MOROCCAN EXPERIENCE INSPIRES PALAU ISLANDS IN ASIA PACIFIC
Represented by Ms Houria Es-slami, member of the Council and coordinator of its Working Group on the development of international relations, partnership and cooperation, the (Moroccan) National Human Rights Council (CNDH) attended a meeting that was held in Koror in the Palau Islands in Asia Pacific with Palauan officials, mainly the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Victor M. Yano and the Palauan Ombudsman.
This meeting revolved around the Moroccan experience in the field of human rights, particularly the creation of the National Human Rights Council and its role in the promotion and protection of human rights.
Ms Es-slami outlined the history of the Moroccan Council, its founding law, its new missions, its organization following the reform of March 2011 and its responsibilities and areas of intervention. She didn’t fail to refer, during her presentation, to the Paris Principles governing NHRIs around the globe.
She also discussed the role and participation of civil society in the creation of a national human rights institution, the independence of such institution and its role in the promotion of treaty practice.
CNDH representative shed lights, as well, on the provisions of the new Moroccan Constitution which enshrine human rights in their universality and the National Human Rights Council along with other institutions working in the fields of human rights and governance.
Ms Houria Es-slami met at the presidential palace in Melekeok with a group of Palauan deputies and senators to highlight CNDH experience and its regional commissions and working groups and the importance of such an institution in the promotion and protection of human rights. She handed over to the Palauan officials several CNDH books and publications.
She was received by Mr. Johnson Toribiong, President of the Republic, in the presence of several members of the Palauan government, senators and deputies.
The Palauan government intends to establish a national human rights institution, following a recommendation in the subject addressed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to the Palauan State.
In the sidelines of the 66th United Nations General Assembly, the Palauan authorities asked the Moroccan authorities to share the Moroccan experience in the field of human rights.