HM the King addresses a Message to the participants in the International Symposium on Transitional Justice
His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist him, addressed a message to the participants in the International Symposium on ‘Transitional Justice’, organised in Rabat to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, under the theme ‘Transitional justice processes: for sustainable reforms’.
Here is the text:
We are pleased to send you this Message on the occasion of this international symposium under Our High Patronage. Organised to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, its central theme is ‘Transitional justice processes: for lasting reforms’.
On this day when you are celebrating a milestone in the history of contemporary Morocco, it is a fitting occasion to stress once again the importance and relevance of this crucial stage in the democratic transformation and development dynamic of our country. An essential pillar of democratic construction and transition, the Equity and Reconciliation Commission has contributed in particular to consolidating the rule of law and institutions and protecting freedoms. By virtue of its historical significance, its direct correlation with the issue of human rights, its political resonance and its social impact, this symposium is an opportunity to pay tribute to the achievements made by our country in the context of the national transitional justice process, itself the result of a visionary, well-considered approach, concerned with transparency and objectivity. This is also a good time to enlighten present and future generations about the reforms and reconciliations successfully carried out by the Kingdom of Morocco. Undertaken according to a cumulative logic and in a spirit of concord and boldness, these actions have made it possible to read our history and our past without any complexes and have freed it from any feeling of inferiority.
Sovereign was Our decision to create the Equity and Reconciliation Commission to succeed the Independent Arbitration Commission responsible for compensating victims of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention, a structure set up by Our Venerated Father, the late His Majesty King Hassan II, may God rest his soul. It was also at the heart of a proactive approach to the management of public affairs, inspired by a new concept of authority and giving precedence to the principle of correlation between responsibility and accountability for institutions. The ultimate goal was to preserve the dignity of all Moroccans.
In addition to fully rediscovering national reconciliation and rectifying the violations of the past, this dynamic intended to make transitional justice one of the priorities of the choice of democratic transition that was made at the time. Indeed, in a premonitory impulse, Moroccans, both the State and society, grasped the logic of the profound changes at work in the world at the end of the eighties of the last century. At the same time, they realised the importance of placing democratic values and human rights principles at the heart of strategic political choices.
The transitional justice model adopted by our country has been solidly built around a set of considerations, some of them historical insofar as they draw on the specificity of the Moroccan personality, others geographical and territorial. Its primary objective has been to focus on all the victims, from all backgrounds and of all persuasions, and to examine all the human rights violations perpetrated from the early years of independence until the creation of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission.
This action has made it possible to identify and analyse every type of violation that our country has experienced in the past, regardless of its nature or scale. To this end, investigations and field surveys have been carried out and public hearings have been organised, in towns and villages, in order to gather the testimony needed to establish the truth and repair the individual and collective damage. Undertaken in accordance with the gender approach, the ultimate aim of this work was to reconcile the Moroccan people with their past. The most distinctive feature of the Moroccan experience has been the involvement of all sections of civil society in the transitional justice process, from its conception to its conclusion. Indeed, thanks to the decision to implement transitional justice, the public arena has been opened up to social debate on the various reforms and the substantive issues of interest to national public opinion.
Moreover, thanks to the many ongoing initiatives to promote transitional justice, a collective awareness has crystallised around the fight against human rights violations. Lessons have been learned from this experience, and the need to continue consolidating the rule of law has been reaffirmed, so that rights and freedoms are respected and protected, provided that their exercise, responsibly and in a spirit of committed citizenship, is balanced with the fulfilment of obligations.
In the light of its history, transitional justice in Morocco has all the hallmarks of a singular and pioneering experiment. Symbolising a qualitative turning point in the national political process, it has paved the way for a smooth and consensual democratic transition and has enabled best practices to be adopted with a view to completing the rule of law and the institutions.
Thus, thanks to the recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, formulated in the form of public policy proposals, and in addition to the emphasis placed on the need to strengthen the constitutional protection of human rights, a regulatory framework has been put in place to structure wide-ranging societal reforms, including those of a constitutional and legislative nature. In addition, consultation bodies and institutional mechanisms have been set up to break with the violations perpetrated in the past, enshrine a mode of public governance based on the rules of the rule of law, and highlight the constant evolution of societal dynamics. With this in mind, we have ensured that the Constitution, laws and public policies reflect the broadest possible understanding of human rights, covering political, environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects. We have also created the institutions and constitutional mechanisms needed to protect human rights in their many dimensions.
In this respect, We have personally endeavoured to ensure that the concept of spatial justice finds concrete expression in development policies, and that the notion of reparation for collective harm is integrated into our development plans. We have also ensured that, as far as possible and necessary, the regions and areas that have not benefited from the fruits of the development and growth achieved by the Kingdom of Morocco are brought out of the margins. This paved the way for major reconciliations with history and with space.
What’s more, this resolute determination has enabled a number of Moroccan regions with a major development deficit to remedy the situation, and some of them have even become models of spatial development.
In this context, today the world, through the voices of impartial observers, is witnessing the fruits of the development model at work in our Southern Provinces, and which is intended to be in total harmony with the ideal of solidarity, complementarity and spatial justice prevailing between the different regions of the Kingdom. In fact, the face of our reclaimed Provinces has changed for the better, enabling them to become an attractive area for investment, where development projects, major installations and large-scale facilities now abound. Thanks to this experience, which has been widely and highly acclaimed internationally, Morocco has played a pioneering role in introducing the concept of transitional justice into its Arab and African environment, and in relaying it in a resounding manner in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
The Moroccan model has made a significant contribution to the development of the concept and experience of transitional justice, which it has propelled towards new horizons at regional, continental and international level.
However, what we have achieved both in terms of guaranteeing in fine the respect and preservation of human rights and in terms of the development and construction of democratic institutions, in no way means that we have achieved perfection. The fact remains that these achievements, as the world can attest, symbolise an emerging model of democracy that is authentic and deeply rooted.
Our hope is that the discussion sessions on the topics on the agenda will be able to highlight the best practices emerging from the experiences of countries like Morocco, in particular the synergies established between transitional justice processes and legislative, institutional and constitutional reforms, as well as the complementarity of the roles assigned to parliaments, institutional players and civil society in support of the implementation of the recommendations of transitional justice bodies.
With a view to sustainable reforms, we are convinced that this important symposium will be an opportunity to see to what extent the transitional justice processes have made it possible to make a break with human rights violations and how the recommendations resulting from these processes have been implemented. These two closely intertwined issues are essential in the system designed to protect individuals and groups, preserve their dignity and guarantee their rights.
In this respect, We trust that you will be able, through your debates and your analyses, to give the Moroccan experience the eminent place it deserves, given that it represents a distinctive feature of our contemporary political history, which draws its foundations from the secular roots of the Moroccan State.
We welcome all the participants to this international symposium and pray to the Most High to crown your work with success.
Source: Moroccain Express
