislation provides for procedures to correct any discrepancy in
a person’s vital data that
give an interested person the right to appeal
to the court of first instance to order the correction of the vital data, as
provided
for in the regulations under the Code on Personal Status. Also, any
interested person may ask the court of first instance to issue
an order to
register a birth or death in the Civil Register (article 217 of the Civil
Procedure Code). Under article 219 of the
same Code, a summary of
the court
order must be entered in the register for the relevant year, and in any copy
thereof pertaining to the vital information
that is the object of the court
order. An officer who issues
a copy of the relevant data without such a
proviso shall be liable to payment of compensation. The order issued by the
court may
be appealed under the provision of article 220 of the
said law.
C. Freedom of expression (art. 13)
- All
Moroccan Constitutions have emphasized the principle of freedom of expression in
all its forms. No restrictions may be imposed
on freedom of expression except
under the law (article 9 of the Constitution). Moroccan law guarantees for all
children freedom to obtain information and express their views, without any
geographic or other
restrictions. The law applicable to the press prohibits
restrictions on the printing and circulation of books, thus enabling the
child
to access any kind of information.
- Scores
of public and private dailies and magazines are issued in Morocco.
The
country is also open to foreign media, both written and televised. In 1998
there
were 715 dailies and magazines issued in Arabic, French, English,
Spanish, and in the Amazigh language. Their breakdown was as follows:
22
daily papers, 143 weeklies, 238 monthly periodicals, 12 bimonthlies,
88 quarterlies, 33 semi-annuals, 3 annual publications,
in addition
to 64 nonregular publications.
- The
child enjoys freedom of expression in all forms that are appropriate for his or
her age and interests, through various means,
including drawings, publishing,
writing to the press, or participation in children’s programmes.
Children’s right to
expression has also been enhanced through the creation
of children’s forums, such as a Children’s Parliament, at the
initiative of the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child and in
cooperation with the Ministry of National Education. The
initiative aims at
enhancing the child’s right to participation, in line with the spirit of
the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, and providing the children with a
forum in which they can discuss the major issues affecting them. Another
benefit is
to instil in the children the spirit of democracy and citizenship.
- The
first session of the Children’s Parliament was held on 25 May 1999 at the
House of Parliament. HRH Princess Lalla Mariam,
President of the National
Observatory for the Rights of the Child and the Moroccan Association for UNICEF,
chaired the session.
All members of the Government were present. The session
took the form of a forum where the children were able to address questions
and
queries to the ministers of the Government about matters of concern to them.
The main issues discussed were the right to education,
health, safety, children
in difficult situations, and other issues of interest to the
children.
- The
Children’s Parliament is composed of 357 delegate children between the
ages of 10 and 18, selected on the basis of academic
achievement. Fiftyfive per
cent of the participants are girls.
- The
Parliament will hold annual regional sessions, an annual session at the
beginning of the school year and a national session on
25 May of each year to
mark the National Day of the Child.
- With
a view to enhancing the child’s right to participation, the Ministry of
State in Charge of Social Care and Child and Family
Affairs has developed a
model for Children’s City Councils, in cooperation and coordination with
the Urban Association of the
City of Rabat. It is intended to promote the
experience at the national level. The Councils have provided forums for the
children
to express themselves and channels of dialogue between the children and
the officials at the local level. They have also informed
the elected officials
of the issues that are of interest to the children and the youth. This should
help in creating and operating
projects and programmes to improve the living
conditions of the children and the youth.
- The
Moroccan League for the Protection of Children has also initiated an interesting
and unique undertaking by forming “committees
of the cubs”, with a
view to enhancing and promoting the participation of children in issues of their
development and the protection
of
their rights. The first meetings of the
committees took place in the cities of Fez and Tetouan on 17 and
18 November 1999. The discussions
focused on the implementation of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, especially as it relates to the
protection aspect.
D. Access to information (art. 17)
- Morocco
has witnessed a number of activities that aim at securing the right of the child
to information from all national and international
sources, and at the same time
protect the child from misinformation or information that is detrimental to his
or her development
and interests. The Ministry of Information and its organs,
like the Maghreb Press Agency, the Moroccan Television and the Moroccan
Broadcasting Service, undertake various activities in the field of childhood.
The Maghreb Press Agency, in the course of preparation
and dissemination of news
and articles, gives special attention to information relating to the rights of
the children and of interest
to them. It contributes to raising awareness of
those rights through propagation of data and statistics relating to the
conditions
of the child in different areas. Through its network of regional and
provincial offices, it covers the various activities undertaken
in rural and
urban areas. It also utilizes the information available to it from its foreign
offices and from foreign agencies to
enhance the awareness of issues relating to
the rights of the child.
- Since
the ratification by Morocco of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the
Moroccan Television has undertaken a process of
reorientation of its planning of
the television programmes in order to give more prominence to the rights of the
child, taking into
account section 42 of the Convention. Thus, children’s
programmes have been enhanced both in terms of time and content. In 1988, they
represented
7.2 per cent of the total, 2 per cent of which were produced
nationally and 5.2 per cent foreign. In the first 10 months of 1999
they
represented 5.3 per cent of the total programmes, 1.4 per cent was internal
productions and 3.9 per cent foreign. The national
content represents 26.7 per
cent of the children’s programmes on television. One of the main
programmes for children is the
“Junior Channel”, which is based on
the provisions of articles 12 through 14 and articles 17 and 23 of the
Convention.
Some of the main features of the programme
include:
(a) Items that introduce the subject of the rights of
the child in a simple and interesting manner, prepared in cooperation with
UNESCO
and presented during December 1998 and January 1999. With the
programme cycle that started in October 1998, the television introduced
a
feature entitled “good morning” that has a duration of 25 to 30
minutes. This gives children the opportunity to discuss,
live in the studio and
through questions and interaction, matters of interest to them, such as the
child and the school, the child
and playtime and cooperation and other
values;
(b) In February 1999 the station’s cameras, in the company
of “young journalists”, made three separate visits to
the Institute
of the Blind at Temara, to the House of the Child at Sale (a charity project)
and the House of the Child at Akkari,
and to the Lalla Asmaa Foundation for the
Deaf and Mute in Rabat.
- Features
were prepared about those institutions and their educational and academic
programmes. They presented the views, comments
and impressions of the residents
of the institutions. The Junior Channel also presented in March 1999 complete
coverage of all artistic
and educational activities presented by the various
national and foreign groups during the first International Festival of
Children’s
Theatre, which was organized in Rabat by the Ministry of
Culture. Items from the activities of the festival have also been included
in
the regular programmes of the Channel. Most of the performances, especially the
Moroccan and Arab ones, were in line with the
spirit of the Convention. In May
1999, the Junior Channel, with its entire staff and the children participating
in the programme,
participated in the coverage of the first Children’s
Parliament and its activities, and in the second session that was held
in May
2000.
- The
Junior Channel gives special attention to school attendance, especially the
attendance of girls, in its programmes presented by
the children about how
important education is in the life of people and how all children can best
benefit from education.
- The
channel also participated in October 1999 in the national immunization campaign
by encouraging the children to convince their
mothers of the importance of
immunization in the protection from serious diseases. As usual, the channel
also participated in celebrating
the International Day of the Child by
presenting short feature films with the children taking the key roles in the
scenes. They
have received recognition at international festivals and won an
Emmy Award in New York in 1996.
- During
1997, the Junior Channel focused on the child and education, inviting such
personalities as the Minister of National Education.
In 1998, the International
Day of the Child was devoted to the subject of the right of the child to
recreation. In addition to
its regular programmes of songs and other features,
the channel organized interviews and discussions between the children and
representatives
of different government and non-government sectors and of local
organizations and UNICEF.
- On
the occasion of the International Day of Television for the Child in 1999, the
channel prepared various activities by the children
for the children, including
features that aim at increasing the consciousness of the public towards the
subject “Children can
change the world”. That was an opportunity
for the children to paint their vision of tomorrow’s world. That day,
which
was celebrated in conjunction with the tenth anniversary of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, was attended by the United
Nations Goodwill
Ambassador, Mr. Doraid Lahham, and Morocco’s Goodwill Ambassadors from the
worlds of sports and the arts.
The activities included review of the
implementation of the Convention as it applies to the Moroccan child in the four
areas of
action: the right to survival, development, participation and
protection, through a programme organized and implemented by the
children.
- As
for the broadcasting service, a list of the children’s programmes
presented during the period 1995-1999 is attached in the
annexes.
- In
its efforts to protect the child from any harmful effects that may jeopardize
his or her education, growth or manners, legislation
has been enacted with a
view to banning the promotion of harmful information and material. The law
provides for the punishment of
any person who produces, holds, imports or
exports, or attempts to produce or reproduce for purposes of trading or
exhibition, any
publication, written material, drawings, advertisements,
paintings, photos or any other material that is considered immoral or
licentious.
The penalty ranges from one to two years in prison and a fine of
300 to 6,000 dirhams, under section 51 of the Press Code. The
same penalty is
applicable to a person who publicly plays any immoral songs, words, or
announcements, if such act affects a minor
(articles 60 and 62 of the Press
Code). Article 65 of the Press Code provides for punishment with a prison term
of one month to
one year, and a fine of 500 to 50,000 dirhams for any person
who:
(a) Has proposed, offered or sold to a minor of less than
16 years of age any published material, whether or not it is intended for
the
youth, that would be dangerous for them on account of its lewdness, immorality
or criminal content;
(b) Has exhibited such material in public areas,
outside or inside stores, or has promoted such material in different
places.
- The
Prime Minister or an agency delegated to act on his behalf may prohibit the
display of such material that may be immoral or harmful
to the youth in public
areas or in any open
area, and the broadcast of such material in any manner
in public areas (article 66 of the Press Code).
E. Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion (art.
14)
- The
Kingdom of Morocco has expressed its reservation on article 14. The religion of
the country is Islam, as stipulated in article
6 of the Constitution. The
Moroccan legislation has consistently endeavoured to protect the faith from any
actions that hurt the religious feelings of
Muslims (article 220 of the
Criminal Code). The reservation expressed by Morocco does not affect the right
of followers of other
religions to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion,
which is guaranteed under article 6 of the Constitution.
F. Right to freedom of association and to freedom of peaceful
assembly (art. 15)
- Reference
is made to the provisions on the laws concerning assemblies and meetings, and
relevant information contained in paragraphs
101-114 of the initial report by
Morocco (CRC/C/28/Add.1).
- The
environment of freedom in Morocco, which reflects the political will to enhance
pluralism and democracy in accordance with the
law, has given rise to the
establishment of different associations throughout the country. Today there are
more than 30,000 associations
and nongovernmental organizations in different
fields of activity. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Youth and
Sports,
there are 43 national organizations with 1,232 branches in all parts of
the country, in addition to 3,720 local associations (see
annex). The Ministry
encourages children to join clubs that cater for various sports and activities.
Such participation represents
the foundation for the formation of the youth and
for training them to be responsible citizens and to prepare them to join the
existing
societies or to form new ones. The aim is to encourage the
participation of the children and the youth, to train them in the best
use of
their time, to enable them to select and enrol in the activities and
associations of interest to them, and to encourage them
to participate and be
involved. Collective work is a school that teaches cooperation and democracy.
Youth organizations provide
ample opportunities for collective
work.
G. Protection of private life (art. 16)
- The
Moroccan legislation protects private life. The Constitution provides for
guaranteeing the privacy of the home and for confidentiality of
correspondence.
- A
minor who is in conflict with the law is accorded special treatment with a view
to securing his or her private life. For investigative
and judicial bodies that
deal with juvenile justice, article 533 of the Criminal Procedure Code
provides for confidentiality of the
proceedings which are conducted in chambers
in the presence of the minor and his/her attorney. Article 533 provides for the
court
decision to be given in a closed session. It is prohibited to publish the
proceedings of juvenile judicial bodies in books, in the
press, or by means of
broadcasting, cinema, or any other media. It is likewise forbidden to publish
through such media any text
or picture that reveals the identity of the minor.
Contravening the above provisions is punishable by a fine of 20,000 to 200,000
dirhams. In the case of repetition, the violator may be subjected to a
punishment of 2-24 months in prison. However, the verdict
may be published
without revealing the minor’s identity, not even by his initials, as
provided for in article 549 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
According to the
Code, court decisions in juvenile cases should be recorded in special records
held by the court and are not to
be available to the public, as provided for in
article 561. Decisions involving protection measures are to be recorded in the
judicial
register, and may be referred to only in series 2 that is presented to
the courts and may not be submitted to any Government or public
authority.
- During
proceedings of juvenile cases, no member of a criminal or misdemeanour chamber
may be a juvenile judge who has been involved
in any manner in the decision of
the case, otherwise the verdict could be nullified. The proceedings should be
conducted in closed
chambers, as provided for in article 23 of the
regulations.
- The
legislation protects the child from any interference with or attacks on his or
her personal circumstances, family, honour, or
reputation. Consequently,
article 44 of the Press Code protects the child from insult or injury, as it
stipulates that:
(a) Any claim or reference to action that may
involve the honour or privacy of a person or a body to which such action is
related
is considered a libel, whether it was published directly or
indirectly;
(b) Any expression of insult to the integrity, the honour, or
the privacy of a person and any expression of disdain or abuse that
does not
carry any specific charge is considered a libel.
- Irrespective
of the method of insult or abuse, the violator is punishable by either a term of
one month to one year in prison or a
fine of 500 to 20,000 dirhams, or both, as
provided for in section 47 as amended by Royal Decree of 10 April 1973.
An insult in public is punishable by either a term in prison of six days to two
months or a fine of 50 to 50,000
dirhams, or both. An insult that is not in
public is also punishable by a fine of 200 to 240 dirhams (paragraphs 2 and 3 of
section
48 of the Press Code).
H. Right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel,
inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment (art. 37 (a))
- Moroccan
laws protect the child from all forms of inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, and from sentencing a child to life
in prison or to death. On 21
June 1993, Morocco ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment. Its legislation punishes all
forms of intentional torture. The legal framework for such protection is laid
down
in article 10 of the Constitution, on the basis of which the laws governing
the legal procedures are based. That article stipulates that no person may be
arrested,
detained, or punished except in the cases and under the conditions and
procedures stipulated in the law. The Code of Criminal Procedure
regulates the
procedures starting from search and arrest up to the pronouncement of the final
verdict. Thus, it provides for both
the physical protection of the accused and
for the protection of his or her rights. The juvenile court judge informs the
parents
or guardian of the accused of the procedure. If the minor or his legal
representative does not select a lawyer, the judge shall appoint a lawyer for
him or request the Chairman of the Lawyers’ Association
to appoint one.
The judge may request the Department of Social Interests to undertake the social
investigation provided for in article
526 of the Criminal Law.
- No
minor may be held in a prison facility without an arrest warrant having been
issued by a competent judicial body. A person under
the age of 12 may not be
placed in prison, even temporarily. A convicted person between ages 12 and 16
may be placed in prison only
temporarily if an alternative arrangement is not
possible, and only under special circumstances, in which case the minor shall be
placed in a separate accommodation and shall, as far as possible, be separated
from the rest of the inmates during the night, as
provided for in
article 528.
- The
Criminal Law punishes any excessive use of force that may infringe on personal
liberties or citizens’ physical safety.
- Article
335 of the Penal Code punishes a judge or a public officer, or any of the
officers or agents of a public authority or public
order (ordre
publique), who orders or commits an act of coercion that may infringe on the
personal liberties or national rights or physical safety of one
or more
citizens. He may also be deprived of national and civil
rights.
- The
law punishes by imprisonment for up to 30 years any person who abducts, arrests,
or detains a person or otherwise holds him or
her against his or her will
without an order from the competent authorities, and in cases not authorized by
law (article 436 of the
Criminal Law). The perpetrator faces the death penalty
if the victim has been exposed to torture (article 438 of the Criminal Law).
Article 399 provides for the death penalty for a person who uses any tools for
torture or savagery in order to force the victim
to act in a certain manner
after the crime.
- Reference
is also made to the fact that a general inspection commission within the General
Department of National Security, with the
mandate of general oversight of the
police force, collects data on the way the police force treats the public. It
investigates complaints
concerning treatment by the police and takes
disciplinary measures against police officials and workers who abuse their
authority.
Where there is a criminal act, it refers the case to the competent
court.
- According
to statistics collected by the Ministry of the Interior between 1 January 1997
and 30 April 1998, 35 police officers of
different ranks were brought to
justice on criminal charges, and disciplinary action was taken against 266
others. During the period
1 January 1994-28 February 1998, 31 public
officials and police officers were held on charges of abuse of authority and use
of violence
in the course of discharging their duties. The procedures were
further consolidated by Royal directives on the new concept of authority,
which,
according to His Majesty King Mohammad VI, “should be in the service of
the people and should be sensitive to their
concerns and needs, in a
relationship that is not driven by intimidation and fear, but rather by mutual
respect and cooperation between
the authorities and the people. The
relationship is not one of confrontation, but of harmony and complementarity.
Any excesses by individuals or groups or by the authorities
is governed by the
law, according to the relevant rules and regulations”.
- In
the context of its efforts to secure the rights of all people to protection from
all forms of torture, violence and inhuman or
degrading treatment, the
Government is intensifying its awareness-raising and mobilization campaigns with
a view to inculcating the
values of human rights in all those who deal directly
with the public. Human rights education has been integrated in the curricula
of
schools and specialized institutes such as the National Institute for Legal
Studies, which trains judges, the Royal Military Academy,
the School for
Training and Retraining of Security Forces, and the Ministry of the Interior
School for the Formation of Security
Cadres.
- The
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment has been widely publicized, as has the
Convention on the Rights of
the Child (see annex). Efforts of orientation and training are going on in
almost all sectors of the
society, in addition to all other initiatives taken by
the Kingdom of Morocco in the field of promotion of human rights in general
and
the rights of the child in particular, through training of those workers in the
field of information, which is an effective and
efficient tool in promoting such
culture.
- It
is anticipated that the new Documentation, Training and Information Centre in
the Field of Human Rights will play an important
role in this field. The Centre
is the product of cooperation between the Ministry in Charge of Human Rights,
the United Nations
Development Programme and the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights. It was inaugurated in April 2000 in the presence of Mrs.
Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (see
section on training and rehabilitation under “General
Protection
Measures”).
- Organizations
and associations working in the legal field play an important role in monitoring
and collecting information, and tracing
the cases of the use of violence and
torture. The role of the civil society has been reinforced by the creation of
the National
Observatory for Prisons, the Forum for Truth and Equity, and the
Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture (see annex).
- In
the area of protecting the child from severe punishment, the Moroccan
legislation has exempted delinquent children from severe
sentences such as life
in prison and the death
penalty. The Penal Code provides for imprisonment
of a child only in exceptional cases and only if unusual circumstances so
warrant.
Article 517 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates
that:
“Exceptionally, in the case of juveniles over 12 years of age, and if
the circumstances or the delinquent’s character
so warrant, the trial
court may, in a specially substantiated decision in this regard, replace or
supplement the measures set out
in the above chapter by a fine or a custodial
penalty.
“If the offence is punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment
for an offender of legal age, the juvenile should be
sentenced to 10 to 20
years’ imprisonment.
“If the offence is punishable by long-term rigorous imprisonment, the
minor should be sentenced to 3 to 10 years’ imprisonment;
“If the offence is punishable by imprisonment, the maximum and minimum
penalties stipulated by law should be halved.”
- It
is evident from the above that a minor will not be sentenced to death or life in
prison in any circumstances, irrespective of the
nature of the crime, in line
with the provisions of the first paragraph of article 37 of the Convention. It
is also worth mentioning
that article 58 of Law No. 35 of 1999 on the
Regulation and Operation of the Prison Institutions exempts minors from solitary
confinement
as a disciplinary measure.
V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE
A. Parental guidance (art. 5)
- Reference
is made to the information contained in the initial report by Morocco
(CRC/C/28/Add.1) that highlights the importance attached
by Morocco to the role
of the parents in the guidance, education and care of the child, considering
that the family is the nucleus
and the basic foundation of the society. The
Moroccan legislation recognizes that the family plays the basic role in the
guidance
and care of the child, and should be free from any interference from
any outside source unless absolutely required by the interests
of the child.
(See the section on “Protection against any form of abuse and
neglect” below.)
B. Parental responsibilities (art. 18, paras. 1 and 2)
- It
is universally recognized that the responsibility for the maintenance of the
child and his or her welfare lies with the parents,
or, in their absence or
disability, the guardian(s). The Moroccan legislation amply provides for the
respect of these responsibilities.
- The
Code on Personal Status regulates the relations between individuals relating to
family linkage and marriage, and the rights and
obligations emanating from such
relations. Article 99 of the Code stipulates that custody (hadana) is
the responsibility of the parents as long as the marriage relation is in place.
Article 97 defines custody (hadana) as the protection of the child as far
as possible from any threat to his or her well-being as well as his or her
maintenance and
the maintenance of his or her interests. The Code on Personal
Status regulates the custody of the child in the case of the separation
of the
parents, including the responsibility for child maintenance (articles 136 and
139 of the Code on Personal Status).
- Other
laws also deal with the responsibility of the parents: for example, civil
responsibility under article 85 of the Royal Decree
on obligations and
contracts, criminal responsibility for not sending the child to an educational
institute under articles 3 and
5 of the Royal Decree of 13 January 1963 on
compulsory education, criminal responsibility under section 553 of the Code
of Criminal
Procedure for negligence of supervision of a delinquent child who is
placed under restricted freedom, which stipulates that “...
if there is
adequate proof of serious negligence in monitoring the delinquent child by the
parents, the guardian or the tutor, or
of obstruction of the work of the
commissioner, the child’s parents, guardian or tutor shall be liable to a
civil fine of 1,000
to 50,000 dirhams”. In this context, reference is
also made to the responsibility of the parents for registering their children
in
the Registry of Civil Status, which has been dealt with in section 7 above. The
Penal Code also provides for penalties against
parents who neglect their
responsibilities vis-à-vis their children, in view of the parents’
overall responsibility
towards them. (See below, Protection against any form of
abuse or neglect.)
- In
addition to the above, the Government pays compensation under the Labour Law and
the Civil Service Code, though the amount of such
compensation remains meagre
and inadequate to cover the needs of the child.
- Conscious
of its obligation to assist the family in discharging its basic function of
providing care for the children, the Government,
in its statement to the
Parliament, has undertaken to “... promote social coherence through daily
administrative actions to
protect the family and the child in the context of a
new solidarity charter ...”. Accordingly, the Ministry of State for
Solidarity
and Humanitarian Action was established in 1998, thus making
solidarity for the benefit of the children in difficult economic and
social
circumstances one of the main orientations of the sector. The new body focused
its attention on the social institutions that
are run by philanthropic
organizations. There are 384 such institutions that specialize in child care
and protecting children from
delinquency and homelessness. They accommodate
around 33,000 children, mainly from rural areas, mostly orphans or coming from
destitute
families.
