Rabat Hosts Debate on Cross-Border Child Protection

Rabat – The Ministry of Justice is hosting a two-day international seminar on child protection across borders. The event started on Thursday, November 14, at the Higher Institute of Law, Rabat.

The meeting’s main focus will be on the 1996 Hague Convention on parental responsibility and the protection of children.

The convention covers civil measures of protection, including orders concerning parental responsibility, and public measures of protection or care. The agreement also covers measures concerning unaccompanied minors and cross-border placement of children.

The objective of the event is to promote the application of the Hague convention through jurisdictions and legislative frameworks.

“Our debate will mainly focus on the issue of unaccompanied minors who immigrated away from their families in Africa and came to Morocco or Europe looking for a better future,” Philippe Lorti, first secretary of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), told the press.

Participants at the debate have studied real-life cases to determine the best measures to ensure the protection of minors.

“The convention allows the judges of the State where the child is present to immediately take protective measures. The most important thing is the appointment of a guardian or a legal representative for the child so they can work with the authorities to determine their best interests,” adds Lorti.

Giovanna Barberis, UNICEF’s representative in Morocco, said that the seminar is “extremely important” for “finding ways to improve the application of the 1996 Hague Convention”.

Morocco is “the first country in Africa and the MENA region to have ratified this convention,” she told the press.

The event brings together delegations from the European Union (EU), and from North and West African countries, including Burkina Faso, Togo, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Algeria.

HCCH co-organized the event with the Moroccan Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with UNICEF and financial support from the EU.

As Morocco is a destination as well as a  transit country for migrants, including unaccompanied children, it is one of the justice ministry’s priorities to build a legal framework that protects and cares for minors.