Rabat – The Moroccan government has commented on the 2019 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Morocco.
The Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights (DIDH) said that “these political positions and these allegations and erroneous conclusions will be the subject of a detailed answer in the weeks to come.”
Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) said that DIDH quoted Moroccan authorities who expressed their “total rejection of the political positions” and allegations included in the report on human rights in Morocco.
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The Moroccan authorities maintain that HRW “continues to adopt an approach that lacks objectivity and professionalism, based on estimates and general conclusions, selected and one-sided.”
The statement added that the conclusions would likely distance the NGO from the “spirit of cooperation and the positive and constructive dialogue with the various actors concerned with the promotion of human rights in the kingdom.”
DIDH contended that the negative comments in the report “reflect the predefined orientations of HRW.”
The national delegation for human rights said that the report lacks credibility and is unrealistic, “which require investigations, reliable sources, and useful cross-references.”
The statement added that the Moroccan authorities “consider that the introduction in this report of an isolated case concerning illegal immigration, claiming that the authorities have carried out a large campaign against thousands of migrants is an additional and clear indicator of the adoption of an erroneous and selective approach in this report.”
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Last week, HRW issued its report summarizing all human rights concerns that took place in Morocco in 2018.
The NGO claimed that the Moroccan law enforcement used “excessive force in breaking up protests, as well as arrests of peaceful protesters,” noting protests about mining deaths in Morocco’s eastern town of Jerada.
The report also said that the government launched a “large-scale crackdown on thousands of sub-Saharan migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees without due process.”