- Those
institutions have benefited from the programmes of the Week of Solidarity
against Poverty which was sponsored in 1998 by His
Majesty King Mohammad VI.
They have been renovated and equipped, and their infrastructure and services
have greatly improved.
- As
part of its programme of action, the Ministry of State has assisted in the
development of the cadres of such institutions, providing
them with professional
training for child care workers in dealing with children in difficult situations
and avoiding all forms of
mistreatment. That effort was part of the training
workshops conducted by the Ministry of State in the context of the proceedings
of the sixth session of the National Congress on the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, 1999, which was organized by the National
Observatory for the Rights
of the Child. Some 900 employees took part in the training. It was an occasion
for strengthening cooperation
between philanthropic organizations and other
social actors. It was also an opportunity to familiarize the trainees with the
requirements
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the means of
implementing its provisions, and how such requirements can be accommodated
within the special programmes of their organizations.
- In
the same context, an education day was organized on “The social and
educational role of philanthropic organizations”.
The theme of the day
was the impact of financial management and auditing on the rehabilitation and
quality of services in philanthropic
organizations. Other courses on
philanthropic work will be organized to cover monitoring of the problems of
children with a view
to finding effective solutions through networking,
cooperation and coordination between interested organizations.
- The
National Cooperation Agency, which works to provide services to benefit
children, has been restructured since 1998 in order to
adapt its programmes and
institutes to the economic and social environment. A pilot programme has
started with four cities: Oujda,
Fez, Rabat and Khemisset. The programme aims
at upgrading the capacity and capability of social institutions, and improving
their
means and procedures with a view to targeting the most needy social
categories. The Agency provides services for needy children
through a wide
network of some 1,500 institutions and centres. Its assistance includes
food, education, primary training, literacy
and social care, and covers special
categories of children of school age: orphans; needy and disabled children;
children from broken
families, etc. The centres and homes are under the
supervision of philanthropic associations that receive annual grants from the
Agency. In 1998 the centres and homes assisted by the Agency provided
assistance to 75,043 beneficiaries in 1,493 centres, broken
down as
follows:
Islamic charity organizations: 268 organizations with
31,135 beneficiaries;
Social care centres: 305 centres with 8,330
beneficiaries;
Vocational training centres: 54 centres, with 3,678
beneficiaries;
Day care centres: 318 centres, with 6,638
children;
Associations for the blind and visually impaired: 147 associations
with 6,638 beneficiaries.
- In
1999 the Agency allocated an additional grant of 30,140,000 dirhams as a
contribution to the rehabilitation of philanthropic institutions
and improvement
of services provided for the orphaned and needy children assisted by such
institutions with a view to assisting them
to lead a decent life. The objective
is also to improve the productivity in these institutes, and therefore a
strategy was developed
to restructure the Agency as mentioned earlier. The
purpose of the reform strategy is to achieve:
Better
identification of the targeted categories;
Expansion of the network of centres and improving their services at the
national level, with special reference to rural and suburban
communities;
Expansion of the network of beneficiaries with national
cooperation;
Developing modern management procedures.
- There
are a number of government ministries involved in special measures for children
in difficult situations. There are also civil
society institutions which play
the leading role in highlighting a number of complex subjects.
- The
Government is doing its utmost to support the social safety net with a view to
alleviating some of the problems which face the
vulnerable members of the
society and assisting
poor and needy families. The social safety net includes such organizations
as the Mohammad V Solidarity Foundation, the Agency for
National Cooperation and
the school cafeteria programme, in addition to the work done by the civil
society institutions that are
active in the field of child welfare.
- The
Mohammad V Solidarity Foundation was established during the National Week
of Solidarity, held from 14 to 26 October 1998 under the auspices
of His Majesty King Mohammad VI. Its funds were earmarked for the
rehabilitation of facilities that accommodate children from poor families and
orphan children.
C. Separation from parents (art. 9)
- Moroccan
legislation prohibits separation of a child from his or her parents unless there
are compelling reasons to warrant such separation
in the interest of the child.
Article 99 of the Code on Personal Status regulates the upbringing and care of
the child in his or
her family under the supervision of the parents. In the
case of separation of the parents, the legislation regulates the system
of
custody (hadana) and visitation rights. According to the amendments to
the Code on Personal Status that have been effected since 1993, the father
now
has first priority to custody after the mother (art. 99). Article 111 of the
Code stipulates that if the child is in the custody
of one of the parents, the
other parent shall not be prevented from visiting the child at least once a week
and reassuring himself/herself
about the child’s conditions, unless the
judge, in the interest of the child, decides otherwise. He or she may request
and
be granted the visit to take place at his or her place of
residence.
- With
a view to maintaining family relations, the Criminal Law protects these
relations by punishing anybody who causes the severance
of the relations between
a child and his or her family. Article 467 of the Penal Code punishes a person
who has a child under his
or her care with one month to one year in prison if he
or she fails to hand the child over to a person who has legal claim to his
or
her custody. If a final judgement or a preliminary judgement with legal force
has been issued with the effect of handing the
child over to a person who has
legal custody, a mother, a father, or anybody else who obstructs the execution
of the judgement is
punishable by one month to one year in prison and a fine of
200 to 1,000 dirhams. The same penalty applies to a person who, personally
or
by inciting another person(s), kidnaps or endangers a child, even without fraud
or violence, from the legal custody of a guardian
or from the place where the
child was placed by the legal guardian. If the perpetrator has been banned from
parental custody of
the child, the penalty shall be three years in prison. A
person who intentionally conceals a kidnapped, illegally held or endangered
minor, or a minor who has run away from the authority of a guardian, where such
action does not constitute participation that is
punishable by law, is
punishable by one to five years in prison or a fine of 120 to 500 dirhams, or
both.
- The
legislation emphasizes the need for the child not to be separated from both
parents at the same time. Article 33 of the Penal
Code stipulates that if a
couple is sentenced to prison terms of less than one year, even for different
crimes, and they were not
under arrest at the time the sentence was delivered,
they shall not serve their term concurrently if they prove that they have the
same place of residence and that they have a minor under the age of 16 in their
custody who has nobody else, or a proper private
or public institution, to
provide adequate sustenance for him or her.
- Article
34 of Law No. 35 of 1999 on the Regulation of Prisons stipulates that, as far as
possible within available physical and manpower
capacities in prison facilities,
a special place shall be assigned for mothers accompanied by young children and
for a day-care centre.
Article 139 of the same law provides for the
possibility of a child’s staying with its mother until the age of three.
Such
a period may be extended to age 5 at the request of the mother, subject to
the approval of the Minister of Justice.
- A
child may not be separated from his or her parents unless that would endanger
his or her safety, manners and well-being. (See in
this regard the initial
report submitted by Morocco (CRC/C/28/Add.1).)
D. Family reunification (art. 10)
- No
provision in Moroccan legislation constitutes a violation of the right to family
reunification. The Constitution embodies the principle of freedom of movement
for all citizens and for foreigners who may enter and leave the country. This
right
is qualified only by the laws that protect the country’s security
and public order, which is in conformity with article 10
of the Convention.
Morocco endeavours to secure the right of family unification for all: for
Moroccan children whose parent(s)
live outside the country, and for foreign
children whose parent(s) live in Morocco, in accordance with national laws. To
this end,
Morocco has entered into agreements with a number of foreign, Arab and
Islamic countries, some of which are mentioned
below:
(a) Agreement on cooperation in the judicial field,
signed in Rabat on 11 July 1981 between Morocco and France, in addition to a
previous agreement of cooperation between the two countries signed on 11 June
1957. Those agreements contain important provisions
relating to custody and
visitation rights and alimony. Implementation mechanisms have been put in
place, including consultations
between the central administrations and the
establishment of a joint advisory committee. However, certain difficulties have
arisen
regarding the implementation of court orders;
(b) Agreement
between Morocco and Spain on cooperation in the civil field, and another
agreement on the status of persons, families,
and on the kidnapping and holding
of minors. The two agreements were signed in Madrid on 30 May 1997. The
Ministries of Justice
in Morocco and Spain represent the central authorities
entrusted with the implementation of the agreement;
(c) Agreement
between Morocco and Belgium on recognition and implementation of court orders in
matters of custody and visitation,
signed in 1991;
(d) Agreement between
Morocco and Germany on cooperation in the judicial field as related to the Code
on Personal Status, signed
on 29 October 1985.
- In
addition, Morocco signed agreements with Algeria (15 March 1963),
Egypt (22 March 1989), Syria (25 September 1995) and Bahrain
(February 1997).
- All
the above agreements are observed subject to the implementation of decisions of
the courts.
E. Illicit transfer and non-return of children abroad (art.
11)[*]
- Reflecting
the Government’s concern about the situation of Moroccan emigrants and the
difficulties and problems they face as
a result of lack of dialogue and
consultation between the countries in question, the Ministry in Charge of Human
Rights, on the occasion
of the fiftieth anniversary of the ratification of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, organized, in cooperation with the
Ministry of Social Development, Solidarity, Employment and Vocational Training
and the Hassan II Foundation for Expatriate Moroccans,
at the city of Tangiers
in November 1998, a symposium on “Human rights and expatriate
Moroccans”. The participants discussed
in depth the problems emanating
from the application of laws relating to personal status and from mixed
marriages, especially as
regards visitation rights and the right of the child to
maintain relations with his or her parents without being the victim of
expatriation
or illegal opposition to his or her return.
F. Recovery of maintenance for the child (art. 27, para.
4)
- Maintenance
for the child is governed by the Code on Personal Status. Section 126 makes
maintenance the responsibility of the father, as prescribed by the Islamic
doctrine on which the Code is based. The mother
shall be responsible only if
the father is unable to pay and she has the means to do so (art. 129).
Maintenance continues for the
girl until she is married, and for the boy until
he reaches the age of maturity. If he is still in an educational institution,
his
maintenance continues until he completes his studies or reaches the age of
21 (art. 126).
- If
the matrimonial relationship is dissolved, the question of maintenance is dealt
with as a matter of urgency, and the court order
shall be enforced immediately
without waiting for the result of any appeal. Pending a decision on
maintenance, the judge may order
temporary maintenance to be paid to the
beneficiaries within one month of the date of the application, taking into
consideration
the validity of the request and its justifications. Such orders
shall be enforced before registration of the case, upon presenting
a copy of the
decision. Simultaneously with the registration of a divorce, the judge makes a
decision on the alimony for the wife
during the intervening period
(eddah), the place of residence for the wife during that period, any
restrictions on remarriage, the payment of the deferred part of the
dowry, the
children’s maintenance, and visitation rights of the father. The decision
is immediately enforceable and is not
subject to appeal, as provided for in
article 179 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
- In
deciding on the maintenance and related obligations, the judge takes account of
the husband’s income, the wife’s financial
status, and the
prevailing cost of living, on average.
- The
judge benefits from expert opinion and makes his decision on a priority basis.
Such decision shall be valid until the maintenance
expires or is modified by a
subsequent ruling.
- Article
480 of the Criminal Law provides for a penalty of one month to one year in
prison or a fine of 200 to 1,000 dirhams, or both,
for a person who
intentionally fails to pay the maintenance determined by a final or interim
court decision to a wife or a dependent
child or parent at the prescribed time.
In case of repetition, imprisonment becomes mandatory. Unless otherwise
determined by the
judge, the maintenance decided by the court is payable at the
place of residence of the beneficiary. Article 564 of the Code of
Criminal
Procedure stipulates that in all cases where a minor is handed over, temporarily
or definitively, to a person other than
his father, mother, guardian or tutor,
the court shall determine the fees payable by the family for the care for the
child. Such
fees are payable to the treasury as revenues derived from the
administration of criminal justice. The relevant bodies shall pay
any benefits,
visitation and assistance payable to the minor directly to the person or
institution that takes care of him or her.
If the minor is placed in a public
institution charged with child assistance, the part of the cost of maintenance
not payable by
the family shall be borne by the treasury.
- As
for maintenance payable by persons living outside the country, Morocco, in
addition to concluding the bilateral agreements referred
to above, ratified, in
October 1959, the Convention on the Recovery of Maintenance Abroad of June
1956.
G. Children deprived of a family environment (art. 20)
- Reference
is made to the initial report by Morocco (CRC/C/28/Add.1) which refers to the
Royal Decree of 10 September 1993 Establishing
the Act on the Protection of
Abandoned Children.
- In
order to provide better protection for the abandoned child, a revision of the
Royal Decree is being considered with a view
to:
(a) Streamlining the procedures for establishing that a
child is abandoned, in terms of the time required before a declaration of
abandonment can be issued, and in terms of accelerating the investigation
ordered by the relevant court of first instance;
(b) Regularizing the
civil status of the child before conclusion of the kafala procedure and
entrusting the child to a kafeel (sponsor). Thus, a name and a family
name are given in the Registry of Civil Status to a child of unknown parents,
i.e. spaces for
the parents’ names are filled in rather than being left
blank. The Ministry of Wakf and Religious Affairs has concurred with the
possibility of giving the child compound names such as Abdel-Razik, Abdel
Ghafour and
similar names;
(c) Giving a child of unknown parents the
name of the family of the kafeel, subject to ensuring that such a step
does not constitute a violation of religious doctrines;
(d) Giving the
judge in charge of minors’ affairs a mandate for abandoned children in
line with the legal proxy provided for
in the Code on Personal Status and the
Code of Civil Procedure;
(e) Protecting the minor who is the object of a
request for a declaration of abandonment by temporarily placing him or her in a
social
care institution for childcare;
(f) The decision to award kafala being taken by the judge in charge
of minors’ affairs upon an investigation to be conducted by the
prosecutor’s office;
(g) The review or cancellation of the
kafala order being made by the judge in charge of minors’ affairs
on the basis of reports prepared by the prosecutor’s office
or by the
Social Assistance Services Office, in accordance with the best interest of the
child;
(h) Adopting the principle of the right of the kafeel and
the minor placed in kafala to receive the allowances and other social
assistance payable by the Government and public and private institutions to
parents in
respect of dependants.
- The
civil society plays an important role in this field, particularly the Moroccan
League for the Protection of Children and similar
associations such as Bayti and
Gheta Zanbeer.
1. Moroccan League for the Protection of Children
- The
League was established in 1957 with the aim of improving the conditions of the
Moroccan child and promoting children’s welfare.
Since its inception it
has made great efforts to safeguard the interests of the child, especially
children in difficult situations.
The activities of the Moroccan League for the
Protection of Children are discussed below.
(a) Care for abandoned children and children living in
difficult situations
- The
League runs four childcare centres that receive children abandoned by their
families and children without families, including
physically and mentally
handicapped children, according to age group.
- From
birth to age 3. Four centres receive children less than 3 years of age:
the Lalla Mariam Centre in Rabat, a nursery in Marrakesh, the Lalla Amina
Home in Tarodante, and a nursery in Ougda. In those centres, children receive
good care under continuous supervision, together with
social and educational
care. A group of multidisciplinary educationalists supervise the centres,
securing for the children good
educational and health care throughout their stay
at the centres. Social workers and teachers work with the families interested
in adoption and facilitate all administrative and other procedures required for
adoption, in accordance with applicable laws and
regulations. These centres
hosted more than 2,500 children between 1955 and October 1999.
- Children
3 years old and older. The Lalla Amina Home in Ibn Soliman receives
abandoned children of 3 years of age and older. It provides shelter for
children
suffering from difficult social conditions because of the death or
separation of the parents, or a protracted illness, or the detention
of the
mother. The children are grouped as follows:
(a) Children
under the age of 7 are hosted in the centre under the supervision of
professional caregivers and specialists in pre-school
education;
(b) Children over the age of 7 are enrolled in the Ministry
of National Education public schools.
- In
addition to the educational content, the children engage in sports and related
activities, field trips and other recreation activities.
- The
League has provided its services to over 600 children between 1995 and
October 1999.
- The
nursery schools of the League also receive non-boarding children in order to
provide the boarding children with the opportunity
to mix with other children
and to facilitate their eventual social integration.
(b) Accommodation of children from poor quarters in its
kindergartens
- As
part of its efforts to help the children in poor areas, the Moroccan League for
the Protection of Children has established a number
of kindergarten schools in
different districts and amalat of the country. Their number has reached
48, the latest having opened for the 1998/99 school year in the town of Sala.
The kindergartens
accommodate some 10,000 children every year, mostly children
of poor or unstable families. They are provided with health, educational
and
social services. Health services include:
Vaccinations against serious diseases according to the vaccination programme
of the Ministry of Health;
Regular medical check-ups and treatment when needed;
Health guidance and instruction in preventing illnesses and
accidents;
Education in good and balanced nutrition;
Educational services: educators supervise the education and classification
of the children according to educational achievement,
in cooperation with the
parents, according to an educational programme that is tailored to the specific
cultural and social family
environment.
- Social
services include follow-up by the social workers of the social situation of the
children in order to help them solve their
family and social problems, such as
registration with the civil status offices and preparation of relevant
administrative papers.
(c) S.O.S. centres
- The
League established two pilot first aid centres for children in the depressed
areas of Rabat to provide treatment for groups that
have poor access to health
facilities. The centres provide first aid services to children and their
families by medical staff working
outside normal working hours. The more
complicated cases are referred to hospitals. The centres provided services for
more than
25,520 patients between 1994 and October 1999.
2. Gheta Zanbeer Association
- This
organization cares for children from birth to age 14. In 1999 the number of
children cared for by the Association reached 351, including 31 girls. The
Association houses neglected children and provides them
with health and
educational services pending their adoption. The Association is working to
establish a children’s village,
with the capacity to accommodate
400 children or more whom the Association will fully support from birth
until they are integrated
in practical life.
- Out
of the 809 children cared for by the Association between 1993 and 1999, 338 were
adopted, and 38 children were recovered from
their original
families.
3. Darona Association, Tangiers
- This
Association undertakes a number of activities including: distribution of school
supplies with the help of UNESCO, participation
in the non-regular school
programmes, organization of recreation activities for children in difficult
situations, a restaurant for
street children with special emphasis on
cleanliness, sports and literacy, and organization of cultural
events.
4. S.O.S. Children’s Villages
- There
are two S.O.S. Children’s Villages in Morocco. Apt-Ourir village, which
accommodates 115 children and 14 mothers in 14
family houses, was established in
1985.
The village has a kindergarten, educational workshops and an
educational farm. The other village is Emzouroun, established in September
1988
after the success of Apt-Ourir. It accommodates 93 children, 63 boys and
30 girls; 13 of them are enrolled in kindergarten,
63 in primary schools, and 6
in secondary education.
- The
Association for S.O.S. Children follows up the children until they are actually
integrated in normal life. A centre for the children
was built in Marrakesh and
Casablanca. The third S.O.S. Children’s Village will be opened during the
current year at Dar Bouazza
near Casablanca.
- There
are also other associations that play an important role in assisting children in
difficult situations, such as:
Karme Association at the town of Asfe, which initiated hearings to benefit
street children;
Ihsan Association, which helps abandoned children and provides them with
medical treatment in the context of an educational programme;
Moroccan Society for the Assistance of Child and Family, which implements a
programme of sponsorship of orphan children. About 800
children have benefited
from the work of the Society, receiving assistance in cash or in the form of
medicines and clothing;
Pleasure Time (Saet el farah) Association, which provides educational
and health services and literacy and vocational training programmes for the
integration
of children into the school and training institute system;
Moroccan Association for Assisting Children in Unstable Situations, which has
three centres in the cities of Rabat and Sala that accommodated
199 children in
1999.
- Recently,
a new institution for girls in difficult situations was established in Rabat as
a joint effort between the German Solidarity
Association and the Moroccan
Association for Youth Education. This institution endeavours to assist in the
alleviation of some of
the problems faced by neglected girls. It studies their
economic, social and personal situation and develops methods for rehabilitation
in each case, together with the educational guidance needed.
- The
institution works mainly on consultation and guidance, and runs a centre for
specialized prevention. The project serves 130 to
150 girls.
- In
spite of all the above-mentioned initiatives to improve the situation of
neglected children, more needs to be done in the fields
of institutions, cadres
and specialized training in childhood-related fields, especially with regard to
children with emotional problems
that adversely affect their development and
personality.
H. Adoption (art. 21)
- Morocco
is an Islamic country. Islamic law prohibits adoption for various reasons,
including the purity of progeny, keeping inheritance
among kin, and because it
entails the prohibition of marriage between partners that is not prohibited by
scripture or sunnah. However, the tanzeel and patronage are
alternatives to the system of adoption. Tanzeel is to place the child in
a position of a son or daughter, but in terms of inheritance he or she may be
granted up to one third of
the estate of the father or mother by way of a
will (wasiya), as provided for in section 212 of the Code on
Personal Status. The system of patronage (kafala) was introduced as a
protective measure in the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law
Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation
in Respect of Parental Responsibility
and Measures for the Protection of Children of 19 October 1996.
I. Right to periodic review of placement for purposes of care,
protection
or treatment of a child’s physical or mental health (art.
25)
- Moroccan
legislation recognizes the need for the review of decisions taken regarding
minors placed in childcare institutions for rehabilitation
or treatment.
Articles 554 to 560 of the Code of Criminal Procedure refer to such
cases.
- The
juvenile judge may at any time change or revise the measures taken under
section 516 of the Code of Criminal Procedure regardless
of which court has
taken the original decision. The judge may take such a decision at his own
initiative or upon request from the
prosecution or on the basis of a report by
the commissioner in charge of the supervised liberty of the minor. The parents
or the
guardian of the minor may also request, after one year of the execution
of a court decision, that the minor be placed outside his
or her family, or that
the minor be put back under their supervision and custody subject to proving
their capacity to take care of
the child. The minor may also request to be
returned to the care of his parents or guardian if he or she exhibits good
conduct.
If the request is denied, it cannot be renewed before one year from
the date of the rejection, as provided for in article 555 of
the Code of
Criminal Procedure.
- Local
jurisdiction over all incidental matters and over justification of measures
relating to restriction of freedom, custody and
placement lies with the juvenile
judge or juvenile court that initially took the decision on the matter;
jurisdiction over review
lies with the original judge or court, the court in
whose jurisdiction the parents reside or in which the investigation took place,
the institution in which the child has been placed by court order or the judge
or court in whose jurisdiction the institution is,
upon authorization by the
juvenile judge or court that took the initial decision on the
matter.
- Court
orders relating to incidental questions or justification for review of
restriction of freedom, placement or custody may carry
an order of temporary
execution irrespective of any appeal. An appeal should be submitted to the
juvenile chamber of the appeals
court (articles 557 and 560 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure).
J. Protection of the child against any form of abuse and
neglect,
including rehabilitation and reintegration (art. 39)
1. Protecting the child from all forms of violence and
negligence
- Reference
is made to the legal provisions referred to in the initial report of Morocco
(CRC/C/28/Add.1, paras. 153-159) relating to
articles 408-411 of the Criminal
Code.
- In
parallel with the legal provisions referred to above, the legislation sets
provisions to protect the child from violence and neglect
of all types.
Considering the responsibility of parents to take care of their children and
meet their needs, the law has provided
penalties for breaching these
duties.
