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Rabat, August 12, 2012
Although the new constitution, approved in July 2011, turned Tamazight into an official language, it seems that the Amazigh people will still have to wait before seeing its provisions implemented on the ground.
The Official journal number 6070 issued on 13 Ramadan, corresponding to July 23, 2012, published the decision of the Minister of Justice and Freedom, Mustapha Ramid, concerning the organization of the entry competitions for interpreters accredited by the courts of the Kingdom and the end of training exam.
The decision of the Ministry of Justice and Freedoms, which set 21 October as the date of the written exam, was accompanied by the agenda, in addition to number of vacancies to be filled.
The Journal announced 32 job offers for each language and 7 languages in three districts of the courts of appeal in Rabat, Casablanca and El Jadida.
The decree didn’t include any seats for Tamazight. This exclusion of Tamazight language poses a serious problem in the courts of the Kingdom, especially since the ministry has allotted 4 seats for Hebrew language, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian respectively and 8 seats for German language, in addition to 4 seats for Arabic.
Many Amazigh people lost their cases in the court due to their inability to neither speak nor understand Arabic.
“Fatma, a forty-year old woman, told MWN that she did understand a word of all what was being talked about in the court when she was brought before the judge in the procedures of divorce held to the court as the behest of her husband.
In line with the constitution, which regards Tamazight an official language along with Arabic, hiring Amazigh interprets is a must in order to facilitate the duties of the judges and help the Amazigh to defend themselves before the courts through the only language they speak.
The absence of the Amazigh language in the announcement of the Ministry of Justice and Freedoms, and the allocation of 4 seats for Hebrew, has angered some Amazigh activists who expressed, on Facebook pages, their disapproval of the resolution, which they regard as discriminatory and unfair to Amazigh language, the second official language of the country.
“The job offers announced by the Ministry of Justice and Freedoms excluding Tamazigh is another attempt from the PJD to marginalize the Amazigh people and their language which is an official language of the country along with Arabic,” said Imenza Muha an Amazigh activist from Goulmima, in south eastern Morocco.
It is worth mentioning that the house of representatives has issued a decree banning the use of Tamazight in the parliament until the provision of logistics and human potential for translation from Tamazight into Arabic.
