Moroccan Rights Group Slams Government’s COVID Measures, Citing Freedom Violations

In its annual report entitled "the reality of public freedoms in Morocco during the year 2021", AMDH noted several types of violations of individual freedoms within society, reports Hespress, specifying that the government has taken advantage of the health crisis to give free rein to illegal practices.

Whether it is freedom of opinion and expression, the excesses related to the state of emergency, the vaccine pass, or arbitrary arrests, etc., AMDH has painted a gloomy picture of individual freedoms in Morocco.

According to the NGO, freedom of opinion and expression has been undermined since the advent of the pandemic. "The Moroccan state has tried to exploit the pandemic to adopt the draft law no. 22.20 relating to the use of social networks, whose articles have been characterized by the imposition of broad restrictions on freedom of opinion and expression on the Internet, and the strengthening of censorship of publications and social networks, in total contradiction with international obligations in the field of human rights."

A bill that was finally set aside following the pressure of Moroccan public opinion and the widespread campaign of outrage against this law, the report points out. In the same vein, the government has carried out several arrests and prosecutions against thousands of male and female citizens, accused of having violated the measures of the state of health emergency".

In 2021, Morocco also experienced an "exceptional and unprecedented decline" in terms of freedom of opinion and expression, the media, the press and publications on social networks, AMDH estimates, recalling in this regard that the organization "Reporters Without Borders" had ranked Morocco 136th out of 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

Faced with these excesses, AMDH has made several recommendations, including "the release of all political and opinion prisoners, the right to peaceful assemblies and demonstrations, the end of prosecutions against journalists and bloggers on social networks as well as protesters among contract teachers, the unemployed and human rights activists".

The association also recommends the "enactment of a special law aimed at protecting human rights defenders from all forms of harassment by allowing them to enjoy all their rights in accordance with the spirit of the Universal Declaration for the Protection of Defenders".

The association also calls for "the lifting of the state of health emergency with the need to set a deadline while respecting the principle of proportionality provided for by international human rights law", as well as "the cessation of all ongoing measures affecting human rights, in particular freedom of opinion and expression, the media, thought and conscience, the right to form associations and the right to demonstrate and assemble peacefully".