Rabat – The National Human Rights Council (CNDH) and UNICEF signed a joint action plan in Rabat on Wednesday to improve the protection of children rights in the kingdom.
Signed by CNDH President Driss El Yazami, and UNICEF Representative in Morocco Regina De Dominicis, the action plan laid the foundation for a two-year-long strategic program aiming to strengthen the national capacities for independent monitoring and reporting on the situation of children’s rights in Morocco in accordance with international standards, with the participation of the children themselves.
The program will set up a review body for child victims of rights violations in accordance with the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), a body of 18 experts that oversees implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The review body represents the first of its kind in Morocco, according to a statement released by the CNDH. De Dominics assured in a declaration to the MAP that this mechanism will be a priority for the overall program.
De Domonics emphasized the importance that “these mechanisms are sensitive to the participation of children, for whom it is important, in case of violation of their rights, to have at their disposal listening centers with well-trained staff.”
According to the communiqué, the action plan will also help ensure better national and regional coordination to strengthen monitoring of violations of these rights. Emphasis will especially be placed the participation of children to strengthen the study of children rights.
In this regard, Khalid Hanefioui, in charge of children’s rights at the CNDH, stressed that the Council had already organized two consultation sessions with children in Rabat and Marrakech in collaboration with UNICEF. As part of the program that will span from 2017 to 2018, similar meetings will be held each month in different regions of the Kingdom, he said.
UNICEF supports this initiative through its development and implementation of a training program for the monitoring and reporting on children rights.
This support will result in the formation by 2018 of 80 representatives of civil society, government departments and independent institutions, the statement said, adding that this figure will be increased to 400 by 2021.
