The Kingdom of Morocco is expected to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in the near future. The Council of Ministers, chaired by King Mohammed VI, approved OPCAT ratification on 9th of September 2011, following a Council of Government approval on 26 of May. The APT congratulates the authorities of Morocco for this important commitment to the protection of all persons, including persons deprived of liberty.
This decision comes after years of preparatory work, in particular by the National Council for Human Rights (CNDH) and a platform of NGOs established by the Organisation Marocaine des droits humains (OMDH), in collaboration and consultation with the APT. Morocco thereby also implements a further recommendation of its Justice and Reconciliation Commission. Opening all places of detention to independent scrutiny, the key obligation under the OPCAT, figured among the recommendations on guarantees of non-repetition of the final report of Morocco’s truth commission issued in 2005.
Morocco’s Council of Ministers’ decision to ratify OPCAT also coincides with a regional high-level conference of National Human Rights Institutions against torture in the framework of a project entitled 'A continent united against torture' that the CNDH and the APT organized on 8 – 9 September 2011 in the capital of the Kingdom.
