The upper chamber of the parliament of Morocco is expected to approve the UN torture prevention treaty (OPCAT) in the near future. Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, President of the House of Councillors, ensured civil society activists that he will do his best for the law to be voted as soon as possible.
In a meeting with activists from the Middle East and North Africa and representatives of the APT and Dignity on 5 March 2013 he said that he was confident that the ratification would be approved smoothly.
The approval is one of the last steps before Morocco can formally ratify the treaty. The lower chamber of parliament adopted the law 124.12 concerning the approval of the OPCAT unanimously on 12 February 2013. The government had already given the green light for ratification in 2011, in decisions taken by the Council of Government in May 2011 and the Council of Ministers in September 2011.
The meeting took place at the occasion of the third regional forum on monitoring places of deprivation of liberty and the prevention of torture, organized by Copenhagen-based Dignity and the Lebanese Restart center.