- A
parent who causes any serious harm to one or more of his or her children,
through abuse or setting a bad example of alcoholism,
or negligence of the
necessary health care, safety or moral supervision, is punishable by a term of
one month to one year in prison
and a fine of 200 to 500 dirhams, whether
or not he or she has been deprived of parental authority.
- In
addition, he or she may be deprived of one or more of his or her civil, national
or familial rights for a period of up to 10 years,
according to article 482 of
the Criminal Code.
- In
order to protect the child from all forms of negligence, the legislation
provides for penalties for family neglect. Article 479
of the Criminal Code
stipulates that either a penalty of imprisonment for a period of one month to
one year or a fine of 200-1,000
dirhams or both shall be imposed
on:
(a) A father or a mother, if either of them leaves the
family home without a compelling reason for a period exceeding two months
and
abandons all or part of his or her material and moral duties emanating from
parental custody or legal custody or guardianship;
(b) A husband who
wilfully and for no compelling reason abandons his wife, knowing that she is
pregnant.
- Criminal
law also punishes a parent for abandoning children and exposing them to danger
with imprisonment for a period of one to three
years, if he or she exposes or
abandons a child or a handicapped person who is unable to protect him/herself
because of his or her
physical condition, in a deserted place, or induced
another person to do any such act. If such act results in an illness or
disability
for a period of more than 20 days, the prison term may be increased
to two to five years.
- If
the child or the handicapped person is injured by a loss or damage of a limb or
is caused a permanent disability, the punishment
shall be imprisonment for a
period of 510 years. If this results in the death of the child or the
handicapped person, the punishment
shall
be 1020 years in prison, as
provided for in article 459 of the Criminal Code.
- The
penalties are increased if the criminal is an ascendant of the child or the
handicapped person, or if he or she has authority
over him/her or is in charge
of him/her and, in extreme cases, could be 2030 years’ imprisonment, as
provided for in article
460 of the same law.
- The
legislation stipulates punishments of either one to six months or a fine
of
2002,000 dirhams or both for any person who takes a child under his or her care
to a welfare institution if the child is less than
7 years old, unless he or she
is not legally bound to provide the child with support, and nobody else has
provided such support,
according to the requirements of article 465 of the
Criminal Code.
- In
addition to the various legal texts embodied in the Moroccan legislation that
protect the child from violence and negligence, the
issue has been the object of
great attention by all actors in the field of child welfare.
- Reference
may be made to the suggestions presented concerning harmonization of national
laws with the requirements of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, which
attach great importance to these issues at both the preventive and curative
levels.
- In
the same context, mention may be made of the amendment to the second paragraph
of article 446 of the Criminal Code, referred to
above, which aims at
securing better protection for a child who is a victim of abuse.
- Taking
into consideration the growing concern for the need to protect children from
neglect and abuse, and recognizing the complexity
of the problem and the
difficulty of collecting data on what actually happens inside families, Morocco
has organized many activities
which aim at increasing awareness of the problem.
These activities have contributed to removing the taboos that previously
inhibited
the discussion of such matters. The civil society is taking an active
role in these efforts. Such efforts included training courses
on “The
child and the law”, which were organized on 18 and 19 April 1994, through
an initiative by the Moroccan League
for the Protection of Children.
- The
courses focused on the situation of children who live in difficult circumstances
and of abused children. The League has also
signed an agreement with the
Ministry of Justice, by virtue of which the League is appointed as a civil party
to defend children
who are victims of abuse in the law courts of the Kingdom.
- The
efforts of the League for protecting the child focus on monitoring cases of
violence against children, and on follow-up of all
complaints and grievances
received by Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Amina, Head of the League, from
parents, guardians, educational
associations and institutions and other actors
of civil society about children who are victims of violence.
- All
these cases are referred to the Ministry of Justice, as the League acts as the
representative of civil rights. The League also
sponsors some of the children
who are victims of violence during the period of investigation and trial,
pending the court decision
on the situation of the child and his or her future.
- A
centre for hearing, reconciliation and defence of the rights of the child was
established by the Moroccan Association for Assisting
the Child and the Family
as a facility through which the Association receives all complaints directly by
phone.
- To
resolve such cases, the Association organizes daily sessions, attended by
judges, lawyers, professors and social workers, to receive
complaints relating
to physical violence, other forms of violence or abuse, and also problems
relating to parentage, registration
of personal status, non-payment of alimony,
protecting handicapped children, and other forms of breaches and abuse. The
Association
helps the victims to file the complaint with the authorities, taking
the necessary procedures; appoints a lawyer from the Association,
free of
charge, to defend the child’s interests before the courts and the
administrative and judicial authorities, with the
Association acting in the
capacity of claimant for civil rights; and informs the Ministry of Justice of
these procedures for follow-up.
- Also
at the initiative of Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Mariam, Head of the
National Observatory for the Rights of the Child,
a training course was
organized on “the phenomenon of abuse of children” on February 1999,
with the aim of reaching a
precise diagnosis of this phenomenon and preparing a
national plan of action to combat child abuse and protect the children who are
victims of abuse. Her Royal Highness dedicated the year 1999 as the year for
combating child abuse.
- The
subject of child abuse and the exploitation of children was one of the important
agenda items of the second session of the Children’s
Parliament, which
coincided with the seventh session of the National Congress on the Rights of the
Child.
- The
attention that the Moroccan Government gives to the phenomenon of child abuse at
the highest levels, is reflected in the eminent
address by His Majesty King
Mohammad VI to the Children’s Parliament, in which His Majesty said
“ ... We consider this
type of behaviour and
abuse a disgrace to any society. We call upon all participants, from the
public sector, experts and associations to deal in this
session with the
different aspects of this issue, in order to
analyse the causes, to find
solutions capable of fighting all forms of abuse and to develop a comprehensive
strategy that would involve
in its application the contribution of all
concerned,
in an integrated framework, using modern work methods in line
with our ideals and moral of caring for the child as well as with our
religious,
legal, social, moral and development
vision”.
- On
the occasion of the celebration by Morocco of the tenth anniversary of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Ministry
in Charge of Human Rights,
in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and UNICEF, organized a
round table on “Children
in difficult situations” on 16
November 1999, in which the ministers who supervise the public services that
work directly with
child welfare, as well as the associations working in the
field of children, took part. The subject of child abuse has captured
the
greatest interest of all those who participated in the meeting.
- The
programmes initiated by the Government, and those which the non-governmental
organizations have carefully developed, have played
an important role in raising
awareness, directly or indirectly, among all actors and employees of the abuse
phenomenon and the importance
of reporting such incidents and participating in
taking precautionary measures, including family education.
- Likewise,
the phenomenon of street children as one form of neglect has been given due
attention by the Government. In this context,
the Ministry of State in charge
of social welfare, family and childhood organized, in cooperation with the local
Board of the County
of Meknas - Tafelat, a two-day course on 12 and 13 July 1999
on the subject of sponsoring homeless children. Competent government
and public
institutions, and associations involved in child welfare, heads of district,
parliamentary representatives and local elected
officials of Meknas - Taflet
participated in the course.
- The
participants in the course discussed four items relating to:
(a) The role of local groups and non-government organizations
in reviving social work;
(b) Facilities for housing and integrating
homeless children;
(c) Human resources in the social field;
and
(d) Ways and means of financing activities for homeless children.
- One
of the major goals of the training course, in addition to information, is to
stimulate cooperation between groups, non-governmental
organizations and public
authorities.
- The
Ministry of State in charge of social welfare, family and childhood has also
conducted a study on street children, which included
a sample from selected
large and mid-size cities of children whose ages ranged from 6 to 18, broken
down as follows:
− 29.52 per cent under 10 years of age;
− 39.71 per cent between 10 and 14 years of age;
− 30.77 per cent between 15 and 18 years of age.
- The
study brings to light the fact that the phenomenon of street children is a
complex one, as they are not homogeneous, and that
the problem requires
mobilization of the efforts of all concerned to find appropriate solutions.
- The
study aims at developing elements of a draft plan of action for reintegration of
street children (see annex).
- The
Ministry of Justice, for its part, is actively involved in collecting
statistical data relating to the phenomenon of violence
against children. This
is done through public prosecutions offices that send statistics regularly to
the central administrations.
2. Measures for social rehabilitation and
reintegration
- Reference
is made to the legal aspects that have been dealt with in the initial report of
Morocco (CRC/C/28/Add.1, paras. 161164).
- In
the context of initiatives aiming at the protection of children from neglect and
all forms of abuse mentioned above; some of the
mechanisms that have been
innovated in this field are as follows:
(a) Establishment of
a model centre for counselling and protection for children who are victims of
abuse, an initiative by the National
Observatory for the Rights of the
Child;
(b) Developing pilot projects for centres for homeless children
to be established in the cities of Casablanca, Tamara, Tetouan and
Tangiers with
the aim of providing means of assistance and integration to that category of
child. These projects are carried out
under an initiative by the Ministry of
State in Charge of Social Care and Family and Child Affairs and in cooperation
with local
associations;
(c) Establishment, by the Ministry in Charge of
Human Rights, of a network of centres for legal and psychological assistance for
the benefit of children in difficult situations. This project aims primarily at
involving the leading agencies interested in child
welfare in order to assist
them in their efforts to provide assistance to that category of child. Such
agencies include the Royal
Gendarmerie, National Security and elements of civil
society working on behalf of children. To this effect, an agreement was signed
between the Ministry in Charge of Human Rights and the Lawyers Association in
Morocco on 30 December 1999.
- One
of the objectives of the project is to inform institutions and employees working
in the field of childhood of the conditions of
this category of child, to train
supervisors to provide such assistance to the children by direct contact or by
telephone, to provide
the necessary cadres of governesses, social workers and
other workers to provide the necessary services for them.
- In
the field of rehabilitation and reintegration, reference is made to the leading
role that the civil society has played. For example,
“Bayti”
Foundation works for familial, educational and professional reintegration of
children in difficult situations
such as street children, child victims of
economic and sexual exploitation, victims of abuse and maltreatment, delinquent
children
and others.
- Thanks
to a multidisciplinary group of professionals, governesses, social workers,
psychologists, medical doctors, teachers and artists
the Foundation was able to
create special programmes for social integration that rely on street workshops,
educational workshops,
scholastic assistance and support, vocational training
and family education.
- There
are currently two accommodation centres available at Casablanca, the first for
young children and the second for teenagers,
and a branch at the city of Meknas.
- Accommodating
children at those centres is only a transitional stage for a limited period,
since the main objective of the Foundation
is to reintegrate those children in
their family surroundings.
- Out
of a total of 560 children received at those centres, 305 children have been
reintegrated into their families with followup on
the part of those working at
the Foundation. Also, some 4,970 children have benefited from the street
workshops that mainly targeted
street children. Forty of them were integrated
in schools, 50 in vocational training centres and 15 in practical life.
- The
“Bayti” Foundation also organizes activities for the benefit of
abandoned children and children in prison. This is
done within the framework of
a programme organized in cooperation with the Okasha Civil Prison.
- The
Foundation is also involved in wide-scale awareness activities, specially
regarding the homeless, and other categories of children
in difficult
situations. One advantage is its perseverance in integrating the children
enrolled in its programme.
- Also
noteworthy is the role that the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) plays for
the benefit of children in difficult situations.
In cooperation with the
Moroccan League for the Protection of Children, four children’s clubs were
founded in 1995 at the
city of Fez for the benefit of 400 children. UNICEF has
also participated, within the framework of cooperation with the civil society,
in improving the conditions of this group of children in each of the cities of
Fez, Tanja, Marrakesh and Casablanca.
- Among
its achievements in this field are:
A study on street children in Fez;
Supporting training courses on the problem of children in difficult
situations in cooperation with a local foundation at the city
of Tanjiers;
Professional training for the benefit of 122 girls for the purpose of
facilitating their integration in the job market;
Organizing campaigns to improve teaching methods and to minimize
drop-outs;
Improving means for caring for children in difficult situations, especially
in the educational, health care and sports and leisure
fields. This project has
helped some 1,000 orphan and charity children or children in conflict with the
law in Fez and Casablanca;
A study on street children at Tanjiers;
Two studies on the reasons for drop-out from school and failures at schools
in both Marrakesh and Tanjiers.
- Reference
may also be made to the details about the achievements of UNICEF within the
framework of the cooperation programme with
Morocco (see annex).
-
In spite of all the efforts made in this field, there are still serious gaps in
the field of protecting, rehabilitating and reintegrating
children who are
victims of neglect and abuse.
- The
reason for this is the limited financial and human resources and the social
difficulties that Morocco experiences, related specially
to unemployment,
poverty and illiteracy.
VI. HEALTH AND WELFARE
A. Child survival and development (art. 6, para. 2)
- Indicators
of health conditions have improved over the last three decades. Yet, whatever
achievements have been made, they are still
limited, especially with regard to
maternal health and the disparities existing between rural and urban areas.
- In
terms of basic health coverage, the number of basic health-care facilities in
1994 was 2,055, which represented a ratio of one
centre for every 13,741
inhabitants. By
comparison, the number in 1991 was 1,653, which represented
a ratio of one centre for
every 14,912 inhabitants. It should be pointed
out that these basic health care facilities include urban polyclinics as well as
community
health centres.
- In
rural areas, basic health-care coverage has also recorded an improvement, with
the number of health-care facilities rising from 1,237 in 1991(a ratio of
one centre for
every 10,129 inhabitants) to 1,483 in 1999 (a ratio of one
centre for every 8,656 inhabitants). But despite this improvement, about
31
per cent of the population in rural areas live 10 kilometres or more away
from the nearest health-care facility. Furthermore,
shortages are still
noticeable in the number of paramedical staff and the availability of
transportation facilities.
- At
the private sector level, there are 3,470 medical clinics, representing a ratio
of one clinic for every 7,870 inhabitants. Of
these, 96 per cent
located in big cities and smaller urban centres.
- In
terms of hospitalization facilities, the progress recorded has been rather
modest compared with demographic developments. In 1999,
there was one hospital
bed for every 1,122 inhabitants, as compared with one hospital bed for every 918
inhabitants in 1990. Hospital
bed occupancy in 1999 was 58 per cent.
Health-care personnel: physicians, pharmacists and
paramedical staff
- About
760 physicians and pharmacists graduate every year from the Medicine and
Pharmacy Colleges in Rabat and Casablanca. These are
further joined annually by
more
than 300 physicians and pharmacists who receive their education and
training abroad. But in spite of these numbers, the availability
of health care
personnel has not yet reached the desired level. In 1999, the total number of
physicians did not exceed 12,082 (of
whom 6,204 belonged to the private sector),
which represented a ratio of one physician for every 2,300 inhabitants, as
compared with
the ratio of one physician for every 4,027 inhabitants in 1991.
Specialist physicians represent 48 per cent of the total number
of
physicians, which puts them in the ratio of one specialist for every 4,770
inhabitants.
- At
the level of basic health-care facilities, the availability of qualified medical
personnel is still low, especially in rural areas,
where in 1998 the ratio stood
at 17,755 inhabitants for each rural health-care centre staffed with a doctor.
- As
for pharmacists, their number was 3,700 in 1998, representing a ratio of 1
pharmacist for every 7,500 inhabitants. By comparison,
the number in 1991 was
1,802 pharmacists, representing a ratio of 1 pharmacist for every 13,680
inhabitants. But it should be pointed
out that pharmacies tend to be more
concentrated in urban centres.
- The
number of paramedical staff (nurses, technicians, etc.) increased by 12
per cent from 22,925 in 1990 to reach 25,641 in 1999.
But despite
this increase, a considerable shortage in paramedical staff is still
experienced. It should be mentioned in this connection
that the Ministry of
Health has 19 training institutes which produce annually a total of 200 nursing
staff, 100 midwives and 150
medical technicians.
Status of health services
- Basic
health-care centres provide a number of health services for mothers and
children. Child immunization against the six target
diseases (tuberculosis,
poliomyelitis, diphtheria, tetanus, measles and whooping cough) recorded a
marked increase in coverage from
66 per cent in 1987 to 87 per cent in
1997. The coverage rate was 93 per cent in urban areas and 85
per cent in rural areas.
- In
1997, the use of family planning methods reached an overall level of 58.5
per cent, with a coverage rate of 65.8 per cent in urban
areas and
50.7 per cent in rural areas.
- Child
delivery under professional medical supervision represents an overall average
of 42.4 per cent. But the coverage tends to be
far more biased
in favour of urban areas, where the rate goes up to 70 per cent, as opposed
to rural areas where the coverage rate
does not
exceed 20 per cent.
- According
to data taken from the National Survey on Maternal and Child Health, the
rate of infant mortality in Morocco was 36.6 per 1,000 live births in 1997,
as compared
with 50 per 1,000 in 1992.
- But
in spite of all the efforts undertaken and the improvements recorded, there are
numerous deficiencies still persisting in the
field of health-care coverage.
For example, with regard to maternal and child health, infant mortality,
especially the incidence
of mortality at birth, remains high at the national
level, with almost 70 per cent of mortality cases attributed to child
delivery
without specialized medical supervision.
- On
the whole, health-care indicators and statistics show that there are
considerable disparities between urban and rural areas. The
only exception is
the fertility rate, which recorded a marked decrease by 26 per cent in
rural areas, as compared with a decrease
by only 9.4 per cent in urban
areas, during the period 1992-1997.
- In
contrast to fertility, infant mortality between the ages of 1 and 5 recorded a
substantial 83 per cent decline in urban areas during
the same
period, as compared with a decrease by 57 per cent in rural areas.
But in addition to the aforementioned factors, i.e.
the shortages in the number
of medical personnel and the overall deficiency in the material and human
resources available to the
health sector in general, infant mortality may be
attributed to a number of other factors. These include the family standard of
living, availability of good drinking water, environmental conditions, access to
medical and health-care services and, not the least,
illiteracy, which is still
widespread in rural areas.
Some child-health indicators
|
1992
|
1995
|
1997
|
Overall mortality rate (per 1,000)
|
8
|
-
|
-
|
Neonatal mortality rate (per 1,000)
|
31
|
37
|
20
|
Mortality rate for babies aged less than 1 year (per 1,000)
|
57
|
61
|
37
|
Mortality rate for babies aged 1-5 years (per 1,000)
|
20
|
20
|
10
|
Maternal mortality due to pregnancy and delivery (per 100,000 live
births)
|
332
|
-
|
228
|
Sources: The National Survey on Maternal and Child Health, 1997;
The National Population and Health Survey, 1992; The National Population
and
Health Survey, 1995.
Rates of child immunization coverage
|
1994
|
1999
|
Tuberculosis
|
93%
|
88%
|
Poliomyelitis (1st oral dose)
|
91%
|
93%
|
Poliomyelitis (2nd oral dose)
|
89%
|
92%
|
Poliomyelitis (3rd oral dose)
|
87%
|
91%
|
Diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus(1st dose)
|
91%
|
93%
|
Diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus(2nd dose)
|
89%
|
92%
|
Diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus(3rd dose)
|
87%
|
91%
|
Measles
|
87%
|
90%
|
Tetanus for pregnant women (2nd dose)
|
81%
|
84%
|
Source: The National Immunization Programme, Population
Department.
B. Disabled Children (art. 23)
- Disabled
children enjoy all the rights provided for in national legislation, foremost of
which are the constitutional safeguards that
establish the principle, in
addition to provisions contained in other legislation and organizational codes.
- Inconsideration
of the special status and the special needs of disabled persons, and in a bid to
improve legal provisions pertaining
to the rights and welfare of this group of
people, two legal instruments have been issued for the benefit of disabled
persons. The
first is Act 05-82 on the social protection of disabled persons.
The second is Act 07-92, which provides the legal framework for
the
implementation of these provisions.
- Furthermore,
the Office of the High Commissioner for Disabled Persons has been upgraded,
within the framework of the present Government,
to what is now the State
Secretariat for Disabled Persons, with the mandate of integrating this group of
people into the overall
fabric of the society, in collaboration and coordination
with other concerned agencies and bodies.
- Disabled
persons are vulnerable to difficulties in the areas of education and
rehabilitation, which are the first two steps in the
ongoing process of
integrating disabled individuals, promoting their personalities, and enabling
them to acquire the knowledge and
know-how which they need for social integration. It is noted that disabled
persons, especially the females amongst them, suffer from
higher levels of
illiteracy. This increase in illiteracy levels among disabled persons may be
attributed to a number of reasons
among which are the following:
(a) Lack of school facilities which are necessary to address the
special needs of disabled groups;
(b) The long distance that a disabled
person has to travel between home and the nearest educational facility,
especially in rural
areas;
(c) Educational services provided by the
national educational system are not suited to the requirements of the disabled
child, both
in terms of curricula and specialized personnel;
(d) Poor
and lower-income families find it difficult to afford the cost of providing the
proper education for a disabled child, such
as the cost of textbooks, hearing
aids, wheelchairs, writing and teaching materials, etc;
(e) Lack of
transportation.
- The
aforementioned legal instruments on the social protection of disabled persons
provide, though in varying degrees, for the right
to education. For example,
Act 05-82 on the social protection of the blind and partially sighted deals with
the right to education
only when spelling out some of the privileges recognized
for this group of people. Paragraph 1 under section IV of this Act calls
for assigning special public institutions to undertake the task of providing
education and rehabilitation for this group, with a
view to preparing them to
practise some of the jobs and skills that suit their condition. In this Act,
the paragraph referred to
is the only provision that deals with
education.
- The
other instrument, that is, Act 07-92 on the social protection of disabled
persons, which constitutes the legal framework covering
all types of disability,
provides in four of its articles for the right of disabled persons to education.
Article 12 stipulates that
disabled persons should be enabled to receive, to the
extent that it can be made possible, education and vocational training at
ordinary
educational institutions. At the same time, the concerned government
authority is directed, within the capabilities and resources
available, to
establish special vocational training institutions for disabled
persons.
- This
article also calls for special consideration to be given to the special needs
and circumstances of disabled persons, providing
them with the means to ensure
their ability to benefit from the services of educational and training
institutions. It also calls
for providing them with the facilities needed to
enable them to take the required exams in the manner that suits their health
conditions.
- Article
14 enjoins the concerned government authority to encourage the establishment,
expansion and supervision of private institutions
dedicated to providing
education, training and rehabilitation for disabled persons.
- It
should be noted, though, that only a limited number of disabled children have
been able to benefit from educational, rehabilitation
and training services.
This situation may be attributed to a number of reasons, most importantly the
following:
(a) Lack of facilities available to training and
rehabilitation institutions;
(b) The equipment, furnishings and training
programmes are not suited to meet the requirements imposed by the special health
conditions
of disabled persons;
(c) The long distance that a disabled
person has to travel between home and the nearest training and rehabilitation
centre.
