2024-08-01 16:08:47
The Moroccan delegation participating in this two-day ministerial meeting is led by the Minister of Solidarity, Social Integration and Family, Aawatif Hayar, and composed of the Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of Morocco in Gambia, Ahmed Belhaj, the Director of Child Protection, Family and Elderly, Mohamed Ait Aazizi, as well as members of the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Morocco in Addis Ababa to the African Union.
Speaking at the first panel devoted to “Prevention of violations against children in conflict situations: implementation of the AU legal frameworks on the protection of children, the role of Member States”, Ms. Hayar stressed that Moroccan participation in this important public session is part of Morocco’s desire to strengthen cooperation ties with the African Union and African countries, in all areas of sustainable human development in general, and the protection of children’s rights in particular.
Regarding the subject of the panel, the minister indicated that the Kingdom of Morocco, thanks to the High Guidance of HM King Mohammed VI, and the personal involvement of Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meriem, President of the National Observatory for Children’s Rights, has a committed vision and a public policy for the protection of children.
Morocco has thus been committed for years to modernizing its legal, regulatory and institutional framework, by harmonizing national legislation with its international commitments, she added, noting that the Moroccan Constitution of 2011 gave an important place to children’s rights.
In this regard, she recalled that the legal and institutional reforms undertaken by Morocco were, in particular, welcomed by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child during the examination of its periodic report on the implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2014.
Morocco has demonstrated real political will which has resulted in numerous actions at both the legal and institutional levels, said the minister, specifying in this sense that the Kingdom has undertaken a set of measures, in particular its adherence to the entire legal arsenal of international human rights law and international humanitarian law protecting and promoting the rights of the child.
She stressed that the Kingdom was also among the first countries to sign and ratify the three additional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the one on children and armed conflict, while committing to systematically harmonizing its national legislation with international human rights law.
Ms. Hayar also noted that Morocco’s national commitments are in line with its action at the continental level, explaining that under the Moroccan presidency, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union adopted, in October 2022, Communiqué No. 1110 on “prevention against the recruitment and use of children in conflict situations”, which strongly condemns the continued recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups and terrorist organizations on the African continent, and calls for preserving the civilian and humanitarian character of education centers, refugee and internally displaced persons camps, as well as for immediately ceasing to target and use schools and refugee/internally displaced persons camps as recruitment centers.
In this spirit of international commitment, the 2021-2026 government program of the Kingdom of Morocco has given great importance to the issue of promoting children’s rights through strengthening justice reform, harmonizing the legal arsenal with international conventions, improving the quality of care, adopting partnership with civil society as a style and mode of management of development programs, she continued.
And to affirm that Morocco has also proceeded, through the Ministry of Solidarity, Social Integration and Family, to the realization of an evaluation of the PNMO 2015-2020 of the Integrated Public Policy of Child Protection 2015-2025 and to the development of the 2nd National Implementation Program for the 2023-2025 phase which will be based on three axes which are prevention, protection and development of the child.
Ms. Hayar also highlighted the importance of a child’s right to have a family as well as the psychological, social and economic support of families for the well-being of children.
2024-08-01 16:08:47