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Agadir – Morocco’s National Observatory for the Rights of Children (ONDE) has released its annual report on the rights of children in the North African country.
The report goes over government and NGO initiatives and actions that “support, raise awareness and promote” Moroccan children’s rights. ONDE wrote the annual report in collaboration with several institutional and non-governmental partners.
The initiatives are led under the chairmanship of Princess Lalla Meryem. According to the report, the initiatives and actions are meant to highlight rising awareness, observation, dialogue, and stimulus for demonstrative projects at the national level.
In 2020, the Observatory ensured the follow-up and the execution of the commitments various partners made as part of the National Pact for Children, signed in November 2019 in Marrakesh.
According to its annual report, ONDE made certain that the results of the “Rabat, city protective of its children” initiative were distributed to the parties concerned at the local, national, and continental levels.
In the face of a global health crisis, ONDE also conducted actions to support children during Morocco’s multiple lockdown periods, implementing a national program to fight against sexual abuse and violence. They also aimed to strengthen and digitize the participation of children during the COVID-19 period.
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According to the report, increasingly more questions are asked about the effectiveness of child protection services. As such, the document notes, Morocco’s child care system needs a better convergence of initiatives to help the most vulnerable.
Even though Morocco has been making strides to aid vulnerable children, its global position in the field does not seem to have particularly improved. According to KidsRightsIndex, in 2016 Morocco ranked 74th on this list of 163 nations, whereas by 2020, it had only marginally moved up the ranks, taking 72nd place.
ONDE stressed that it will further consolidate the partnership with stakeholders in the field to support changes and improve intervention programs. The organization hopes that this will ensure improved quality, allowing the partners to more easily measure the performance and identify weaknesses of childcare and children’s rights work in Morocco.
ONDE was created in 1995, and under the chairmanship of Princess Lalla Meryem, continues its work as an independent institution in charge of monitoring the implementation of child protection measures under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