- The
Ministry of State for Disabled Persons, in the light of the tasks and functions
entrusted to it, is expected to develop a comprehensive
and general strategy for
improving the conditions of disabled persons and ensuring that coordination for
that purpose is maintained
between the various concerned sectors. However, this
body has been facing some difficulties in carrying out its work. Among these
difficulties are the following:
(a) The lack of accurate,
reliable statistics on disabled children and the nature of their
disabilities;
(b) Weak social coverage for low-income groups. In some
cases, especially in rural areas, such social coverage does not even exist
at
all;
(c) The low standard of education and training facilities. More
often than not, such facilities do not exist.
- In
confronting this situation, and in the quest to comply with its own terms of
reference, the Ministry of State for Disabled Persons
has been working hard to
design a national programme for improving the conditions of disabled persons.
The focus of the programme
is to identify priority areas for immediate action.
In the field of education, for example, the programme identifies a package of
measures aimed at providing education for all. Among other things, these
measures include the setting up of integrated sections
at ordinary educational
institutions for the benefit of disabled students, preparing qualified and
specialized instructors and trainers,
establishing a number of audio-visual
libraries, printing textbooks in Braille, etc.
- In
the areas of training and employment, the programme has identified a number of
approaches and measures to ensure that disabled
persons have the opportunity to
benefit from the facilities available in these two areas.
- To
enhance the effectiveness of these measures, the Ministry of State for Disabled
Persons has allocated financial grants for institutions
which are potentially
capable of engaging disabled persons, with a view to encouraging such
institutions to provide training and
employment opportunities for the disabled.
Also, the Secretariat has organized a series of
educational, informational and awareness promotion one-day functions at
Settat, Sale and Khemisset, with a view to promoting the awareness
of both the
public and private sectors with regard to the importance and benefits of
integrating disabled persons in the employment
market. The Secretariat, in
collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), has been active
in organizing tripartite
discussions at the national level - involving
employers, national labour unions and government agencies concerned with
employment
- aimed at identifying the ways and means of facilitating labour
market access for the benefit of disabled persons and removing the
obstacles
that hamper their vocational integration.
- Parallel
with these efforts, the State Secretariat for Disabled Persons continues to
implement a rehabilitation programme at the level
of local communities, which
was initiated in 1995 by the former Office of the High Commissioner for
Disabled Persons. In implementing
this programme, the State Secretariat
cooperates with a number of international organizations, such as the United
Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO).
- This
programme constitutes an important strategy for promoting the social development
of disabled persons and securing their essential
needs within, and at the level
of, their own local communities. It reflects a consolidated approach in dealing
with disabled persons
which guarantees their rights and reaffirms the principles
of equal opportunity and social justice, through the mobilization of all
human
and financial resources available. It aims at rendering rehabilitation services
at the local community level more effective
and more coordinated, in the areas
of education, training, health care, etc., and facilitating access to all these
services. In
seeking to achieve its aims, the programme envisages the full
utilization of already existing structures, both governmental and
non-governmental,
to secure such services. The programme is set to be put into
implementation in most of the regions throughout the Kingdom over the
next few
years, in the light of the results obtained from evaluating the experience of
the first three years of implementation.
- In
the area of improving the legal framework, the State Secretariat is currently
engaged in a process of reviewing all the legal and
organizational codes and
provisions relating to disabled persons, with a view to improving and adapting
them to the ongoing developments
within the Moroccan society. The ultimate
objective of this process is to ensure better protection for disabled
children.
- Civil
society institutions contribute in improving the conditions of children with
disabilities. For example, and at the initiative
of the Moroccan League for the
Protection of Children, a vocational training centre for persons with mental
disabilities has been
established. The centre has developed a work programme to
train the students to manufacture footballs that fulfil the requisite
technical
specifications, under the supervision of competent trainers. Together with this
training, the students also receive functional
literacy lessons as part of the
strategy of the League, which is designed to provide the rehabilitation needed
for disabled persons
and enhance their capabilities and
knowledge.
- Among
the institutions dedicated to the rehabilitation and training of persons with
disabilities are the following:
Ibn Al-Bitar Foundation at Khemisset, which accommodates about 76 males
and 33 females;
The Training and Rehabilitation Centre for Children with Poliomyelitis,
Casablanca. This centre provides its services to 17 male
children and 102
females;
The Lalla Hasna Foundation for Disabled Persons at Elayoun, which
accommodates 34 male children and 11 females;
Darul Hana at Tangiers, which accommodates 27 males and 13 females;
The Hanan Foundation at Tetouan, which accommodates 157 male children
and 78 females.
- In
addition to these institutions, the Alawiyya Society provides high-grade
services for the benefit of blind persons.
C. Health and health services (art. 4)
- Health
programmes for children are designed with a view to achieving a number of goals,
the most important of which are the prevention
of communicable and
incommunicable diseases, iodinedeficiency disorders, cardio-vascular diseases,
diabetes, asthma, allergies and
diarrhoeal diseases, in addition to intensifying
the vaccination effort and encouraging breastfeeding.
Prevention of iodine-deficiency disorders
- Field
studies conducted in 1993 have shown that 22 per cent of children between 6
and 12 years old suffer from thyroid gland enlargement.
The rate is
shown to be much higher in mountainous areas, where it ranges between 50
per cent and 78 per cent.
- The
National Strategy adopted by the National Programme for the Prevention of
IodineDeficiency Disorders is designed to ensure regular
and sufficient intakes
of iodine by children and mothers. The Strategy is also designed to ensure the
general long-term availability
of iodized salt, in addition to the supply of
iodine supplements for severe cases of iodine deficiency.
- In
1994, a National Educational Day was organized for students in the fifth and
sixth grades of primary education, with a view to
promoting public
awareness of the importance of using iodized salt and the protective measures
that can be used to prevent iodine-deficiency
disorders in children.
Considering that only 42 per cent of Moroccan families use iodized salt, the
National Educational Day was
also an occasion to evaluate the whole
consciousnessraising effort and set a new target of encouraging 90 per cent of
Moroccan
families to use iodized salt by the year 2001.
Nutritional services
- The
health sector has been contributing in improving the dietary and health
conditions
of the population through a number of programmes which cover a
variety of areas, including protection against malnutrition, prevention
of
hypo-ferric anaemia, prevention of vitamins A and D deficiencies, promotion
of breastfeeding, prevention of diarrhoeal diseases,
and supporting and
enhancing activities related to the promotion of nutritional
awareness.
Breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding
indicators for infants less than 4 months old recorded a downward
trend
from 65 per cent in 1992 to 31 per cent in 1995. Statistics also show that
during
the same period, 2.3 per cent of children less than 5 years old
were suffering from
malnutrition.
- The
Ministry of Public Health is continuing the consciousness-raising efforts
addressed to mothers on the importance of breastfeeding
and prevention of
diarrhoeal diseases. In this connection, the Ministry is supporting an
initiative known as “ChildFriendly
Hospitals”, which involves a host
of educational and training activities for workers in 11 regions: Agadir,
Al Hoceima, El
Saouira, Kenitra, Khemisset, Khenifra, Meknes, Sefrou,
Settat, Oujda and Tetouan.
- In
connection with the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes,
a national awareness day was organized throughout
the Kingdom with a view to
disseminating information on the various aspects, provisions and implications of
the Code.
- On
the occasion of marking both International Breastfeeding Week (1-7 August 1995)
and International Breastfeeding Day (16 October
1995), various activities were
organized for the promotion of breastfeeding. Those activities included the
airing of television
programmes at the Bin Messik Hospital in Casablanca,
publishing a number of newspaper articles on breastfeeding, participation in
talks and round-table discussions on the subject, and presenting an award of
distinction offered by the World Food Programme (WFP)
in recognition of
noteworthy achievements and efforts in the area of maternal and child
health.
Prevention of diarrhoeal diseases
- In
fighting and treating diarrhoea, the policy adopted employs the intensive use of
oral rehydration salts. In 1995, of the entire
number of cases of
diarrhoea-stricken children, oral rehydration salts were administered to an
overall average of only 28.2 per cent
which, if
broken down, represented
30.4 per cent for cities and urban areas and 27.5 per cent for rural areas.
By comparison with 1992, oral
rehydration salts were administered to an
overall
average of 14 per cent, which represented 15.9 per
cent for urban areas and 13.9 per cent for rural areas.
Prevention of malnutrition
- A
strategy has been developed to deal with the various disorders resulting from
the deficiencies of some nutritional elements such
as iron, vitamin A, vitamin D
and iodine. This strategy employs the following
approaches:
(a) Supplying health centres and clinics with
sufficient quantities of the needed nutritional
supplements;
(b) Enriching staple food items (for example, flour, milk,
butter, edible oils, salt, etc.) with the needed nutritional
elements;
(c) Distributing one 120 mg nutritional supplement pill per
woman per week;
(d) Launching awareness promotion campaigns for women on
health and nutrition.
- In
1998, a total of 4,087 cases of nutritional deficiency were recorded in urban
areas and 12,970 cases in rural areas. In the same
year, the first
dose of vitamin D was administered to 30,144 children, whereas the second
dose was administered to 98,365 children.
Also in 1998, a dose of vitamin A was
administered to a total of 33,411 children.
- The
immunization programmes and the national occasion days were instrumental in the
success of immunization coverage for children
less than 1 year old. Out of
a total number of 633,721 children in that age group, the coverage rate for
the six target diseases
was more than 90 per cent. As a result of this
effort, the incidence of these six diseases has been successfully reduced.
Particular
success has been achieved in the fight against poliomyelitis, no case
of which has been reported since 1996.
- In
1999, and within the framework of the partnership with the United States of
America, children throughout the Kingdom benefited
from a massive vaccination
campaign against hepatitis B.
Integrated Management of Childhood Illness
(IMCI)
- The
Ministry of Public Health has embarked on the implementation of a programme for
Integrated Management of Childhood Illness. With
this, Morocco becomes one of
the first countries to adopt this new approach which was developed by the World
Health Organization
(WHO) in collaboration with other bodies, including UNICEF
and the BASICS Project.
- The
main features of IMCI are:
(a) Adopting a new integrated
approach to child health that focuses on the well-being of the whole
child;
(b) Promotion of accurate identification of childhood illnesses
and ensuring appropriate and speedy referral of severely ill
children;
(c) Disease prevention through regular immunization and
enhancing awareness of the importance of improved
nutrition;
(d) Promoting improved growth and development of
children.
- The
main components of this approach are the following:
(a) Upgrading the skills of health-care staff through the
organization of workshops and training courses for them, especially those
who
are involved in activities relating to child and maternal
health;
(b) Making upgraded care possible within the health centres by
ensuring that sufficient supplies of medicines and necessary medical
equipment
are available and improving the outpatient settings, such as the communication
and information systems;
(c) Involvement of civil society institutions
in promoting activities relating to child and maternal health.
- Meknes
and Agadir have been chosen as pilot areas for the implementation of the ICMI
programme. Accordingly, several meetings and
workshops have been organized with
the participation of health-care staff, researchers, university teachers, and
the heads of the
Child and Maternal Health Departments in the two
cities.
- Furthermore,
some of the health-care and other officials involved in the implementation of
this programme were given the opportunity
to participate in relevant
international forums, including a workshop on IMCI which was organized in Zambia
in May 1979, and the
International Conference on Integrated Management of
Childhood Illness, which was convened in the Dominican Republic in September
1997.
Reproductive health and safe motherhood
- Enormous
efforts have been made since the 1960s in the field of reproductive health.
Naturally, the specialized medical management
of pregnancies and deliveries is a
basic requirement for sound reproductive health.
- In
1994, the ratio of obstetricians to women of childbearing age was 1:17,308. In
1997, the ratio improved to become 1:14,000.
- Use
of contraceptives increased from an overall average of 42 per cent in 1992
(which represented 55 per cent for urban areas and
32 per cent for rural areas)
to 58.5 per cent in 1997 (which represented 65.8 per cent for urban areas and
50.7 per cent for rural
areas).
- It
may be noted in this connection that the percentage gap which used to exist
between urban and rural areas has been shrinking steadily
during the period from
1987 to 1997.
- This
gap, which was more than 21 percentage points in 1987 was reduced to
almost 13 percentage points in 1997.
- Another
interesting observation may be made with regard to the increasing use of modern
contraceptives from 68 per cent in 1992 to
70 per cent in 1997, whereas the use
of conventional contraceptives went down from 14 per cent in 1992 to 12 per cent
in 1997.
- With
regard to the management of pregnancy and delivery under specialized medical
supervision (see the subsection on “Status
of health services”
above), and despite the improvement made in this area, considerable disparities
still persist between urban
and rural areas. As can be observed from the
conclusions of the National Survey on Maternal and Child Health (1997),
only 20 per
cent of rural women benefited from specialized
medical supervision at delivery as compared with 70 per cent of urban
women.
- In
1992, the overall rate of pregnancy management under medical supervision
was 32.3 per cent at the national level, which represented
a rate
of 60.6 per cent for urban areas and 17.6 per cent for rural
areas. In 1997, the overall rate of pregnancy management under
medical
supervision did not exceed 25 per cent at the national level.
- Considerable
improvement has been recorded in recent years in terms of maternal mortality due
to pregnancy and delivery. From 332
deaths per 100,000 live births in 1992, the
rate went down to 228 in 1997. But this overall rate at the national level
hides a significant
disparity in favour of urban areas, where maternal mortality
decreased by more than one half, from 284 to 125 deaths per 100,000
live
births.
- In
its efforts to control the problem of maternal mortality, the Ministry of Public
Health has, as part of its basic objectives, underscored
the need for continued
and more coordinated improvements in the services and agencies related to family
planning. The Ministry foresees
achieving such improvements by drawing on the
resources of the National Family Planning Programme.
International cooperation in the area of child and maternal
health
- Within
the framework of the cooperation programme with UNICEF, cooperation in the
health sector features as one important component
of the programme and covers a
number of projects, including the National Immunization Programme, the National
Programme for the Prevention
of Acute Respiratory Infections and the Programme
for the Prevention of IodineDeficiency Disorders. (For more details, see the
annex
on “The Achievements of the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) During the Period 1995-1999, within the framework
of cooperation
between Morocco and UNICEF”.)
The financial aspects of health-care coverage
- Budget
allocations for the health sector represent 5 per cent of total budget
allocations and 1.1 per cent of the national income.
But health
sector expenditures on the whole remain low, at only about 4 per cent of
the gross domestic product (GDP). Families
contribute
some 45 per cent of health expenditures, but this share is
partially associated with health insurance coverage which remains
low, with only
15 per cent of the population enjoying such coverage. Health insurance money
represents about 19 per cent of the
total health sector
expenditures.
- The
financial constraints due to low budget allocations have their impact on public
hospitals. But in addition to the financial difficulties,
the health sector
suffers also from low subscription to optional insurance and the absence of
institutional mechanisms to provide
medical care for lowincome
groups.
- To
overcome these obstacles, the health sector, within the framework of the
fiveyear Socioeconomic Development Plan (2000-2004), has
adopted a strategy
aimed at ensuring social justice in the area of health-care services. The
strategy encompasses several components,
including the
following:
(a) Intensifying activities aimed at improving the
health conditions of the population and strengthening curative and preventive
facilities;
(b) Promoting health education and disease control through
integrated programmes of information, education and communication for
the
benefit of women and the youth, with a view to upgrading child and maternal
health through the upgrading of preventive health
services, especially in rural
areas;
(c) Providing health-care facilities and services in an
integrated and balanced manner throughout the whole
country;
(d) Enhancing human resources capabilities.
- The
Five-Year Plan (2000-2004) aims to achieve the following objectives in the
health sector:
(a) Strengthening programmes of preventive
health and disease control measures, with a view to reducing the mortality rate
for infants
less than 1 year old from 37 to 30 deaths per 1,000 live
births, and reducing maternal mortality in rural areas from 307 to 270 deaths
per 100,000 live births;
(b) Improving basic health-care coverage
in rural areas from the rate of one centre for every 9,054 inhabitants in 1998
to one centre
for every 6,500 inhabitants by the year
2004;
(c) Improving basic health-care coverage in urban areas from the
rate of one centre for every 26,925 inhabitants in 1998 to one centre
for every
23,000 inhabitants by the year 2004;
(d) Developing a system for the
financing of healthcare services through the expanding of health insurance
coverage to include all
wage-earning workers as well as all the retirees
countrywide, so as to increase the health insurance coverage rate from 15 per
cent
to 30 per cent by the year 2004.
- The
strategy adopted by the Ministry of Public Health within the framework of the
FiveYear Plan aims at developing an institutional
mechanism to extend
health-care coverage to lowincome patients.
- To
provide the legal support needed to achieve these objectives, two laws will be
enacted, one concerning compulsory health insurance
and the other concerning
health-care coverage for lowincome people. A policy with a social dimension
will be developed in order
to ensure that medicines are made available to all
income levels of the population, with due regard to cost control and optimal
utilization
of human resources through upgraded training for healthcare
personnel. At the provincial and regional levels, health-care facilities
will
be supported with qualified medical, paramedical and administrative personnel.
Scientific research will be further promoted
for the benefit of the health
sector. Decentralization of healthcare services will be continued and enhanced,
through the consolidation
of health authorities and healthcare structures at the
provincial level.
- To
enhance the effectiveness of these programmes, special attention is given to the
role of information, education and overall consciousness-raising
on
health-related matters. Similar attention is also given to the optimal
utilization of existing health facilities and structures,
taking into account
that priority is given to remote areas and marginalized population groups,
especially in rural and semi-urban
areas.
- As
regards the legal support required to enhance the efforts related to child
protection, the following legal instruments are expected
to be
formulated:
(a) A draft law-decree concerning compulsory
immunization;
(b) A draft law concerning the encouragement and promotion
of breastfeeding;
(c) A variety of draft legal provisions on the
protection of child and maternal health.
D. Social security and childcare services and facilities
(art. 26 and art. 18, para. 3)
1. Social security and childcare services
- Morocco
has a national social security scheme based on compulsory and optional
funds.
Compulsory funds
- These
include the National Social Security Fund, the Moroccan Pension Fund and the
Mutual Pension Scheme. The National Social Security
Fund, which is the main arm
providing social protection for wage-earners in the private sector, offers three
types of allowances:
family allowances, short-term allowances and long-term
benefits. The Fund draws its resources from workers’ subscriptions
and
employers’ contributions.
- Subscription
to the Social Security Scheme is compulsory by law for all industrial and
commercial private sector institutions and
their employees and self-employed
craftsmen. In July 1982, the Scheme was expanded to cover the agricultural
sector, and in June
1994 the Scheme’s coverage was expanded to include the
traditional crafts sector.
- Any
wage-earner not covered by the compulsory Social Security Scheme can subscribe
to the Scheme and secure the long-term benefits,
such as disability and old-age
allowances and dependency benefits. A subscriber may also opt to join the
Scheme only to the extent
entitling him/her to secure short-term benefits, such
as medical care reimbursements, maternity allowances and death
benefits.
- The
number of institutions subscribing to the National Social Security Fund
increased from 19,821 in 1961 to 67,544 in 1996 and then
to 84,197 in 1999.
Likewise, the number of wage-earning beneficiaries increased from 284,782 in
1961 to 1,004,214 in 1996 and 1,085,723
in 1999.
- Within
the framework of this fund, the Social Security Department monitors
children’s conditions in terms of social coverage, and takes the legal
and organizational measures required to upgrade these
conditions. The
Department’s achievements include the
following:
(a) Starting in July 1996, increasing the family
allowance for the first three children to 150 dirhams. By 1998, the number of
beneficiaries
of this raised allowance reached 1,746,369
children;
(b) Setting a minimum of 500 dirhams per month for old-age
allowance and the same for death benefits paid to the spouse and children
of the
beneficiary;
(c) Establishing the right of disabled children to benefit
from family and death allowances without any age limit, as provided for
in the
provisions of the law concerning the social protection of disabled children,
which was passed on 10 September 1993 pursuant
to Royal Decree No.
30-92-1;
(d) Reviewing the wage level used as a benchmark in determining
salaries.
- Children
covered by family allowances benefit from health-care assistance in the form of
reimbursement of medical expenses. In 1998,
some 24,977 children benefited from
these reimbursements.
- The
Moroccan Pension Fund manages the retirement schemes which cover civil servants
in government agencies, military personnel, local
government officers and
employees of public enterprises. The Fund draws its resources from
employees’ subscriptions and employers’
contributions.
Optional funds
- Optional
funds, together with mutual aid societies, manage health services according to
the provisions of a special law. The Moroccan
Vocational Retirement Fund pays a
supplementary pension to wage-earning employees in the private sector. It
should be noted in this
connection that insurance companies have been
increasingly participating in providing supplementary coverage. Employers are
required
to bear the direct cost of some services or family allowances within
the framework of social insurance. Furthermore, some public
institutions have
their own social security funds.
- Royal
Decree No. 187-7-5-1 issued in November 1996, concerning the Mutual Aid Scheme,
establishes the right of all employees, apprentice
workers and their dependents
to benefit from the National Fund of Social Security Institutions. In 1997,
this Fund extended its
services to 3,051,000 beneficiaries. The number of
children benefiting from the services extended by the Fund in that same year
reached 1,447,088.
- However,
numerous problems have emerged as a result of the optional nature of the Fund.
For example, some employees may fail to subscribe
to the system at the right
time, which entails serious negative social implications if they or some of
their dependents happen to
suffer from illnesses requiring high-cost medical
care. To avoid such problems, Law No. 31-99 was issued on 1 October 1999
requiring
universal participation in mutual aid societies by all employees,
apprentice workers and retirees from service with the State and
local government
authorities.
- With
this law in force, the number of beneficiaries is projected to reach 4.2 million
over the next five years, which will in turn
increase the number of beneficiary
children and other dependents to 2,892,000.
- With
regard to children with disabilities, article 5 of the Statute of the National
Fund of Social Security Institutions provides
for the right of children with
special entitlements to benefit from the services extended by mutual aid
societies, irrespective of
any age limit, if they are proven to suffer from
disabilities or permanent illnesses that prevent them from gainful
work.
2. Childcare facilities
- The
Moroccan Government encourages the opening of nurseries and kindergartens.
Kindergartens are mostly under the direction of the
Ministry of Youth and
Sports, the Ministry of National Education, and the Ministry of Employment and
Vocational Training.
- The
number of kindergartens under the direction of the Ministry of Youth and Sports
increased from 249 in 1995/96 to 308 in 1998/99.
Out of these, 108
kindergartens are in rural areas and provide their services to 14,291
children.
- Within
the framework of a strategy to increase and strengthen childcare facilities, the
Ministry of Youth and Sports is giving priority
to upgrading childcare
institutions in rural areas
and expanding the kindergarten network by opening new facilities in rural and
remote areas in collaboration with local communities.
In the area of training
kindergarten teachers and developing curricula, the Ministry of Youth and Sports
is modernizing the curricula
and circulating them to kindergartens throughout
the kingdom, with due recognition of, and catering to, local requirements
through
the organization of locally-tailored training courses; encouraging
parental participation in the educational process, through the
initiation of
parents’ schools, and familiarizing parents with the curricula and
educational programmes and the provisions
contained in the Convention on the
Rights of the Child; providing remote areas with educational programmes for
small children by
means of dispatching itinerant units to such areas for
purposes of training, consciousness-raising, conducting literacy and educational
programmes and encouraging the enrolment of children in schools.
