Rabat – Princess Lalla Zineb, cousin of King Mohammed VI, chaired on June 17 the singing ceremony of the partnership between the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports and the Moroccan League for Child Protection (LMPE).
The princess, who is the president of LMPE, received Minister of Culture Othmane El Ferdaous, as well as Secretary General of the Department of Youth and Sports Nadia Benali, at the Lalla Meriem Children Welfare Center in Rabat on Wednesday, the Moroccan League for Child Protection said in a statement.
The Moroccan princess emphasized the importance of the partnership between the Ministry of Culture and LMPE, which is part of Morocco’s program to protect and promote the rights of “children and young people in difficult situations.”
Under the agreement, the ministry will be tasked with contributing to the work of constructing, redeveloping, and equipping reception centers belonging to LMPE.
The ministry will have to equip the centers with the necessary technical and athletic resources. The ministry will sponsor the project, and will be also in charge of the training and supervision of the facilities’ educators.
The LMPE will take the responsibility to ensure the progressive care of children in difficult situations, residents of child protection centers under the Department of Youth and Sports, in accordance with reception capacity as well as the age of the residents.
The league will also contribute to promoting education programs and raising awareness related to children and youth issues, including the rights of the child and protection against abandonment and marginalization.
El Ferdaous thanked Princess Lalla Zineb and expressed his readiness to “work tirelessly” with the LMPE to provide “strong impetus to the actions of taking charge of children and young people in difficult situations.”
The partnership, which comes just a week after the world celebrated the International Day Against Child Labor, seeks to improve the well-being of children. A June 12 report from the High Commission for Planning (HCP) said that 200,000 of Morocco’s 7.27 million children aged between seven and 17 are economically active.
Of the active child laborers, 119,000 perform dangerous work. The number represents 1.6% of all children in Morocco, against 2.3% in 2017.
The report also indicated that 12.1% of the children performing dangerous work are still in school, 83.7% have quit school, and 4.3% never enrolled.
