Held under the high patronage of HM King Mohammed VI, the forum focused on the setting up of an action plan to define the impact of the ratification of the third optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on national child right monitoring and complaint mechanisms. 

Special attention was given in this regard to the roles of national mechanisms and institutions supporting children notably the ministries and agencies dealing with children’s rights, the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child and the National Council for Human Rights.

The Forum was also meant to reach cooperation protocols with a view to strengthening legal protection for the rights of the child by reinforcing mechanisms for alert, complaint and intervention mechanisms to protect the child against all forms of violence and abandonment as well as physical and emotional abuse.

The event also aimed at contributing to the elaboration and promotion of action plans, strategies and legal measures to protect the rights of the child against all forms of physical and psychological abuse. Special emphasis was also laid on prevention mechanisms.

On this occasion, in a statement on behalf of the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child, the efforts undertaken by Morocco in the field of child’s rights protection were highlighted, notably the ratification of the third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure. 

Light was also shed on Morocco’s new constitution which enshrines the protection of children and stresses the need of subordinating Morocco’s legislation to international rights conventions and protocols.

Speaking on the same occasion, Minister for Justice and Liberties Mustapha Ramid stressed the particular attention attached by HM King Mohammed VI to protecting children from violence and all kinds of abuse. He pointed out to His Majesty’s speech during the second Human Rights Forum, held on November 27-30, 2014, in Marrakech.

For her part, Minister for Women, Family, Solidarity and Social Development, Bassima Hakkaoui underscored the importance of the meeting saying that the Royal instructions will add new impetus to the Moroccan human rights experience in favour of concerted action to set up effective monitoring mechanisms to fight against all forms of violence and child abuse.

Echoing her, Secretary General for the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) Mohamed Essabar overviewed the constitutional provisions that guarantee children’s rights and expressed satisfaction regarding the actions led by the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child, which, he said, has spearheaded steady efforts to adapt national legislation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

UNICEF representative in Morocco Regina De Dominicis congratulated Morocco on the ratification of the protocol and expressed that the UN child protection agency will continue its partnership with the justice Ministry to support Morocco’s efforts in terms of juvenile justice.

On the same occasion, HRH Princess Lalla Meryem followed a documentary on the efforts undertaken in Morocco in favour of promoting and protecting children’s rights.

HRH Princess Lalla Meryem was also briefed on the third protocol and chaired the signing ceremony of two partnership agreements. The first agreement, signed between the Justice and Liberties Ministry and the National Observatory for the Rigthts of the Child, provides for beefing up legal cooperation on the protection of the child in courts. The second is a framework agreement relating to alert and monitoring mechanisms for the protection of the child against all forms of violence and abuse, signed by Minister for Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development and the Deputy President of the National Observatory for the Rights of the Child.