- The
Ministry of Youth and Sports gives due attention to the integration of children
with special needs at kindergartens. In the framework
of cooperation with the
Ministry of State for Disabled Persons, integrated sections have been opened at
kindergartens, with a view
to integrating disabled children and preparing them
for formal schooling.
- In
this connection, three training courses have been organized for kindergarten
personnel concerned with the activity of integrating
disabled children. The
pilot kindergartens selected for this integration experiment have been supplied
with the educational and
medical facilities needed for this
purpose.
- The
Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Employment and Vocational
Training are also concerned with kindergartens and
nurseries. Other sectors,
through their respective social work societies, provide nurseries for the
benefit of their own employees.
For example, 343 children benefited from
nurseries established by the Post and Information Technology Sector during the
period 1995-1999.
- The
National Cooperation Institution and a number of other societies provide places
in their nurseries for children of poor families.
In 1998, the National
Cooperation Institution had 218 kindergartens with a total enrolment of
6,638 children. Special nurseries
are also provided for abandoned and poor
children. In addition to the above-mentioned childcare facilities, the Moroccan
League
for the Protection of Children, within the framework of efforts mobilized
to provide care for the children of poor districts, has
established 48
kindergartens throughout the country with a total enrolment of more than 1,000
children every year.
- The
Moroccan Society for Assistance to Children and Families has also established a
number of kindergartens for children of poor families
in Casablanca, Safi and
Midelt.
- However,
despite these efforts, the number of nurseries and kindergartens run by the
State is still low. The private sector is covering
part of the deficit. But
the cost of services provided by the private sector in relation to the
purchasing power of the average
family at the national level means that such
services are not available to all.
E. Standard of living (art. 27)
- The
Moroccan Government has been exerting continuous efforts towards raising the
standard of living of the citizens. In this connection,
it should be noted that
the minimum wage level was increased by 10 per cent starting on 1 July 1996.
Following the Social Dialogue
Round in April 2000, minimum wage levels were also
increased for the industry, trade and services sectors. The minimum wage level
is determined on the basis of the cost of living index and the financial ability
of the concerned institutions within each sector,
with due consideration given
to the requirements of labour organizations and employers. The minimum wage
level is raised in the
light of consultations and discussions with all the
concerned parties within the framework of social dialogue (see Part
I).
- Salaries
and family allowances for the employees of government agencies, local
administration authorities and public institutions
were increased by 2.3 billion
dirhams. The allocation for this increase was covered from the State budget and
spread over two years
starting in July1996.
- It
should be noted that the Government subsidizes staple food items (edible oils,
flour, sugar, etc.) through funding from the budget.
The Government has also
been absorbing recent increases in oil prices, so as to prevent these increases
from reverberating throughout
the prices of consumer goods and thereby causing a
negative impact on the standard of living.
1. The right to adequate nutrition
- The
right to adequate nutrition is accorded high attention by the Government as one
of the basic human rights. Numerous measures
have been taken to ensure this
right through improved food production. Accordingly, Morocco has achieved a
reasonable level of selfsufficiency
in food.
- The
agricultural sector faces considerable challenges, especially with regard to
severe climate fluctuations. This has prompted the
Government to adopt a
national strategy aimed at addressing and overcoming the problems of the
agricultural sector. This strategy
revolves around the rationalization of water
consumption, the mobilization of national capabilities in the field of
agricultural
research in barren areas, the implementation of a well-conceived
policy with regard to storage facilities for the purpose of achieving
food
security, and the implementation of an insurance scheme to cover various types
of risk. Measures have also been taken to assist
small farmers. These measures
include, more particularly, tax exemptions and debt rescheduling.
- However,
despite all the efforts undertaken in this connection, there are considerable
disparities between urban and rural areas,
as can be noted from the following
statistical indicators:
(a) In urban areas, the proportion of
the population supplied with drinking water increased from 78 per cent in 1992
to 85 per cent
in 1999;
(b) The production of drinking water reached a
level of 820 million cubic metres in 1999. Eighty per cent of this
production was
attributed to the National Bureau for Drinking
Water;
(c) Water supply connections increased from 1.25 million to 2.3
million during the period 1992-1999, which reflects an annual growth
rate of 5.7
per cent.
- In
rural areas, on the other hand, the growth of the drinking water sector has been
far behind that of urban areas. One of the reasons
is that population in rural
areas is usually scattered over widely dispersed locations. But there are other
reasons as well, most
importantly the small size of public investments
channelled to the drinking water sector and the weakness of the sector’s
institutional
structure.
- Thanks
to the National Water Supply Programme for the Rural Population which was
launched in 1995, the proportion of the rural population
supplied with good
drinking water went up from 14.3 per cent in 1992 to 38 per cent in 1999 (see
the section on sectoral programmes
for rural areas, under “General
measures of implementation”).
- Cognizant
of the magnitude of the problems involved in achieving food security and
supplying urban and rural areas with drinking water,
the Moroccan Government has
formulated a strategy for implementing a network of water storage projects. The
strategy provides for
the construction of one major dam every year up to the
year 2000, and thenceforth the construction of two large dams every year,
together with medium-sized dams specially designed for supplying rural areas
with water for drinking and irrigation. The construction
of small dams will be
undertaken if and when required.
- Efforts
deployed for the development of water resources led to the construction
of 96 dams in the period from 1929 to 1999.
- During
the period 1993-1999, four major dams were completed, and work was also under
way to implement a major hydraulic complex.
Preparations were being made to
implement a number of medium-sized and small dams.
- The
country is intent on continuing all efforts to deal with the rapidly increasing
demand for water and adjusting itself structurally
to the possibility of
drought, which is a basic feature of the country’s climate. Additionally,
the Government is preparing
a national plan for protecting water resources from
pollution, taking appropriate measures for protecting drinking water outlets,
identifying and controlling possible sources of water pollution, and developing
water quality standards.
- With
regard to drinking water, the strategy adopted within the framework of the
National Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development
aims at increasing water
supply connections to cover 89 per cent of households in urban areas by the year
2004. For rural areas,
the target is to increase drinking water supply from 38
per cent of rural population in 1999 to 62 per cent in the year 2000, and
then
to 80 per cent by the year 2004. This target is to be achieved within the
framework of the National Water Supply Programme
for Rural
Population.
- The
Government has also taken several measures to upgrade the road network, with a
view to ending the isolation of remote areas of
the country. The National
Programme for Rural Roads, which was launched in 1995, has produced considerable
positive effects on rural
areas, both at the social and economic levels (see the
section on sectoral programmes under “General measures of
implementation”).
2. The right to decent housing
- The
Moroccan effort in the area of housing has succeeded in achieving noteworthy
improvements in the overall housing and health conditions
in urban areas. The
State has been focusing attention over the last two decades on addressing the
problem of substandard housing
and curbing the negative effects resulting from
fast-paced urbanization. Several programmes have been accomplished, including
the
resettling of inhabitants of tin-sheet huts, replanning and developing
squatter settlement areas, and the production of special building
materials for
lowcost housing.
- A
sub-standard dwelling may be one of three types: tin-sheet hut, squatter
settlement, or shack. In urban areas, inhabitants of
tin-sheet huts decreased
from 12.8 per cent in 1982 to 9.2 per cent in 1994. According to data
taken from the General Population
and Housing Census of 1994 - subsequently
updated in January 1999 - the housing deficit is estimated at about 750,000
units in urban
areas. To keep up with the demographic changes and the need for
replacing ramshackle dwellings, an estimated 130,000 new housing
units are
needed every year.
- During
the period 1991-1998, considerable achievements were made in the housing sector,
in terms of combating inadequate housing,
developing land sites for housing
construction in urban areas, upgrading rural housing, implementing social
housing projects, and
establishing the framework needed for reviving the real
estate sector.
- In
1999, a large-scale programme for combating substandard housing was put
together, which consolidated the Government’s efforts
to eliminate
tin-sheet huts and replan the districts that had no infrastructure. Some
127,679 families benefited from the massive
programme, which was designed to
cover the whole country.
- The
total cost of the programme amounts to 6 billion dirhams. Until 1998, a total
of 55,249 families had benefited from the programme.
Of these
beneficiaries, 19,728 families used to live in tin-sheet huts and 35,521
families used to live in squatter settlements.
Another 31,560 families are
due to benefit from projects, which are still under
implementation.
- With
regard to the promotion of adequate housing, reference may be made to the
national programme for building 200,000 housing units,
which was announced in
1994. The first phase of the programme, involving the construction of 105,000
units, has been undertaken
at a cost of 17.5 billion
dirhams.
- Government
efforts have contributed considerably in improving the overall housing
conditions, as can be seen from statistics on housing.
The General Census of
1994 reflects an increase in the rate of water supply-connected households in
urban areas from 62.9 per cent
in 1982 to 74 per cent in 1994.
- Likewise,
the rate of electricity-connected households increased from 74.2 per cent
in 1982 to 80.7 per cent in 1994. Homeownership
also increased from 40.9
per cent to 48 per cent during the same period. In rural areas,
mud-brick houses and huts are the most
prevalent forms of shelter where 78 per
cent of rural families live, as shown by the 1994 Census. But recent years have
seen an
increasing trend in building limestone houses. The number of rural
families living in such houses increased from 14 per cent in
1985 to 22 per cent
in 1994. The 1994 Census shows also that improvements have been made with
regard to the availability of basic
utilities in rural houses, such as water and
electricity (see the part on “General measures of
implementation”).
- To
augment the housing sector’s efforts to cover the housing deficit,
especially in urban areas, a strategy has been adopted
with a focus on the
following:
(a) Redefining the role of the State, so as to lay
more emphasis on the preparation of manpower and energizing the housing sector
as a whole;
(b) Augmenting the State and public sector roles in
combating substandard housing by securing the active involvement of local
communities,
district councils/municipalities and all other concerned partners
in the formulation of local housing plans;
(c) Enhancing the
participation of the private sector in the implementation of social housing
projects;
(d) Upgrading rural housing and encouraging active
intervention by financing institutions in the form of increased lending in
favour
of rural housing;
(e) Restructuring public institutions with a
view to securing their intervention in the housing sector in a more effective,
integrated
and comprehensive way.
- Finally,
it should be noted that in developing and implementing housing policies, the
Government places due emphasis on the interests
of children, by ensuring that
green areas, playgrounds and day-care facilities are provided for, and in good
proportion to the population
size, as basic components in all housing
projects.
VII. EDUCATION, LEISURE AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
A. Education and vocational training (art. 28)
1. Education and training
- The
education policy is based on well-established legal and constitutional
principles as follows:
− The right of everyone to education (art. 13 of the
Constitution);
− The obligation of the State to provide education for every Moroccan
child from age 7 to 13 (Royal Decree of November 1963
on Compulsory
Education);
− Increasing the period of compulsory education to nine years (Education
Reform Decrees of 1985);
− Providing public education facilities for all educational
levels.
- The
Moroccan education system aims at achieving the following
objectives:
− Implanting the national culture in younger generations while at the same
helping them to be open to other cultures and civilizations
worldwide;
− Implanting Islamic values and morals, with due respect to other
religions and creeds;
− Contributing to the progress of the society;
− Contributing to the economic development of the country and enhancing
national productivity, through the development of qualified
and skilled human
resources.
(a) Pre-school education
- Progress
has been recorded at the level of pre-school education, with the number of
enrolled children increasing from 778,776 in 1990/91
to 813,273 in 1999/2000.
This increase represents an annual growth rate of 0.5 per cent. Koranic schools
account for about 68.5
per cent of the total number of pre-school children.
Girls make up 29.3 per cent of all the children in Koranic schools, as compared
to 46.8 per cent in non-Koranic pre-school education.
- The
pre-school phase is significantly important in the process of shaping the
child’s mind and opening up his/her personality.
In order to enhance the
effectiveness of this phase, efforts have focused on securing the material and
human resources needed at
the central and local levels and the issuance of
reference guidelines for pre-school education. Special attention is also given
to the preparation and training of Koranic school administrators, who contribute
in providing continued training for Koranic schoolteachers
and monitor the
educational and teaching performance in their schools.
- The
measures planned for promoting pre-school education envisage the expansion of
pre-school education coverage, with a view to catering
more especially to the
needs of the rural population. These measures also include the provision of
pedagogical support for pre-school
education personnel, with a view to upgrading
their capabilities in undertaking the first social upbringing of the child
outside
the realm of his/her family, enabling them to contribute in promoting
pre-school education and reduce the drop-out rate.
- Partnership
agreements are envisaged to be concluded between the education sector on the one
hand, and local communities, societies
and organizations interested in promoting
preschool education, on the other hand.
- Efforts
are being coordinated to expand the pre-school education base and achieve
gradual universal coverage of all 4 to 5 year-old-children. It is
projected that the number of
children enrolled in pre-school education will increase from 813,273 in
1999/2000 to 1,130,000 in 2004/05. Likewise, the number of
qualified pre-school
teachers is expected to rise during the same period from 35,000 to
50,000.
- The
purpose of the pre-school education phase, which covers two years, is to ensure
the development of the child’s personality
through:
− Development of sensory, motor, elucidative and expressive
skills;
− Emphasizing basic religious, moral and national
values;
− Developing scientific and artistic skills (drawing, colouring, music,
etc.);
− Developing pre-reading and pre-writing skills.
- To
further consolidate the pre-schooling sector, several reforms and measures will
be undertaken, with emphasis on the following:
(a) Enacting a
basic law for pre-school education and another one to encourage investment in
this sector;
(b) Preparing and updating basic documents and directives
relating to the promotion of pre-school education and making them available
to
all parties concerned;
(c) Setting up a committee to undertake the task
of coordinating the preparation of curricula and textbook contents for
pre-school
and basic education levels;
(d) Developing an institutional
and organizational framework for the training of pre-school
teachers;
(e) Reviewing the basic training programme for
teachers.
(b) Basic education
- The
basic education level consists of two cycles.
(i) The first cycle
- At
the national level, the number of students in the first cycle of basic education
grew by 3.45 per cent, from 2,394,615 in 1990/91
to 3,497,926 in
1999/2000. This growth rate at the national level represents a rate of 6.3 per
cent for rural areas and 3.1 per
cent for urban areas. In rural areas, the
growth rate for female students was 10 per cent, which is markedly high if
compared with
the corresponding rate of 3.7 per cent for male
students.
- School
attendance by children 6-11 years old recorded an increase in 1999/2000 as
follows:
− 80 per cent at the national level, as compared with 68.6 per cent in
1997/98;
− 89 per cent in urban areas as compared with 79.7 per cent in
1997/98;
− 69.5 per cent in rural areas as compared with 55.4 per cent in
1997/98.
- School
attendance of girls increased at the national level from 61.4 per cent in
1997/98 to 74 per cent in 1999/2000. Broken down
between urban and rural
areas, the rate went up from 77.3 per cent to 87.1 per cent in urban areas,
and from 44.6 per cent to 62.1
per cent in rural areas. Attendance rates for
boys also recorded an increase as follows:
− 83.8 per cent at the national level as compared with 44.6 per cent in
1997/98;
− 92.2 per cent in urban areas as compared with 82.2 per cent in
1997/98;
− 76.4 per cent in rural areas as compared with 27.7 per cent in
1997/98.
- In
the school year 1999/2000, a total of 46,256 students were enrolled for the
first year of basic education in private sector schools,
which represents 6.3
per cent of the total new enrolments in basic education at the national level.
This rise in school enrolment
is attributed to efforts made to expand the
schooling network and locating the schools at closer distances from rural
population
centres.
- A
total of 11,526 small schools were active in 1999/2000, as compared with 3,686
school units and 8,168 small schools in 1990/91.
In rural areas, the number
rose from 1,821 school units to 3,220 small schools during the same
period.
- The
number of schoolteachers also went up, from 88,242 in 1990/91 to 121,743
in 1999/2000. In rural areas, the number of schoolteachers
increased
during the same period, from 44,552 to 68,069.
- To
encourage families to send their children to school and reduce the drop-out
rate, special efforts have been made at the social
level, especially with regard
to nutrition, with the help of international organizations and the World Food
Programme. From 3,000
school canteens in 1982, the number went up to 6,018
canteens in 1991, and then to 11,183 canteens in the school year 1999/2000.
A
total of 949,815 students benefited from these facilities in 1999/2000, as
compared with 515,700 students in 1998.
(ii) The second cycle
- The
number of students in the second cycle of basic education increased from 805,868
in 1990/91 to 978,520 in 1999/2000, which represents
a growth rate of 2.2
per cent per annum. During the same period, the number of female students went
up from 331,131 to 420,719.
- At
the national level, new students enrolled in grade 7 increased from 241,616 in
1991/92 to 327,588 students in 1999/2000, which
represents an overall growth
rate of 3.4 per cent per annum and a growth rate of 3.2 per cent for girls
alone.
- In
rural areas, new students enrolled in grade 7 increased from 38,321 in 1991/92
to 53,488 in 1999/2000, which represents an annual
growth rate of 10.7 per
cent. Also in 1999/2000, girls represented 30.3 per cent of the total
number of students.
- During
that same period, the number of schools serving the second cycle of basic
education increased from 701 to 941, and the number
of classrooms increased from
19,680 to 22,528, of which 3,919 were in rural areas. Likewise, the number of
schoolteachers in the
second cycle went up from 48,273 to 51,694, of whom 8,221
served in rural areas.
- Notwithstanding
all these positive indicators and the marked increase in the number of
schoolchildren, the target of universal education
is still far from being
achieved owing to numerous problems, the most important of which are the
disparities in school attendance
between urban and rural areas, and also the
disparities in school attendance rates between males and females, especially in
rural
areas. Even though in urban areas the disparity in school attendance
rates between boys and girls is steadily shrinking, we may
still note that in
1998, the overall rate of school attendance in the first cycle was 61.7 per
cent for boys and 97 per cent for
girls, whereas the rate of school attendance
of boys and girls combined in 1995 exceeded 80 per
cent.
- Despite
the improvements achieved in recent years, basic education indicators for rural
areas are not parallel with those recorded
for urban areas. For example, the
overall rate of school attendance in the first cycle of basic education in rural
areas increased
from 53.1 per cent in 1994 to 68.2 per cent in
1998.
- School
attendance of rural girls has improved considerably. In 1998, the rate of
school attendance for rural girls in the first year
of education was 51.4 per
cent, as compared with 35.2 per cent in 1994, which represents a
growth rate of 4.1 per cent annually.
- However,
basic education is still suffering from numerous problems, most importantly the
drop-out rate in the first cycle which ranged
between 3 per cent and 5 per cent
in 1999/2000 (compared with 5-10 per cent in 1983/84) and the repetition rate
which ranged between
12 per cent and 17 per cent in 1999/2000
(compared with 24-30 per cent in 1983/84). It should be noted, though, that the
drop-out
rate is steadily rising, particularly among children from poor
families. This negatively affects the socio-economic cost of education
and the
overall effectiveness of the education system. Statistics for 1995/96 show that
out of every 100 children at the age of
7, 85 children go to school; 45 find
their way to basic education but only 32 complete this phase; 22 find their way
to secondary
education but only 10 complete this phase and get their
baccalaureate.
- In
this connection, the late King Hassan II, in his 1993 Throne Day address,
emphasized “the need to reform the education system
which no longer keeps
pace with contemporary developments and requirements”. In its statement
to the House of Representatives
in 1998, the Government reaffirmed “its
commitment to make education a top priority, through the adoption and
implementation
of a comprehensive reform of the education and training system,
so as to give all citizens an equal opportunity for knowledge, modernization,
culture and employment. This reform shall be based on the moral and spiritual
values which make up the identity of the system.
The reform shall also aim to
enhance the added value of the human capital [and] make optimal use of all the
human resources available
to the education system, in addition to advocating the
principles of national solidarity and dedication in public
service”.
- To
translate these outlined goals into concrete action, a national committee has
been set up to examine and review the entire education
system. The work of the
committee culminated in the formulation of a National Charter for Education and
Training. The objectives
outlined in the Charter were incorporated in the
strategy adopted by the education sector within the framework of the National
Five-Year
Plan for Social and Economic Development (2000-2004). The most
important of these objectives are universal education, enhanced education
quality, and increased internal rate of return of the education system and the
related human, material and financial resources.
- As
part of the efforts towards the achievement of universal education, special
focus is given to these two major goals:
Universality of pre-school education, with particular emphasis on achieving
universal enrolment by the year 2004;
Reducing the minimum age of school admission from 7 to 6, and ensuring
universal enrolment of all 6-year-old children by the beginning
of the school
year 2001/02.
(iii) Commitment to free and compulsory basic
education
- The
goals in this area are:
(a) Achieving universal enrolment in
the first cycle of basic education by the year 2002;
(b) Achieving
universal enrolment in the second cycle of basic education by the
year 2008;
(c) Promoting education in rural areas and reducing
disparities between provinces and regions, villages and cities, and males and
females;
(d) Encouraging school enrolment of
girls;
(e) Upgrading private educational
institutions;
(f) Strengthening informal education programmes, through
intensified partnerships with non-governmental organizations and the vocational
training sector.
- In
order to achieve these objectives, a package of fundamental reforms and measures
will be implemented, with particular focus on
the
following:
(a) Establishing and equipping school
networks;
(b) Supplying the existing institutions with the basic
installations and health requirements;
(c) Expanding and reorganizing
the networks of school canteens and boarding facilities, and improving the
scholarship distribution
system, especially in rural
areas;
(d) Upgrading school health-care facilities, especially in rural
areas;
(e) Studying the feasibility of setting up a national agency for
combating illiteracy, with a view to coordinating the efforts of
all the parties
active in the field of informal education;
(f) Promoting public
awareness, in coordination with all the concerned parties in the education and
training sectors, with a view
to minimizing the wastage of potentials and
resources due to lack of orientation.
- To
improve the quality of education, several measures will be taken to achieve the
following:
Reviewing and reforming the curricula;
Consolidating basic training for teachers and making it more compatible with
the functions and responsibilities assigned to them;
Developing a strategy for educational support, with special emphasis on
pre-school education, the rural areas, and children with disabilities;
Strengthening social and educational activities;
Introducing and supplying modern educational technologies;
Coordinating school time and holidays to cater to the requirements of the
local environment in rural areas;
Upgrading school libraries and improving language teaching.
(iv) International cooperation in the area of education and
combating illiteracy
- Several
international cooperation programmes are being implemented in the area of
education and combating illiteracy. Foremost among
them are those implemented
jointly with UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP and UNESCO.
- In
addition to these programmes, Morocco benefited in 1999 from the MEDA Programme
in supporting the government strategy for universal
education. Within the
framework of this programme, Morocco is receiving 600 million dirhams financed
by the European Union. The
first phase of the programme, for which an amount of
428 million dirhams has been allocated, will cover the following seven regions:
Chtouka, Al Jadida, Figuig, Khemisset, Khenifra, Larache and
Sefrou.
