In the midst of the pandemic, Morocco was able to take on a new role and broaden its field of action, while ensuring a "transition to everything digital, from the regulatory state to the social state", noted Bouayach, who was speaking on the occasion of the publication by the CNDH of its 2020 report on the human rights situation in Morocco, entitled "Covid-19: exceptional situation and new exercise of human rights".

She underlined, in this regard, that the year 2020 "was terrible, both by the number of its deaths, by the extent of its economic and social damage, and by the depth of the human tragedies it has engendered".

This health crisis has revealed "the senses of patriotic citizenship, national solidarity and common responsibility of Moroccans," she said.

The pandemic and the context of lockdown that followed shed light on the deficit suffered by the health sector, such as that of education and scientific research, she said, adding that the lesson to be learned is that of the urgent need to reform, build and promote a universal health system accessible to all; in parallel with educational institutions "capable of developing the skill of the most brilliant elements in the race for innovation and technology".

On the other hand, the CNDH also had to adapt to the virus, said Bouayach, noting that the council "was jostled" by the state of health emergency which forced it to rethink its entire way of operating, both at the national and regional levels.

In this context, a Task Force was created specifically to monitor the human rights situation during the Covid-19 period, in order to prevent violations, protect victims and promote human rights, she stressed.

The CNDH report "confronts us with several issues, some of which are unprecedented," she said, adding that the difficulty in exercising human rights during the previous year was that of "hanging on to the application of standards and principles in an exceptional and unknown situation".

New communication technologies have become one of the foundations of societal life, whether in the administration, in the company, in the school or in the private life of Moroccans, she continued.

Social media outlets are now the primary depository of the freedom of expression of Moroccan citizens, despite all the risks that this can engender and all the consequences on political, social and cultural life in the Kingdom, Bouayach said.

In this context, she mentioned the example of accelerated digitization which has seen a real revolution in the judicial field with the advent of remote trials.

The new reality raises questions about how to get out of the crisis, especially when it comes to measures taken urgently and out of necessity and in reaction to an "uncertain and fluctuating context", she explained.

Faced with all these questions, "one thing is certain: the paradigms of yesteryear are no longer the news: the state has regained its full place in the exercise of rights," she said.

The pandemic has demonstrated that the right to education and to health are not only fundamental rights, but rather "pillars of any economy which seeks to be efficient and resilient" and of the necessities of any democracy which enshrines the equality of people and chances, the president of the CNDH concluded.