A total of 1,224 children crowded Moroccan prisons in 2018, while another 3,300 were placed in children protection centers.
Rabat – The Public Prosecutor’s office and the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Reintegration of Prisoners will organize a national meeting on November 12-13 in Rabat to develop a roadmap to promote alternatives to institutional placements of children in conflict with the law or in difficult situations.
The meeting will be held in partnership with UNICEF and the European Union.
In 2018, 1,224 children were detained in custody while 3,300 others were placed in Children protection centers.
Organized as part of the Himaya program, a joint UNICEF and EU project, the meeting aims to identify ways to enable children in prison to benefit from a reformed justice system adapted to the needs of child inmates.
Read also: Moroccan Court Sentences Former Mayor to Seven Years in Prison
The initiative seeks to establish a legal tradition that takes into account the child’s ultimate interest and ensures that incarceration and institutional placement are the last resort.
The Himaya program’s main goal is to help improve children’s access to justice that respects their rights.
As a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Morocco is committed to developing alternatives to the deprivation of liberty of children in conflict with the law or in hard situations.
