Morocco has taken, upstream, the measure of the danger of violent extremism, both on the southern shore and on the European shore of the Mediterranean, indicated Emmanuel Dupuy, president of the Institute for Prospective and Security in Europe (IPSE), think tank based in Paris.
The recent arrest of the alleged perpetrators of the intentional homicide with mutilation of the body of a police officer in Casablanca, who are affiliated with Daesh, confirms the very high efficiency of the Moroccan security and police services, observed the French expert in geopolitics and geostrategy, in a statement to MAP.
According to Mr. Dupuy, the Moroccan approach, which is both holistic and multidimensional, is in fact based on five essential pillars (religious, security and legal, socio-economic, strengthening of human rights and the state of law, international cooperation).
The religious pillar is based, in particular, on the legitimacy and centrality of the Commandery of Believers, which determines the proper management of religious affairs, as well as the protection of the free exercise of worship, he explained.
Dwelling on the security and legal pillar, including the strategy put in place by Morocco for the prevention and fight against terrorism and violent extremism which threatens not only Morocco, but the entire Maghreb and Sahel region, is based on the prevention of malicious acts, vigilance and monitoring, Mr. Dupuy noted that this proactive approach has made it possible to anticipate possible terrorist attacks and to abort several attacks against the security and stability of the country.
This resulted in the profound overhaul of the national security architecture, which was carried out in order to strengthen the security governance of the Kingdom, he said, noting that for this purpose, Morocco has set up the Office Central des Investigations Judicial (BCIJ) in March 2015, which is in charge of the fight against terrorism.
The effectiveness of the fight against terrorism in Morocco is based on this tool (BCIJ) which is “unique”, he said, noting that it could serve as a model of cooperation in this case. “I believe that this is an element on which we could rely much more upstream in Europe,” he said.
With regard to the socio-economic pillar, the expert recalled that the prevention and fight against violent extremism in Morocco also involves the promotion of united human development, so as to put in place strong social safety nets. that strengthen the resilience of vulnerable groups to radicalization and prevent the creation of breeding grounds for terrorism and violent extremism.
Regarding the pillar of strengthening human rights and the rule of law, the president of the Institute for Prospective and Security in Europe noted that with some forty articles devoted to human rights, the 2011 Constitution constitutes a “genuine National Charter of Human Rights”.
“The supreme norm of the Kingdom of Morocco has brought the country into a constitutionalism which has allowed the national appropriation of the principles of the protection and promotion of human rights, through the constitutionalization of numerous institutions and bodies for the protection fundamental rights and freedoms, good governance, human and sustainable development and participatory democracy,” he noted.
The expert also noted that the Kingdom, fully aware that no country can overcome violent extremism alone, favors international cooperation, through its various forms, in particular triangular cooperation, north-south cooperation and south-south cooperation.
Morocco thus participates – at the regional and international levels – in the dissemination of good practices and lessons learned developed at the national, regional and international levels in the fight against violent extremism, he underlined.