Washington - The State Department on Thursday lauded Morocco's "comprehensive" counter-terrorism strategy, underlining the country's adherence to human rights standards and the increased transparency of law enforcement procedures.
Washington – The State Department on Thursday lauded Morocco’s “comprehensive” counter-terrorism strategy, underlining the country’s adherence to human rights standards and the increased transparency of law enforcement procedures.
Morocco “has emphasized adherence to human rights standards and the increased transparency of law enforcement procedures as part of its approach”, the US State department says in its Country Reports on Terrorism 2015, which underlines that the kingdom has publicly committed itself not to use the struggle against terrorism to deprive individuals of their rights.
Morocco’s comprehensive strategy for countering violent extremism “prioritizes economic and human development goals”, the State Department says, adding that Morocco has accelerated its rollout of education and employment initiatives for youth and has also expanded the legal rights and political and social empowerment of women.
“To counter what the government perceives as the dangerous importation of violent Islamist extremist ideologies, Morocco has developed a national strategy to affirm and further institutionalize Morocco’s widespread adherence to the Maliki-Ashari school of Sunni Islam” the State Department notes in its report.
The reports recalls that Morocco is a founding member of the Global Counter-terrorism Forum (GCTF) and a member of the Global Initiative to Counter Nuclear Terrorism.
The reports points out that “Morocco’s counter-terrorism efforts and cooperation with international partners led to numerous disruptions of alleged terrorist cells and prosecutions of associated individuals.
While highlighting that the North African country Moroccan is succeeding in “detecting terrorism financing,” the report stressed the “comprehensive strategy” Morocco has launched in recent year in order to counter violent extremism and terrorism.
“Morocco has a comprehensive strategy for countering violent extremism that prioritizes economic and human development goals in addition to tight control of the religious sphere and messaging,” the reports says.
“In the past decade, Morocco has focused on upgrading mosques, promoting the teaching of relatively moderate Islam, and strengthening the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs (MEIA). The MEIA has developed an educational curriculum for Morocco’s nearly 50,000 imams in its version of relatively moderate Sunni Islam,” it added.