(c) Informal education
- Implementation
of the Informal Education Programme started in March 1998. The Programme aims
at providing education for 8 to 16-year-old
children who have had no formal
schooling.
- Forty-one
partnership agreements have been signed with various government agencies, public
institutions and societies and non-governmental
organizations, whereby
34,550 beneficiaries, both males and females, have been registered in
informal education programmes engaging
744 teachers, within the framework of the
“Education for All” campaign. However, the number of beneficiaries
remains
very low, not exceeding 1.5 per cent of the total number of 8 to
16-year-old children who have had no formal schooling, estimated
at 2.2
million.
- As
envisioned in the Five-Year Plan (2000-2004), one goal of informal education is
to reduce the illiteracy rate from 46 per cent
to 35 per cent by early 2004.
Concurrently, a training programme will be implemented for the benefit of
drop-out children and children
with no formal schooling who are also in the
range of 8-16 years old. The beneficiaries of this programme will be
reintegrated in
the formal education/vocational training system or trained for
gainful work. The programme is designed to provide education for
a target of 1
million male and female beneficiaries over the span of the Five-Year Plan, at
the rate of 200,000 per year.
(d) Secondary and technical education
- Secondary
education consists of two cycles. The first is a three-year general cycle
culminating in a baccalaureate degree. The second
is a two-year complementary
cycle in which the students either receive focused education in mathematics to
prepare for admission
to engineering polytechnics, or study for a technical
diploma.
- In
the school year 1999/2000, the number of new students enrolled in the first year
of general secondary education was 145,689, compared
with 120,469 students in
1991/92, an annual increase of 2.3 per cent. The total number of students in
the various divisions of general
secondary education has been increasing at an
average rate of 3.5 per cent. From 335,500 in 1991/92, the number went up in
1999/2000
to 440,167 students, of whom 45.3 per cent were
females.
- The
Technical Division of secondary education recorded the highest growth rate
of 5 per cent, compared with 4.6 per cent in the Arts
Division
and 2.4 per cent in the Sciences Division. Also during the period 1991/2000,
the second two-year cycle of secondary education
recorded a 3 per cent annual increase in the number of students preparing for
engineering polytechnics, and a 19.3 per cent increase
in the number of those
studying for technical diplomas.
- From
1991/92 to 1997/98, the number of students awarded a secondary school
baccalaureate increased by an average rate of 12 per cent,
rising from 67,138 to
71,937 students. But despite these positive indicators, the repetition and
failure rates remain rather high,
which has a negative impact on the
cost-effectiveness of the education system and its internal rate of
return.
- The
number of secondary schools increased by an average rate of 4.4 per cent
annually, rising from 384 schools in 1991/92 to 537 schools
in 1999/2000.
Efforts aimed at promoting secondary education have also been reflected in rural
areas, where the number of secondary
schools increased from only 8 in 1991/92 to
69 schools in 1999/2000.
- There
are 70 secondary schools offering technical education, but they are
predominantly located in urban areas.
- In
1999/2000, the number of teachers in general secondary education was 32,332,
compared with 25,095 teachers in 1991/92, which indicates
an average growth rate
of 3.2 per cent annually.
- A
strategy has been adopted within the framework of the National Five-Year
Plan (20002004) for consolidating secondary and technical
education and
overcoming the problems affecting it. More noteworthy among these problems are
the weakness of academic and vocational
orientation, the lack of strong linkage
between secondary/technical education and vocational training, and the high rate
of repetition
and early drop-outs. Other problems appear also in the lack of
instructional facilities and teaching aids, and the high cost of
supplies and
equipment needed for technical education.
- The
strategy referred to above envisages the expansion of the school network, with a
view to reducing disparities between the various
localities and provinces, as
well as disparities between urban and rural areas. The strategy aims to expand
the enrolment capacity
and the beneficiary base. In this connection, it is
hoped to increase the rate of students completing their basic education and
moving on to secondary education from 40 per cent at present to 56 per cent by
early 2004. Likewise, an increase in the rate of
enrolment in technical
education is sought from 3 per cent at present to 11 per cent by early
2004.
- Improving
the quality of secondary and technical education is a key element in the
strategy, through particular focus on educational
programmes and curricula,
integrated utilization of modern technological, communication and information
facilities, supplying educational
institutions with modern equipment and
teaching materials, and providing the school laboratories with adequate
equipment and supplies.
(e) Private education
- Private
sector institutions accommodate the majority of children in the pre-school
phase, but not more than 5.4 per cent of the total
number of students in the
first cycle of basic education. In the school year 1999/2000, only 200,625
students in the first cycle
of basic education attended private sector
institutions. In that same year, the contribution of the private sector in the
second
cycle of basic education was minimal. Only 11,100 secondcycle students
attended private sector schools, which represents a meagre
1.1 per
cent.
- Private
secondary education, on the other hand, has been relatively stable in terms
of student number. In 1999/2000, the private sector provided
secondary-level education
to 31,000 students, or 7 per cent of the
total number of students in secondary education, compared with 28,448 students
in 1991/92.
(f) Vocational training
- With
the educational reform of 1984, the vocational training system has been assigned
the task of fulfilling the requirements of vocational
and social integration and
responding to the needs of different institutions. The vocational training
system has gone through important
developments, including the multi-level
restructuring of the vocational training system as
follows:
(a) The primary level, for students who complete six
years of basic education; 38 training divisions are covered under this
level;
(b) Preparatory training level, for students who complete their
seventh year of basic education; 97 training divisions are covered
under this
level;
(c) Unspecialized technical worker level, for students who
complete their third year of secondary education; 121 training divisions
are
covered under this level;
(d) Specialized technical worker level, for
students who have the baccalaureate degree; 76 training divisions are covered
under this
level;
(e) Initiating new formulas of vocational training,
such as vocational on-the-job training, training in accordance with the
student’s
vocational progress and contractual training, which are designed
mainly to involve the vocational market in the training
process;
(f) Diversifying the training divisions and increasing them to
366 specializations covering the most important sectors.
- Increasing
the number of trainees from 103,100 in 1991/92, of whom 45 per cent were
females, to 131,690 trainees in 1997/98, and further
to 149,000 trainees in
1999/2000. Out of these 149,000 trainees, 129,600 were in formal vocational
schooling and vocational on-the-job
training, 5,000 in vocational progress
training and 14,400 in evening programmes.
- Some
70,000 trainees graduated in 1998/99, representing 30 per cent of the manpower
entering the labour market in urban and semi-urban
areas. The contribution of
the private sector in this development is noteworthy, with 56,150 trainees in
1999/2000, which accounts
for 43 per cent of the total number of
beneficiaries in the vocational training sector.
- Graduates
represent 81 per cent of the total number of trainees; 63 per cent of graduates
are in gainful employment within nine months
after graduation, and 77 per cent
within three years.
- Since
1996/97, attention has been focused on developing a system for the selection and
orientation of candidates, depending on their
own capabilities and training
requirements as well as the requirements of the labour market. The achievements
of the vocational
training sector may be summarized as follows.
(i) Basic training
- Significant
progress has been achieved during the last five years in relation to the various
formulas of basic vocational training,
i.e. formal vocational schooling and
vocational on-the-job training, both in rural and urban areas, and both at the
levels of the
public and private sectors. This progress is reflected in the
following table:
Trainees and graduates in basic vocational training
|
Level
|
Trainees in 1995/96
|
Trainees in 1999/2000
|
Graduates in 1995/96
|
Graduates in 1999/2000
|
Public (A)
|
Primary
|
14 189
|
8 888
|
8 240
|
8 693
|
|
Preparatory
|
34 780
|
37 192
|
15 302
|
16 169
|
|
Unspecialized
|
22 480
|
21 228
|
10 300
|
9 983
|
|
Specialized*
|
4 227
|
6 186
|
1 847
|
2 582
|
Sub-total (A)
|
|
75 678
|
73 434
|
35 689
|
37 427
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Private (B)
|
Primary
|
12 439
|
15 812
|
6 548
|
10 005
|
|
Preparatory
|
15 695
|
16 425
|
8 623
|
8 848
|
|
Unspecialized
|
59 317
|
21 278
|
6 477
|
8 030
|
|
Specialized*
|
321
|
2 638
|
-
|
758
|
Sub-total (B)
|
|
45 988
|
56 153
|
21 558
|
27 641
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total (A+B)
|
Primary
|
26 628
|
24 700
|
14 698
|
9 618
|
|
Preparatory
|
50 477
|
53 557
|
23 925
|
25 017
|
|
Unspecialized
|
40 013
|
42 506
|
16 777
|
18 013
|
|
Specialized*
|
4 548
|
8 824
|
1 847
|
3 340
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grand total of all levels in public and private sectors
|
121 666
|
129 587
|
57 247
|
65 068
|
* The specialized level was introduced in the public sector in 1993/94,
and in the private sector in 1995/96.
- As
part of the efforts made to initiate new formulas for vocational training,
drawing on large-scale involvement of contractors and
enterprises and setting up
a training system that combines theory and practice, pilot arrangements were
made in 1992/93 to implement
on-the-job training. On the basis of these pilot
experiments, a law was drafted to formally establish and organize this type of
training. The law was passed by the Parliament in 1996, and became effective as
of the 1997/98 school year.
- Beneficiaries
of on-the-job training increased significantly; from 3,653 in 1997/98
to 9,607 in 1999/2000. The following table reflects
the progress made in
the area of on-the-job training:
Training level
|
Number of trainees in 1997/98
|
Number of trainees in 1999/2000
|
Increase (%)
|
Preparatory
|
1 410
|
3 474
|
146
|
Unspecialized
|
1 420
|
4 609
|
225
|
Specialized
|
823
|
1 524
|
85
|
Total
|
3 653
|
9 607
|
163
|
- The
rural areas benefit from basic vocational training through 52 vocational
training institutions, all of them located in urban areas,
including centres for
training in agriculture and marine fishing.
- In
1999/2000, the total number of trainees at these centres reached 3,411, which
represents 6.2 per cent of all vocational training
students. This figure also
represents a 14 per cent decrease compared with the number of
registered trainees in 1995/96 (3,950).
This decrease is attributed to the low
involvement of vocational enterprises, local communities and trade unions in
vocational training
activities for the benefit of rural areas.
- The
training divisions cover, in particular, sectors like farming, construction and
industry, in addition to other numerous divisions
of regulated training. But it
should be noted that rural areas also have the opportunity to benefit from
unregulated training, in
which no conditions are imposed with regard to age,
educational level, duration of training, etc. This unregulated training is of
particular interest and benefit to nomadic population groups, as well as to
rural children, girls, delinquent youths and fishermen.
(ii) Private sector contribution in vocational
training
- The
private sector has continuously contributed to the development of vocational
training and its expansion to cover new training
areas, especially in industry
and communications.
- To
upgrade the quality of services provided by the private sector in the field of
vocational training, an integrated programme was
developed in 1998 to enhance
the training divisions and upgrade the administrative and pedagogical
capabilities of the vocational
training personnel.
- As
a result of this programme, 269 training divisions, accounting for 21 per cent
of the total number of private sector trainees,
are now in full operation at 127
institutions. Another programme has also been established for the training of
130 administrative
and teaching personnel, which covered a variety of topics,
such as business administration, formulation of vocational training programmes
and curricula, etc.
- Despite
the tangible progress achieved, the vocational training sector is still faced
with a number of difficulties, including the
following:
(a) Continuing shortage in covering the needs of
rural areas in the field of vocational training;
(b) The low level of
private sector involvement in vocational training, due to deficiencies in
infrastructure, training programmes,
and the technical and teaching capabilities
of trainers;
(c) The slow pace of accepting and implementing the
autonomy of vocational training institutions;
(d) Inability of the
orientation system to provide full coverage. Even though the system was
established in 1990 as a joint undertaking
between the national education sector
and the vocational training sector, it covers only 20 per cent of the available
places, despite
the fact that the demand is three times larger than the
resources available.
(iii) Vocational training in accordance with the
student’s vocational
progress
- This
type of vocational training is designed for the benefit of children and youths
who dropped out of formal education, so as to
prepare them for some area of
gainful work.
- It
should be pointed out in this connection that almost 240,000 children drop out
of school at some point between the sixth year of
basic education and the second
year of secondary education.
- A
total of 56,000 places are available in the primary and preparatory levels for
the dropouts and the unschooled at vocational training
centres in the public and
private sectors combined. Consequently, some 200,000 children are left without
a place in the vocational
training system. To address this problem, vocational
progress training has been introduced as one of the measures designed to help
integrate these children.
- Some
6,000 children have benefited from the system since it was experimentally
launched in 1997/98. These trainees have proved to
be of special interest to
the farming and traditional crafts sectors.
(iv) Continuous training
- In
collaboration with the World Bank, two mechanisms were developed in 1996/97 for
the purpose of motivating contractors and enterprises
to promote and support
continuous training. The first mechanism is in the form of joint vocational
groups, designed to provide technical
consultancy services to enterprises to
help them identify and secure their needs in terms of skilled manpower. Six
joint vocational
groups have been formed in the sectors of metallurgical,
mechanical and electrical industries, informatics and communications, textiles,
leather, construction and public works, commercial shipping and marine
fishing.
- Agreements
have been signed with all these groups in order to enable them make use of the
public funding allocated to them to finance
technical assistance for the benefit
of enterprises related to these groups.
- The
second mechanism relates to contractual training. It aims, through financial
assistance, to motivate enterprises to incorporate
continuous training in their
development plans. This mechanism, which is financed by the State, is in the
form of one central committee
and 10 regional committees with
tripartite representation from the State, the employers and the
employees.
- To
enable the vocational training sector fulfil its main objective of providing
training and active support to the employment promotion
policy, a strategy has
been adopted within the framework of the Five-Year Plan (2000-2004) with a view
to attaining the following
goals:
(a) Enhancing capabilities
through the upgrading of training programmes, and consequently revising the
relationship between training
duration and skill acquisition, instead of the
present arrangement which is based on the school-year
system;
(b) Promoting the principle of matching the training system to
the actual needs of the labour market;
(c) Supporting the restructuring
of private sector institutions of vocational training, through the restructuring
of 64 training
programmes and providing training on pedagogical skills for 1,000
trainers, as well as training in business administration for 500
directors of
vocational training institutions;
(d) Promoting vocational training in
rural areas and adjusting the training programmes and curricula to the special
circumstances
of the rural population, especially at the primary training level,
to allow for accommodating the largest possible number of trainingseekers,
in
collaboration with local communities and business
organizations;
(e) Upgrading and restructuring public institutions of
vocational training in urban areas, particularly at the primary and preparatory
training levels, by adding about 10,150 places to the total capacity during the
period 2000-2004. Some 5,430 places of the added
capacity will
be under the direction of the Vocational Training and Employment Promotion
Bureau. This additional capacity will consist of 4,820
places for 41 newly
introduced training divisions, and 5,330 places for expanding the already
existing training divisions. Some
training divisions, with a total capacity of
11,780 places, will be restructured. These are the training divisions in
construction,
public works, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering,
services, traditional crafts and tourism;
(f) Consolidating the human
and material resources mobilized for training by means of strengthening the
orientation system, streamlining
the admission procedure and enabling young
people to pursue the vocational path of their choice. In this context, training
will
be completed for 4,200 teaching and administrative staff, training days
will be organized at various business institutions for the
benefit of 3,750
trainers, and another 170 trainers will be trained every year on the pedagogics
of on-the-job training. Furthermore,
training will also be provided for 400
supervisors of on-the-job training, and training programmes will be designed or
adjusted for
25 divisions every year.
- This
strategy will be further supported with an institutional framework, drawing on
four laws that will be enacted to deal with the
general system of vocational
training, vocational progress training, special training and on-the-job
training.
(g) Higher education
- The
Moroccan higher education policy is based on the commitment of the Government to
provide access to higher education for every
student who fulfils the prescribed
requirements. At present, enrolment in higher education requires a
baccalaureate degree (to attend
institutions of higher learning which are
subject to the quota system) and passing an admission test.
- To
promote higher education and facilitate access to it, the State has established
a special programme to provide scholarships for
students and subsidize
university boarding and food facilities. The State is almost the sole source of
financing for higher education,
as the private sector contribution to this
sector is quite minimal.
- Efforts
to promote higher education have resulted in significant quantitative
achievements. University graduates are armed with the
highest levels of
technical and administrative training which covers all sectors of economic
activity. This quantitative progress
has been coupled with other measures to
promote the decentralization of institutions of higher education and boost
scientific research,
in addition to marked progress with regard to the number of
females in higher education.
- Figures
relating to the total numbers of students and graduates may give an indication
of the progress achieved in the development of the higher education system.
In 1998/99,
about 127,878 students received scholarships to study in Morocco
and abroad, as compared
with 163,438 students in 1990/91. The decline is
attributed to a reduction in the number of scholarships for studying abroad, as
well as to the new scholarship system which takes into account the material and
social status of the student’s family.
- In
1999/2000, scholarships represented 17 per cent of the overall operational
budget of the Ministry of Higher Education, Training
and Scientific Research.
It may be noted, however, that allocations for scholarships have been relatively
stable in recent years
at around the level of 600 dirhams per
annum.
- Eight
new dormitories have been built, raising the boarding capacity at universities
from 24,951 students in 1990/91 to 33,981 students
in 1999/2000, which
represents an average increase of 3.5 per cent per annum. Total budget
allocations for higher education increased
during the same period from
2,052,000,000 dirhams to 3,596,000,000 dirhams, at an average growth rate of 6.5
per cent per annum.
The total budget allocation for higher education represents
4.4 per cent of the overall State budget.
- The
number of new students in all Moroccan universities reached 52,255 in 1999/2000,
indicating an annual growth rate of 2.8 per cent.
The total number of
university students increased from 206,725 in 1991/92 to 251,287 students in
1999/2000, indicating an average
growth rate of 2.2 per cent annually. During
the same period, the total number of university graduates increased from 19,883
in
1990/91 to 26,303 in 1998/99, at an average growth rate of 3.2 per cent
annually.
- Despite
this progress, the higher education system is faced with numerous problems,
including, most importantly, the following:
(a) Excessive
crowding of university institutions which are not subject to the quota system,
such as the faculties of letters, law
and sciences, which receive about 92 per
cent of the total number of university students;
(b) The widening gap
between the growing number of students and the material resources available to
most university institutions;
(c) The weakness of the student
orientation and advising systems, which results in considerable wastage because
of unsuitable choices.
B. Aims of education (art. 29)
1. Education and human rights
- In
accordance with the aims of education outlined in the Convention on the Rights
of the Child, and with particular emphasis on the
strengthening of respect for
human rights, tolerance and peace, the Moroccan Government has given
considerable attention to these
aspects and translated this attention into the
Moroccan Programme for Education and Human Rights.
- This
programme is being implemented in the framework of a cooperation agreement
signed on 26 January 1994 between the Ministry in
Charge of Human Rights and the
Ministry of National Education. This cooperation agreement was further enhanced
with the signing
of a partnership agreement whereby the principles and concepts
of human rights were incorporated in the curricula of basic and secondary
education levels.
- The
aim of the National Programme for Education and Human Rights is to bring up the
Moroccan citizen fully imbued with democratic
values and committed to human
rights principles, so as to translate these values and principles into regular
practice in everyday
life, whereby the citizen is transformed into an active and
effective element in the process of economic, social and cultural
development.
- As
regards educational programmes and curricular contents, the National Programme
for Education and Human Rights is endeavouring to
eliminate anything that
conflicts with human rights principles and values, so as to develop an
educational programme based on, and
compatible with, these principles and values
for all educational levels.
- In
connection with training, the National Programme for Education and Human Rights
aims to form special teams for training on matters
relating to the teaching of
human rights, whether at the level of preliminary or continuous training, for
active personnel in the
field of education.
- The
programme has a strategy for organizing training courses in education and human
rights for the benefit of all education personnel,
including programme planners,
textbook authors, teachers, inspectors and coordinators at the central and
regional levels, course
supervisors, directors, and all other echelons of
administrative staff at educational institutions.
- Accordingly,
more than 120 textbooks have been revised in Islamic education, Arabic, French,
sociology and Islamic thought and philosophy
to rid them of any contents
contrary to human rights, and supplement them instead with appropriate content
on human rights concepts
and principles, with due account given to the
characteristics of each course and each educational cycle and
level.
- Training
courses have also been organized for teaching and administration personnel at
various levels. Some 25,000 teachers have
already attended these courses, and
the programme aims to cover another 100,000 teachers during the current
year.
- The
pilot phase of the National Programme for Education and Human Rights will cover
the academic and educational institutions of Oujda,
Tetouan, Meknes, Casablanca
and Agadir. In selecting these areas for the pilot phase, due account has been
given to proportionate
representation of rural and urban environments and of
various educational levels. Parallel with these activities, training will
be
administered, as part of a 75-workshop series, for the benefit of supervisors of
the five main academic courses mentioned earlier.
Furthermore, a pedagogical
directory, addressed to all teaching personnel involved in the National
Programme for Education and Human
Rights, will be prepared.
- The
National Programme for Education and Human Rights will be disseminated during
the school year 2000/01 to all educational institutions
throughout the country
and to all personnel in the field of education. The dissemination phase will
cover the following areas:
(a) Incorporation of pedagogical
units relating to human rights education into official curricula of basic and
secondary education;
(b) Organization of educational seminars for all
teachers of official curricula in basic and secondary education.
- The
National Programme for Human Rights Field Education will be strengthened by
measures to reinforce the role of pupils in their
environment in the context of
efforts deployed to promote the rights of the child. In this connection, the
Ministry in Charge of
Human Rights plans, in collaboration with External Affairs
Departments of both the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry
in
Charge of Secondary and Technical Education, to support parallel activities
within the framework of the educational institutions’
projects to ensure
that students play an effective role in their environment. Educational
institutions will thus open up their educational
structures to parent
associations and local community and civil society actors in order to publicize
the rights of the child and
to promote a human rights culture at all
institutions of basic, secondary and technical education in
Morocco.
- The
projects carried out at the educational institutions are designed with due
regard to specific circumstances of each educational
level and the age of
pupils. These projects revolve around themes as follows:
(a) In
basic education institutions, the rights of the child within the institution and
the rights of the child in the context of
family relations;
(b) At
secondary and technical education institutions, the rights of the child within
the local community and the rights of the child
within civil society.
- To
upgrade the quality of education and ensure its compatibility with the purposes
of the Convention, steps have been taken to incorporate
in educational curricula
education on such topics as the population, the environment, traffic regulations
and concepts of national
territorial development in addition to human rights
education.
2. Instruction in population issues
- This
project is part of a cooperation programme with UNFPA. The aim of the project
is to include this course in the educational curricula
as a multidisciplinary
subject, with a view to enhancing the consciousness of students, teachers and
families of the various demographic
aspects of Morocco and how they interact
with economic, social, cultural and environmental conditions. So far, the
project has covered
the basic education phase. Starting with the current school
year (1999/2000), the project’s scope will be expanded to cover
the
secondary education phase. The population issues course focuses on subjects
relating to reproductive health, gender relationships
and sustainable
development.
3. Environmental education
- The
Ministry of National Education prepares a variety of programmes to promote
awareness of environmental problems and the importance
of environmental
conservation. In this connection, reference may be made to the Plan of Joint
Action which involves three other
parties: the Ministry of State for the Environment, the National Bureau for
Drinking Water and the Programme for Consciousness-Raising
and Research on
Environmental Issues. Fourteen schools have been selected to participate in
this programme.
4. Concepts of national territorial development
- In
order to enhance children’s awareness of the dimensions and concepts of
national territorial development and promote the
relevant supporting culture, a
cooperation agreement was signed on 28 October 1999 between the Ministry of
National Territorial Development,
Reconstruction and Housing, on the one hand,
and the Ministry in charge of secondary and technical education, on the other
hand.
The aim of the agreement is to include the concepts of national
territorial development as part of the local affairs course and
curriculum,
through the adoption of modern educational techniques and advanced didactic
means.
C. Leisure, recreation and cultural activities (art.
31)
1. The right to leisure and recreation
- The
Ministry of Youth and Sports organizes numerous educational, athletic, cultural
and recreational activities aimed at promoting
the development of children and
dealing with childhood as a priority sector in programme planning and
formulation.
- During
the period 1995-1999, a total of 377,425 children benefited from educational
activities designed for them in various areas.
Some 129,744 children benefited
from
activities organized at fixed camps, and another 45,656 children
benefited from activities organized at urban camps, which brings
the total
number of beneficiaries of camping activities
to 175,400 children.
Camps are of special importance as social educational institutions for the
benefit of children, providing them
with open-air protected activities which are
organized in line with focused educational and recreational
programmes.
- The
national network of summer camps has been expanded with the opening of the
national camp at Moulay Rachid Complex for Children
and Youth at Bouzniga. In
order to enhance the accommodation capacity of camping centres and eventually
dispense with tents, the
Ministry of Youth and Sports has pursued an investment
programme aimed at providing camping centres with additional facilities to
help
them cater for more children and more activities. This programme has been
designed to cover the Harhoura centres at Sekhirat,
Temara, Azilal,
Ben Semim, Tamaris and Assilah. Moreover, some summer camping centres at
Oujda, Errachidia and Ourzazate have been
reopened after completion of
renovation and maintenance work.
- The
Ministry has also upgraded the infrastructures at most summer camps, supplying
them with electricity, water, sewerage and telephone
facilities.
- Children’s
clubs have been established to provide protected activities for 7 to 14-year-old
children, both males and females,
schooled and unschooled, urban and rural.
These children’s clubs offer a variety of cultural, recreational and
scientific
activities all the year round, with a view to contributing to the
social upbringing of children, side by side with the family and
the school.
Fourteen buildings have been renovated and transformed into children’s
clubs at Rabat, Kinetra, Khemisset, Ben
Slimane, Sekhirat, Temara, Meknes, Fez,
Casablanca, Tetouan, Ourzazate and Elayoun. During the period 1995-1999, a
total of 177,439
children benefited from these clubs.
- In
view of the importance of appropriate facilities both at summer camps and
children’s clubs, a 60 per cent increase in such
facilities has been
achieved, thereby increasing the capacity for accommodation and activities.
Some children’s clubs have
also been provided with information units and
audio-visual aids, in addition to other leisure and recreational
facilities.
- In
its future strategy, the Ministry of Youth and Sports plans to expand the scope
of its activities to cover the following:
(a) Paying special
attention to rural children, through the opening of permanent educational
facilities and dispatching mobile units
for regional awareness-promotion
campaigns, focused activities and recreational programmes;
(b) Gradual
expansion of children’s clubs through partnership agreements with local
communities;
(c) Providing the appropriate training for personnel
involved in child-related activities;
(d) Expanding the summer camp
network by reopening the closed institutions and identifying suitable space for
new ones.
- In
addition to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, several other agencies also
contribute
in providing recreational activities for children. In this
connection, it should be pointed out
that various sectors also organize
summer camps for the children of their own employees.
For example, the
Ministry of State for Post and Information Technology organized camps
for
7,842 children of employees during the period 1995-1999. Several camps and
recreational services are also organized by the Ministry
of National Education
and by the Social Work Society for various beneficiaries.
- For
its part, the Ministry of National Education encourages all students to
participate in diverse sports activities, considering
that sports is one vital
area that contributes to the comprehensive shaping, physically, mentally and
emotionally, of the child’s
character. In this respect, some measures
have been taken to consolidate the rights of the child. These measures include
the following:
(a) Concluding an insurance agreement covering
school and athletic activities starting in 1999/2000, which will provide an
important
incentive for students to engage in different sports activities.
Under this insurance coverage, the students will benefit from indemnities
for
accidents that may happen to them while practising sports activities inside and
outside the premises of educational institutions,
and while travelling to or
from sports activities;
(b) Preparing a special programme for sports
activities throughout 1999/2000 in the form of sports competitions and
tournaments.
Special attention will be given to encouraging the formation of
school sports societies at every educational institution. In this
connection,
full attention will be given to students in the first cycle of basic education,
taking into consideration the unique
characteristics of this age group, in order
to encourage them to participate in school sports activities.
- Furthermore,
and in order to cater for the special needs of children with disabilities, the
Ministry of National Education is studying
the possibility of devising a
programme of sports activities for this group of students inside the schools.
The envisaged programme
will take into consideration the special health
conditions of this group, so as to enable them to engage in sports activities on
an equal footing with other students.
- Significant
allocations have been made from the Sports Activities Fund at the Royal Moroccan
University for the current school year.
These allocations will be spent on the
overall upgrading of sports facilities and programmes and the development of the
students’
physical capabilities and skills. More specifically, these
allocations, which come as an added support to the allocations made in
the
regular budget of the Ministry, will contribute to the establishment and upkeep
of sports facilities and provide sanitation and
storage infrastructure in
educational institutions.
- Civil
society institutions play an effective role, through the organization of
numerous activities and functions, in encouraging recreational
and sports
activities and promoting the child’s right to recreation. Field trips,
summer camps, festivals, drawing contests,
athletic competitions and sports
tournaments are examples of the activities offered by civil society
organizations.
2. Cultural activities
- Efforts
are being exerted continuously to promote the cultural life of all citizens in
Morocco, more particularly the children, to
enhance the development of their
personalities and skills. The present strategy of the Ministry of Culture
employs the following
approaches:
(a) Encouraging cultural
activities in rural areas. The Ministry of Culture, in collaboration and
partnership with local communities,
has been implementing a large-scale
programme for establishing a network of libraries in rural areas. According to
the terms of
these partnerships, the local communities provide the buildings
whereas the Ministry provides the staff, books and
equipment;
(b) Participation of local communities in decentralized
cultural activities. In this context, the Supreme Council for Cultural Affairs
and the regional cultural councils were formed in January 1995. At the central
level, the Supreme Council is an advisory body made
up of members representing
all parties concerned with cultural affairs. It serves as a forum for
discussing cultural policies and
determining and guiding the priorities of
cultural work.. At the local level, the regional councils for cultural affairs
coordinate
the work of the Supreme Council, by identifying the cultural needs of
the population and encouraging cultural activities at the regional
level.
- In
the area of cultural activities for children, the Ministry of Culture has made
quite a number of achievements, foremost of which
are the
following:
(a) Organizing the first national puppet theatre
festival in Rabat during the period 2629 January 1996, with participation
from 10
child theatre groups that came from different Arab
cities;
(b) Participation in organizing the annual international
festival for children’s music and rhymes, which was sponsored by the
Rabat
and Sale Music Society every year from 1995 to 2000;
(c) Organizing
the second national puppet theatre festival in Casablanca during the period
26-29 January 1997, with participation
from theatre groups interested in
children’s education and development;
(d) Participation in the
1998/99 National Plan for the Development and Protection of Children
through:
(i) Preparing a series of children’s books and magazines in cooperation
with interested authors and publishers;
(ii) Establishing school libraries in coordination with the Ministry of National
Education;
(iii) Implementing a network of cultural centres;
(iv) Organizing a meeting of young musicians.
(e) Organizing
the first international gathering of puppet theatres in Rabat during the period
24-30 April 1999, with participation
from a number of foreign theatrical
groups;
(f) Organizing annual cultural and artistic shows for children
during the period 19952000, with active participation from the
Ministry’s
local agencies and subsidiary
institutions;
(g) Contributing to the cultural days for children (2-9 May
1999) at Fez, Rabat and Sale, with participation from subsidiary cultural
institutions in the three cities;
(h) Celebrating the National Day of the
Child (25 May 1999) throughout the Kingdom, by organizing cultural, artistic and
recreational
activities for children and organizing special workshops and
functions for developing their skills;
(i) Organizing National Child Week
(20-26 November 1999) throughout the Kingdom, in coordination with the
subsidiary agencies of the
Ministry, for the purpose of marking the tenth
anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
(j) Celebrating International Day of the Child on the first Monday in
October;
(k) Organizing theatrical workshops for the benefit of the
Moroccan Society for Supporting Children with Mental Disabilities and the
An-Nasr Society for the Deaf and Mute in Rabat;
(l) Training theatrical
arts personnel on working for the benefit of disabled
children;
(m) Supporting and producing special theatrical shows for
children during the period 1998-2000;
(n) Organizing workshops for
upgrading children’s skills in handicrafts, reading, puppet arts,
etc.;
(o) Organizing the third national festival of puppet theatre during
the mid-year recess in 1999/2000.
- Finally,
it should be noted that the increasing demand for culture cannot be accommodated
because of the limited availability of financial
resources.
VIII. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES
A. Children in situations of emergency (art. 38)
1. Refugee children
- The
Arab and Islamic religious and cultural principles and tenets of Morocco have
made the country, in the past and at present, a
country of asylum and protection
for refugees. Morocco has acceded to the Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees adopted
by the United Nations on 28 July 1951 and the Protocol relating
to the Status of Refugees of 1967. Since signing the 1951 Convention
Morocco has endeavoured to implement its provisions by granting refuge to
deserving asylum-seekers and guaranteeing their full economic,
social and
cultural rights.
- To
reinforce this position, and aware of the gravity of the phenomenon of asylum
and mass and individual displacement, Morocco has
consistently demonstrated its
readiness to cooperate with competent international organizations, and
particularly with the Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, in which Morocco is an active participant.
- Keeping
pace with the historical developments in the protection of refugees, which was
also extended to internally displaced persons
and victims of expulsion, Morocco
has contributed to the alleviation of the suffering of these groups. In this
respect, we refer
to assistance which was given by Morocco to Bosnian and Somali
refugees, and which is being given at present to Kosovan
refugees.
2. Children in situations of emergency
- This
category of children does not exist in Morocco. However, we have continued to
draw the attention of the world community to the
untenable situation of the
detainees held by Polisario at camps in Tindouf. Citizens succumb to torture,
hard labour and denial
of the simplest and most basic necessities of life.
Families suffer under hardships caused by the separation of the heads of family
from their kin. Over 1,000 children were sent for military training to Cuba or
recruited in the Polisario camps. All this reflects
negatively on the
psychology, personality and growth of a child.
- Morocco
continues its cooperation with the United Nations in a bid to hold a general
referendum in which all citizens of the western
regions participate without any
distinction.
B. Children in conflict with the law
1. Administration of juvenile justice (art. 40)
- Attention
is drawn to the provisions organizing the administration of juvenile justice
contained in the initial report of Morocco,
paragraphs 291-300.
- To
provide for better protection of a child in conflict with the law, and in
keeping with the provisions of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and
with mechanisms of juvenile justice, the Ministry of Justice has embraced in the
new Code of Criminal Procedure
several points in order to protect the rights of
the child, namely:
Raising the age of majority;
Maintaining the provisions governing the pre-trial proceedings in the case
of offences;
Giving the General Prosecutor alone the power to follow up juvenile
cases;
The obligation to report crimes whose victims are minors;
The creation of a new category of judicial police officers to deal with
minors;
Waiving the requirement to apply provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure
on flagrante delicto when minors under the age of 18
are suspected of committing
the crime or the offence;
Hearing statements of minors under the age of 18 without requiring them to
take an oath;
Referring cases to juvenile court judges, at both first instance and appeal,
and assigning trials to judges who are qualified to deal
with juvenile cases and
have experience in choosing the appropriate measures to deal with
delinquency;
In the interest of the minor, it is required that he or she attend the
pre-trial proceedings accompanied by a parent or a guardian
and supported by a
lawyer. It is now compulsory to hold separate proceedings in cases of crimes
committed by minors with accomplices
who are of legal age;
The introduction of collegial judicial bodies to pronounce sentence in
juvenile cases;
The creation of a juvenile chamber at first instance to hear offences and a
juvenile chamber at the appeals stage to hear crimes;
Juvenile court judges may ask a public-interest association competent in
matters of children to undertake social research to determine
the character and
family and social circumstances of the minor on trial;
Both minimum and maximum penalties of deprivation of liberty applied to
minors have been reduced, pursuant to the provisions of the
Convention and of
the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of
Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules) which
declare that punishment should be a
measure taken only as a last resort, and sentence should be as short as
possible.
(a) Treatment of children deprived of their liberty (art. 37
(b), (c) and (d))
- In
addition to information provided in paragraphs 301-306 of the initial report of
Morocco, the point may be made that minors are
not to be placed in a prison or
penal institution without a detention warrant from the competent judiciary
body.
- The
new Prisons Code of 25 August 1999 contains several key provisions for the
protection of juvenile delinquents. For example, the
Code provides that minors
are to be separated from other inmates and to be placed in separate quarters or
wings. Penal institutions
are divided into four categories, one of which
includes reform and re-education centres reserved for convicted minors and
persons
under the age of 20. There are also special rooms or wings to
accommodate this group in penal institutions during the pre-sentence
period.
- The
Code of 25 August 1999 makes it mandatory for the warden of a penal institution
to inform the family of any person under the age
of 20 of his/her detention and
date of release so that they will able to take charge of him/her. In the case
where no family can
be traced, the warden has to report the case
to the General Prosecutor to take the appropriate action.
- To
provide better care to juvenile detainees, the Code excludes minors and persons
under the age of 20 from being placed in disciplinary
cells. The Code also
exempts them from labour if they are following study or vocational training, and
instructs wardens of penal
institutions to ensure that minors and persons under
the age of 20 are able to pursue their studies or vocational
training.
- The
Code also regulates the situation of children who accompany their mothers,
whether the child is born during the incarceration
of the mother or is brought
into the institution along with the mother. In the first case, it is mandatory
for the penal institution
to authorize the mother to give birth in an
appropriate facility without making any reference to the fact that the mother is
incarcerated.
The mother receives the necessary medical and obstetrical care,
and she and the infant benefit from the national immunization programmes.
The
Code also provides that the incarcerated mother may be given special permission
to give birth outside the penal institution
in order to protect her and her
infant emotionally and psychologically.
- In
the second case, i.e. if the mother brings her child with her into the
institution, the Code provides that the child shall not
be accepted without
written authorization from the competent judiciary authority. The child is to
remain with the mother beyond
the age of 3 only at the request of the mother,
approved by the Minister of Justice, to keep the child up to the age of 5, after
which the institution shall, whenever possible, place the child in a childcare
institution with the consent of the person who has
the right of
custody.
- The
Department of Prisons recognizes the need to improve and upgrade health
conditions in the penal institutions in order to preserve
the health of inmates
and to ensure the maintenance and cleanliness of these institutions. For this
purpose, campaigns are organized
among inmates to raise their awareness of the
importance of personal hygiene and the cleanliness of their surroundings.
Physical
health is an essential aspect of the educational programme organized by
the Department. Inmates are provided with all cleaning products
under the
supervision of social workers, nurses and doctors in order to ensure sanitary
conditions and prevention of diseases, particularly
infectious
diseases.
- Doctors
and nurses are attached to penal institutions in order to supervise and follow
up health conditions. The Prisons Department
makes allocations in its annual
budget for the equipment of health facilities at institutions and for the
purchase of medications,
cleaning supplies, and materials and
disinfectants.
- In
order to ensure the health of children and to create an education and recreation
space suitable for their age, the Prisons Department
provides allocations in its
annual budget for food, clothes and toys. Some penal institutions with space
available have set up nurseries
where children are accommodated during the day
under the supervision of qualified nurses. Wardens of penal institutions make
every
effort to reserve rooms in their institutions for mothers with small
children.
- The
Prisons Department pursues a policy of establishing nurseries at all penal
institutions as far as possible to accommodate female
inmates. For this purpose
it has collaborated with a number of charity organizations and benevolent
individual donors to construct
and equip such nurseries, organize recreational
outings for children and provide them with needed clothing and
toys.
- In
the case of children who do not stay with their incarcerated mothers at prisons,
the Department has prepared special rooms where these children may visit
their incarcerated parents under such circumstances that
the children do not
realize that the parents are held in prison.
(b) Sentencing of juveniles (art. 37 (a))
- Reference
is made to information provided above under the heading “Right not to be
subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or
punishment”, from which we learn that capital punishment or life
imprisonment cannot be applied to
delinquent minors.
- As
noted above, the age of majority in criminal matters is reached upon completing
the sixteenth year of age. However, the sentencing
tribunal may take a
substantiated decision to replace or supplement the normal penalties applied to
juveniles between 16 and 18 by
one or more of the special measures of protection
and re-education in accordance with provisions of article 514 of the Code of
Criminal
Procedure.
- The
age that applies for the definition of majority is the age of the minor on the
day of committing the offence. In the case of
a challenge of the date of birth,
the court makes its estimation on the basis of a medical examination and any
other investigation
that the court deems useful for the determination of
the age of the minor. When a minor under 16 commits an offence or a crime,
only
one of the following measures of protection or re-education laid down in
article 516 of the Code of Criminal Procedure may be
taken:
- Placing
the minor in the custody of parents, guardian or any other trustworthy
person.
2. Application of the system of parole or
probation.
- Placing
the minor in a public or private institution specifically designed and qualified
for re-education or vocational training.
- Placing
the minor in a medical or medico-educational institution qualified for this
purpose.
5. Placing the minor in the charge of the S.O.S. public
service.
- Placing
the minor in a boarding section of a school equipped to accommodate juvenile
delinquents.
- A
measure that may also be applied to a minor of more than 12 years may also
consist of placing the minor in a public institution
specifically designed for
controlled or reformative education. However, the measure decided upon may be
applied only for a limited
period of time that should not, in any case, go
beyond the date on which the minors reach the age of 18.
- Institutions
and organisms concerned with the protection of children are affiliated to the
Ministry of Youth and Sports. They include:
observation centres, re-education
centres and social work clubs, as well as field services in the social context
(see the section
on “Rehabilitation and reintegration of children in
conflict with the law”).
- Between
1995 and 1996, the benefits of the centres for the protection of children
reached some 24,586 minors, of whom 15,984 benefited from services offered
by these
centres, while 8,602 minors benefited from field services
offered in the social environment.
- Under
the provisions of article 517 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a tribunal may,
in exceptional cases only and taking account
of the circumstances and
personality of the juvenile delinquents over 12, take a substantiated decision
to replace the above-mentioned
measures of protection and rehabilitation, or to
supplement them with a fine or a prison term, if it deems it necessary. (See
above,
section on “Right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.)
- A
minor who commits an offence is to be brought to the competent court which is to
hear the case in accordance with provisions of
article 540 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure.
- No
sentence, other than reprimand, may be pronounced in the case of a minor who is
under 12. If the minor is over 12, the sentence
is either a reprimand or a
fine. Moreover, if the competent court decides that it is in the interest of
the minor to have any other
measure taken, it may refer the case after sentence
has been pronounced to the juvenile court judge, and the latter has the option
of releasing the minor on probation. A sentence open to appeal is referred to
the juvenile court (article 518 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure).
- The
juvenile court judge informs the parents, tutor or legal guardian of follow-up
procedures. If the minor or his legal representative
does not choose a lawyer,
the juvenile court judge is to appoint a lawyer, or to ask the head of the
lawyers association to do so.
He may also assign the question of social inquiry
to the Department of Social Interests or to other persons qualified to carry out
the inquiry (article 526 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).
2. Physical and psychological recovery and social
reintegration
- The
juvenile court judge is vested by law with broad powers that take into account
the particularities of dealing with minors. The
juvenile court itself is a
social court of reform and reeducation rather than a court of deterrence and
punishment. A judge in this
court may order social research in respect of the
minor in order to determine his/her personality, background and
environment.
- Legislation
provides for preventive measures in respect of minors, rather than penalties
that apply to adults. The main object of
re-education and protection measures
is not so much to punish the minor as to correct his/her behaviour and to
provide guidance.
- When
a judge decides to turn a minor over under a system of probation or to place
him/her in an institution for re-education, the
Department of Child Protection
assumes the process of reform and re-education through probation officers or
re-education centres.
- Social
work clubs and field educators oversee the process of social reintegration of
the minor. Thus programmes of child protection
establishments are divided into
the following four categories on the basis of their specific activities and the
nature of the measures
undertaken by each of them: observation programmes;
re-education programmes; programmes of social work clubs; and programmes of
action in the field. Observation and re-education programmes cover the
following: induction and enrolment in schools; regular boarding
primary
schooling; boarding industrial or agricultural vocational training; and various
educational, sports and cultural activities.
- Similar
activities are carried out by social work clubs; besides, these clubs apply a
semiboarding system and their primary objective
consists of social reintegration
and rehabilitation of the minor by seeking employment
opportunities.
- The
programme of field action (in the social context) is one of the most crucial
programmes as it pursues the dual objective of providing
preventive and
protective care for minors at risk of delinquency and follow-up care of minors
leaving the institution in order to
ensure their stability in the family life
and their social re-integration. Activities under this programme are meant to
achieve
the following, among others:
(a) To ensure uninterrupted
schooling;
(b) To seek opportunities and openings for
employment;
(c) To seek opportunities for vocational training;
and
(d) To familiarize the family with the problems of the minor and to
collaborate with the family for the creation of a climate conducive
to
stability.
- Notwithstanding
the existence of a framework that aims above all to help a child to be better
integrated in the society, there are
many difficulties, particularly the limited
number of probation officers and social workers and aides.
- The
small number of establishments for child protection also raises several problems
of overcrowding, especially in the case of girls;
indeed, there is only one
national centre for their accommodation.
- Measures
to improve the conditions of detained minors include efforts by the Prisons
Department to organize educational, sports, cultural
and recreational activities
to rehabilitate and preserve the equilibrium of young
detainees.
- This
educational policy is embodied in the provision of basic and secondary education
under the supervision of elements from the Ministry
of National Education. The
Ministry also oversees the organization of examinations at the penal institution
through special boards
formed for this purpose. Successful detainees at every
examination are given certificates establishing their educational level without
any indication of their detainee status.
- In
the context of cooperation between the Prisons Department and the Ministry of
National Education, and under a policy of reintegrating
detainees after their
release, agreement
was reached to ensure the admission of released detainees who attended
schools at a prison institution to schools of the Ministry
if the age
requirement is met. A partnership agreement was also concluded between the
Department and the Ministry for the latter
to provide for detainees’
makeup schooling in informal schooling entities. For these courses, the
Department makes allocation
in its annual budget and supplies books to prisons
in order to broaden the knowledge of detainees.
- The
educational policy of the Department also provides for the organization of
vocational training programmes at prisons. Juvenile
detainees under 20 are
enrolled in these programmes to train in areas such as electricity, carpentry,
pipe fitting, sewing, construction
and leather crafts.
- Training
in these centres is undertaken by staff from the Department and from the
Ministry of Social Development, Solidarity, Labour
and Vocational Training.
Examinations at the centres are conducted and supervised by staff from the
Office of Vocational Training
and Promotion of Employment. Successful trainees
are issued certificates from the Office as evidence of their vocational level,
but these do not contain any indication of their detainee
status.
- The
Prisons Department has concluded a collaboration agreement with the Ministry of
Social Development, Solidarity, Labour and Vocational
Training under which a
number of centres are to be set up and equipped at prison institutions. This
agreement is evidence of the
Government’s policy orientation in the field
of promotion of vocational training. The Department also allocates annual
credits
in its budget to equip and supply the training centres and to provide
the detainees with the necessary tools and aids for their
training.
- The
Department pursues an educational policy to re-educate minors and youngsters
under 20. This policy envisages the organization
of religious lectures and
guidance to be provided by specialized preachers from the Ministry of
Wakfs and Religious Affairs. This religious aspect has a particularly
significant and positive impact on the emotional state and behaviour
of
detainees.
- In
the area of cultural and recreational activities for the benefit of detainees,
the Department has set up a number of workshops
in the prison institutions for
such activities as painting, music and stage acting. It has also published a
number of literary prison
journals for inmates to express themselves in poetry,
prose or fiction and to write about various topics.
- In
the area of sports, the Department has created sports fields in some
institutions and organized matches between various wings of
the same institution
or between teams of various institutions and national teams. Supervision of
these activities is assured by
staff from the Department and from the Ministry
of Youth and Sports.
- In
respect of efforts to reintegrate juvenile detainees after their release, the
Department collaborates with some groups active in
this field in holding
meetings between staff from these organizations and the juvenile detainees to
ascertain their family situation
and the circumstances leading to their
detention. The meetings also serve to provide a general idea of possible
measures to reintegrate
the child after release in centres affiliated to these
organizations.
- As
a contribution to the rehabilitation and integration of minors in conflict with
the law, several organizations endeavour to humanize
conditions at the centres
for child protection by carrying out a number of recreational and educational
activities for the benefit
of children. In this respect, mention should be made
of the Moroccan Observatory of Prisons which undertakes the following
tasks:
(a) Monitoring the situation of prisons and the degree
of observance of national regulations and international conventions on the
rights of prisoners, particularly the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment
of Prisoners;
(b) Guaranteeing the rights of inmates in Moroccan prisons
and re-education centres without any discrimination or exclusion and protecting
the inmates from any arbitrary or illegal action;
(c) Ensuring the sound
application of the Moroccan legislation relating to prisons and promoting the
adoption of alternative penalties
in place of deprivation of
liberty;
.
(d) Collaborating with other organizations that have similar
interests in order to contribute to the rehabilitation and protection
of
prisoners and to facilitate their reintegration after their release, and
demanding the establishment of facilities to receive
and guide them; and
(e) Demanding the continued training of prison officials in the matter
of human rights and rules for dealing with prisoners.
The above are among
the initiatives that contribute effectively to ensuring the social reintegration
and psychological and physical
recovery of the child.
C. Children in situations of exploitation, including recovery
and social reintegration
1. Economic exploitation: child labour (art. 32)
- Under
an integrated strategy, based on international and national principles, a number
of measures have been taken to protect children
from all forms of economic
exploitation. These measures are taken both in the legal domain and on the
level of actual monitoring,
and have been supported by a partnership with
international organizations.
- On
the legal level, it is noted that in addition to the laws governing labour
relations addressed in the initial report, the legal
age for employment of
children has been raised in the Labour Code to 15 in line with provisions of ILO
Convention No. 138, which
was ratified by Morocco on 19 March 1999 and will
enter into force on 6 January 2001. It may be pointed out that steps have been
already taken to ratify ILO Convention No. 182 to combat the most serious forms
of child labour.
- To
promote the wider implementation of the Labour Code, a sensitizing and
awarenessraising campaign was launched in February 1998
throughout the regions
and provinces of Morocco. The focus of this campaign was to monitor the extent
of application of protection
measures relating to child labour and particularly
protection from vocational hazards.
- In
the area of international cooperation, several measures have been taken and
numerous activities have been organized in collaboration
with UNICEF. The focus
of these efforts was to complete at the end of 1996 a study/field survey of
child labour, identifying prevailing
conditions of child employment and
suggesting further actions and targets in response to the provisions of
international conventions.
- Also
in collaboration with UNICEF, a national symposium was held
on 22 and 23 December 1997 with the theme:
“Child protection:
achievements and perspectives”. The symposium
was sponsored by the Prime Minister and participants included representatives
of
the government departments concerned with issues relating to children, along
with representatives of trade unions, employers and
non-governmental
organizations. It provided an opportunity to intensify efforts for the
elaboration of a unified national strategy
for the protection of the
child.
- As
part of these efforts, a training programme on child labour was devised for
labour inspectors in order to improve their performance
in monitoring child
employment. This programme is to extend over two years, starting in October
1998, and conducted under the supervision
of experts on child
labour.
- In
cooperation with UNICEF and with contributions from the Royal Office of
Phosphate and the National Office of Railways, a “camp”
was
organized in the period 2329 November 1998 for 70,000 children
working in various economic units.
- A
collaborative project has also been carried out with ILO in coordination with
the International Programme for the Elimination of
Child Labour (IPEC), with
funding from the Government of France.
- This
project culminated in the elaboration of a national and sectoral programme on
child labour, with the participation of representatives
from government
departments, employers’ associations, trade unions and non-governmental
organizations, as well as UNICEF.
The objectives of this scheme are to
determine the real magnitude of child labour, to improve the working conditions
of working children,
to discontinue the employment of children in risky
occupations and hardship areas and generally to reduce child labour. Actions
to
be taken under this scheme are meant to reduce child labour progressively and to
eliminate this phenomenon altogether in the long
run. A protocol for the
implementation of this scheme has been signed by the Minister of Labour and
Vocational Training and ILO/IPEC.
- Initiatives
are being taken in the sectors familiar with child labour in order to alleviate
problems faced by child workers as a result
of entering the job market early in
their lives.
- The
traditional crafts industry is a vital sector of the economy and a fertile
ground for the training and apprenticeship of manpower,
but it is also a sector
which has a concentration of child labour. For this reason, the Ministry of
State in charge of traditional
crafts, aware of the
problem raised by child labour in this sector, and particularly of the
negative effect on the segment of child workers who are not
embraced by the
training and apprenticeship process, organized in June 1998 an international
meeting on “Child labour in the
traditional crafts sector”. The
meeting was held in Fez in collaboration with the International Centre for the
Development
of Handicraft and with UNESCO, and was attended by national
governmental and nongovernmental representatives and international experts.
It
was agreed at that meeting that maximum efforts should be exerted to suppress
the phenomenon of child labour.
- The
meeting further took a set of measures meant to improve the conditions of
children’s involvement in these activities and
to protect them from
exploitation in the context of the progressive elimination of child labour.
These measures envisage, in particular:
(a) Combining training
with apprenticeship so that the trainees can be more easily integrated in the
labour market and gain first-hand
knowledge of the conditions of work in the
handicraft sector;
(b) Concluding agreements with the Ministry of
National Education for the implementation of educational and training courses in
the
context of programmes of informal education. These courses are intended
mainly for the benefit of children aged between 8 and 16.
The first such course
was launched in partnership and cooperation with professional associations in
Ouezzane and Kenitra;
(c) Organizing awareness-raising campaigns for the
benefit of individual craftsmen, owners of economic units and craft guilds to
familiarize them with labour laws and the problems of employing children such as
potential grave negative effect on their psychology
or health.
- In
addition to the above, other sensitizing campaigns were launched to commemorate
the National Week for the Child in May 1999 with the participation of the
Moroccan Society
of Occupational Medicine. The themes of these campaigns
covered apprenticeship,
informal education and occupational hazards that a
child may be exposed to in apprenticeship
or work.
- The
Ministry of State for Traditional Crafts contributed its inputs to the seminars
organized by the Ministry of Social Development,
Solidarity, Labour and
Vocational Training in cooperation with ILO in May and October 1999 to elaborate
a national plan and sectoral
plans for children working in various economic
sectors.
- The
fight to eliminate child labour has become one of the national priorities that
command the attention of the competent entities
and has figured prominently in
the deliberations of national conferences on the child.
- The
Children’s Parliament at its first session devoted one of its workshops to
discussing the topic of children and economic
exploitation which focused on the
following items:
Exploitation of healthy and handicapped children for purposes of begging;
Exploitation of handicapped children by some societies or groups to support
their claims to collect donations; and
Sexual exploitation of under-age female children.
- The
children participating in this workshop addressed the root causes and
consequences of the phenomenon of child labour and formulated
proposals to
curtail, at least partially, this phenomenon. Some of the salient proposals
are:
(a) Sensitizing both parents and children to the
importance of education, and stressing the role to be played by mass media in
this
area;
(b) Reforming education and the establishment of training
centres to
rehabilitate children who drop out of
school;
(c) Assistance from the State to needy families and handicapped
children;
(d) Eradication of illiteracy; and
(e) Enacting
laws relating to employers.
- However,
the problem of child labour is not only a matter of law; it has many
roots
including prevalent poverty and illiteracy. In Morocco, some 240,000 children
leave school at an early age; half of them leave
school before completing their
basic education while the other half leave between the first and second years of
the secondary stage.
This latter
group mostly seeks to enrol in vocational
training centres and, depending on vacancies, some 200,000 actually manage
to join these
centres. Children who do not complete their basic education and
are under 15 are not allowed into these centres. To correct this
imbalance, the Ministry of Social Development, Solidarity, Labour and Vocational
Training has been actively working on the elaboration
of a programme of
“careers” in cooperation with sectors of traditional crafts,
agriculture and services in order to gain
experience and understanding of the
relevant professions.
2. Drug abuse (art. 33)
- Several
laws have been enacted to check the spread of narcotic drugs and their
derivatives; as pointed out in the initial report of
Morocco (CRC/C/28/Add.1,
paras. 333-338), various penalties apply for the illegal possession of
drugs.
- The
concern of Morocco over the dangers inherent in drug abuse has produced a
strong determination to fight the spread and illicit use of narcotic drugs
and psychotropic substances.
- For
this purpose, a national strategy has been formulated with the following basic
principles:
(a) Mobilization and rationalization of human
resources and other available resources on the national
level;
(b) Diversification and intensification of bilateral and
multilateral cooperation.
- On
the national level, Moroccan authorities published in November 1994 a White
Paper containing a number of legal, penal and preventive
measures to be
implemented under this strategy to combat the importation, traffic and sale of
drugs and psychotropic substances.
- Pursuant
to recommendations by United Nations bodies, Morocco created several bodies to
address all aspects of the problem of drug
abuse. Thus, a national commission
to combat drugs was established by a decree dated 3 October 1977. Already in
1995, an Agency
for Recovery and Development of Northern Provinces and Regions
was set up, while in 1996 a Unit of Coordination of the Fight Against
Drugs
(UCLAD) was created within the Ministry of the Interior. This unit is
responsible for the coordination of the efforts of the
different entities
concerned, such as the Royal Gendarmerie, National Security, Customs, the
Auxiliary Forces and the Tobacco Corporation.
- In
the area of prevention, the Ministry of National Education concluded an
agreement of cooperation with the Centre for Study and
Research on Drugs and the
Environment to raise awareness of the dangers and harmful effects of drugs and
to promote a preventive
educational policy at schools.
- International
cooperation is one of the most important tools in the fight against drugs. In
this sphere, Morocco intensified its
collaboration, particularly in
information-sharing and control of transport, etc. The strong position of
Morocco in the fight against
the illicit drug traffic was reflected in a number
of cases brought before Moroccan courts.
- In
spite of these efforts, the existence of organized criminal networks has helped
to spread hard drugs such as cocaine and synthetic
drugs. This has undermined
the effectiveness of national anti-drug strategies which suffer also from the
weakness of institutions
and other structures for detoxification
treatment.
3. Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (art. 34)
(a) Sexual exploitation
- With
its Islamic principles, which are the source of its civil laws, particularly
those relating to the organization of all that relates
to sexual relations,
Morocco discourages any sexual relation that develops outside the institution of
marriage. It is natural, therefore,
that legislation should contain several
protection measures against any form of sexual exploitation, especially sexual
exploitation
of children.
- The
Penal Code contains, in chapter VIII, section 7, several provisions relating to
the corruption of the young and to prostitution.
This section also addresses
the offences of provoking, encouraging or facilitating the corruption or
prostitution of minors. Thus,
article 497 of the Penal Code punishes with two
to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 dirhams any habitual act
of
provoking, encouraging or facilitating debauchery or corruption of male or
female minors under the age of 18, or any occasional such
acts involving persons
under 15.
- A
sentence of imprisonment of two to six years and a fine of 250 to 10,000 dirhams
is applied to any person who abets, assists or
protects the prostitution of
others, shares the proceeds of the prostitution of others or procures others for
the purpose of prostitution,
or incites or employs a minor or an adult, even
with his/her consent, for the purpose of prostitution, or acts as intermediary
in
any form in such acts (Penal Code, art. 498).
- Under
article 499 of the Penal Code, the sentence is raised to imprisonment from two
to five years and a fine of 500 to 20,000 dirhams
if the act is committed
against a minor who is under 18 years of age, or if the act is accompanied by
the use of force, abuse of
authority or fraud, or if the act is committed by a
husband or a person who has authority over a child or by a person who is
responsible
by virtue of his/her position in the fight against prostitution or
in protecting health, youth, or maintaining public order.
- The
above penalties apply even when part of the act has been committed outside
Morocco (Penal Code, art. 500).
- Deterrent
measures are applied to owners, managers and supervisors of hotels, boarding
houses, bars, clubs, dance halls, nightclubs,
or any other place open to the
public: they may be sentenced to two to five years of imprisonment and charged
a fine of from 500
to 20,000 dirhams if they habitually admit a person or
persons who engages (engage) in prostitution, and their licence to operate
may
be withdrawn. The place may be closed definitively or temporarily (Penal Code,
art. 501).
- A
sentence of imprisonment of six months to one year and a fine may be imposed on
any person who incites others to debauchery by gestures,
oral or written words,
or by any other means (Penal Code, art. 503).
- In
all cases enumerated above, the sentence may also include, in addition to the
above penalties, the suspension of one or more civil,
national or family rights
and/or denial of residence for a period of 5-10 years. An attempt to commit any
of these offences is also
punishable by the same penalties applicable to a
completed offence (Penal Code, art. 504).
- The
protection of children from all forms of sexual exploitation is not confined to
legal texts established for this purpose: we
note that some initiatives have
been taken to raise awareness of the dangers of sexual exploitation that
threaten children, especially
those categories of children who are more
vulnerable, such as street children, abandoned children and domestic
servants.
- Civil
society groupings have played a leading role in this effort by organizing
symposiums, seminars and round tables that dealt with
children in difficult
situations in general.
- Aware
of the need to resolve any situation that may be harmful to Moroccan children,
and in response to a request from the Special
Rapporteur on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography, the Moroccan Ministry in
Charge of Human Rights received
the Special Rapporteur from 26 February to 3
March 2000.
- The
Special Rapporteur held top-level discussions with ministers in charge of the
more important sectors concerned with children,
i.e. Ministry in Charge of Human
Rights, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of National
Education, Ministry
of Tourism, Ministry of State in Charge of Social Care and
Family and Child Affairs and Ministry of State in Charge of Solidarity
and
Humanitarian Action.
- The
Special Rapporteur also had discussions with officials from the General Command
of the Royal Gendarmerie, the Director General
of National Security and
officials of the Advisory Council on Human Rights and the National Observatory
of the Rights of the Child
and with representatives of UNICEF and UNDP.
Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur had meetings with the more important groups
working
in the area of child rights, and went on field visits to a number of
Moroccan towns.
- In
a press interview, the Special Rapporteur affirmed that the phenomenon of the
sale of children, child prostitution and pornography
does not have serious
dimensions in Morocco. She added that the country should therefore intensify
its efforts in the form of awareness-raising
and precautionary campaigns, and
she emphasized the role of the mass media in these campaigns.
- In
this context, a national plan of action is to be devised in partnership with
civil society groups to ensure the protection of children
from all types of
exploitation.
(b) Sexual violence
- The
Moroccan Penal Code punishes any immoral act, public breach of decency and
indecent assault, as well as rape. For information
on this point, see the
initial report (CRC/C/28/Add.1, paras. 342-346).
- The
young age of a victim and the relationship of the offender to the victim are
aggravating circumstances leading to harsher sentences.
Thus, in the cases
where the offender is a parent or adult relative of the victim, or has authority
or guardianship over him/her,
or is hired for a wage by the victim or by any of
the above persons, or is a religious official or leader, or any other person who
seeks the help of others for the commission of the offence, penalties vary from
one case to another, depending on the circumstances,
and may reach 20-30
years’ imprisonment (Penal Code, art. 487).
- The
penalty is harsher if the act in question leads to the loss of the virginity of
the victim (Penal Code, art. 488).
4. Other forms of exploitation (art. 36)
- The
Government of Morocco refers to paragraphs 347-348 of its initial report
(CRC/C/28/Add.1) which discuss the danger of exploiting
children for the
purposes of begging or inducing children to leave the homes of their families,
guardians or employers in order to
follow beggars or vagabonds (Penal Code,
arts. 327, 328 and 330).
5. Sale, trafficking and abduction of children (art.
35)
- In
Morocco, the principles of the Constitution and the cultural and Islamic tenets
are diametrically opposed to the sale of or trafficking in persons. Positive
law contains deterrent
provisions to protect the dignity of the human person
from any violation of the human right to safety and liberty.
- Legislation
reserves for children special protection from abduction. Thus, any person who
uses violence, threats or fraud to abduct
a minor under 18 years, or causes
him/her to be abducted, or entices or moves the minor from premises in which
he/she has been placed
by those with authority over him/her may be punished by 5
to 10 years of imprisonment. The age of the minor is an aggravating
circumstance:
if the minor involved is under 12 years of age, the sentence is
doubled, from 10 years to 20 years (Penal Code, art. 472).
- Article
473 of the same Code provides that the sentence shall be imprisonment for life
if the person who commits this crime has taken,
or has had as his purpose to
take, a financial ransom, regardless of the age of the minor. If the abduction
of a minor leads to
his/her death, the penalty is death, according to article
474 of the Penal Code.
- Article
475 of the Penal Code provides that a person who abducts or carries off, or
attempts to abduct or carry off, a minor under
16 years of age without violence,
threats or fraud shall be punished by a prison term of one to five years and a
fine of 200 to 500
dirhams.
- Article
477 of the same Code punishes any person who abducts a minor placed in his
custody or from the premises where the minor has
been placed by imprisonment for
one month to one year and a fine of 200 to 1,000 dirhams. The punishment is
increased to three years’
imprisonment if the crime is committed by a
person who has been denied parental custody of the minor.
- A
penalty of imprisonment for one to five years and/or a fine of 120 to 500
dirhams, is imposed on any person who wilfully conceals
a minor who has been
abducted, smuggled or misled or has run away from the authority of a legal
guardian, and on any person who deliberately
helps a minor to hide from a search
(Penal Code, art. 478).
- To
protect children from the risk of being sold or trafficked, article 466 of the
Penal Code provides for a penalty of one to six
months’ imprisonment and a
fine of 200 to 5,000 dirhams for any person who instigates one or both parents
to abandon a newly
born or expected child, or mediates or attempts to mediate
the transfer of a born or expected child for adoption, with the intention
of
drawing a benefit for any such action.
- Article
467 of the Penal Code provides for a penalty of one to six months’
imprisonment and a fine of 200 to 5,000 dirhams on
a person who leads or
attempts to lead one or both parents to enter into an engagement under a
contract to abandon an expected child,
and on a person who obtains, uses or
attempts to use such a contract.
- In
parallel to the above provisions, reference is made to the Royal Decree
establishing the Act on Abandoned Children of 10 September
1993 regularizing the
system of kafala and providing for strict conditions to be met by the
couple undertaking the kafala in order to protect a child from being an
object of sale or trafficking and from any other form of exploitation.
Amendments to this
Act have the effect of improving child protection (see above
under abandoned children, art. 20).
D. Children belonging to a minority or an indigenous group
(art. 30)
- Successive
Moroccan Constitutions have enshrined the principle of equality before the law,
and this principle has been translated
into reality in all fields. All citizens
enjoy this equality without any discrimination. Although article 6 of the
Constitution establishes Islam as the official religion of the State, provisions
in the same chapter guarantee freedom of worship for all.
- While
Arabic is the official national language of Morocco, the Government, in its
systematic effort to preserve the cultural and historical
heritage, ensures that
news bulletins and programmes are broadcast and televised in the different
dialects of the country. The government
statement affirms the concern of the
Government to modify educational curricula and training programmes to enable the
young to master
Arabic and to promote the Amazigh (Berber) culture, and
generally to encourage foreign languages and promote communication with
others.
- Communities
living in Morocco enjoy full freedom to impart to their children their own
culture, religion and education.
List of Annexes
(Arabic)
Two simplified
versions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Major activities by
the National Observatory of the Rights of the Child and the Moroccan UNICEF
Association since the ratification
of the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child by the Kingdom of Morocco
Handbook of youth
associations and organizations, issued by the Ministry of Youth and
Sports
Inputs for the Draft Plan of Action to reintegrate street children
(in both Arabic and French)
The Royal Message on the occasion of the
fifty-first anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10
December 1999 (in
both Arabic and French)
Moroccan Observatory of
Prisons
The Society for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture
(French)
Les indicateurs sociaux 1998, Ministère
de la prévision économique et du plan, Direction de la
statistique
Annuaire statistique du Maroc 1998, Ministère de la
prévision économique et du plan, Direction de la
statistique
Statistique scolaire 1999-2000, Ministère de
l’éducation nationale
Récapitulatif des principales
activités menées par l’UNICEF dans le cadre du Programme de
coopération
avec le Gouvernement marocain, de 1995 à
1999
Message de Sa Majesté le Roi à la session nationale du
Parlement de l’enfant, 25 mai 2000
Forum vérité et
justice.
- - - - -
[*] For the initial report submitted by the
Government of Morocco, see CRC/C/28/Add.1, for its consideration by the
Committee, see documents
CRC/C/SR.317-319 and for the concluding observations,
see CRC/C/15/Add.60.
GE.03-40393 (E)
240403
[*] See text under article
10 above.
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