Morocco to Draft Law Protecting Civil Servant Whistleblowers

In a statement to La Vie Eco, the Minister of Modernization of the Administration and the Civil Service, Mohammed Benabdelkader, states: "the services have started the benchmarking work two weeks ago".

He also states that this law is a necessity: "This project is part of the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption that Morocco ratified in 2007". A convention under which signatory countries must have mechanisms to protect whistleblower civil servants.

And in the minister’s own words: "generally, civil servants are reluctant to report illegal acts, for fear of being excluded or sanctioned". And as if that weren’t enough, even the law could be turned against whistleblowers. La Vie Eco writes in this sense: "by denouncing illegal practices, the law does not protect them. Because, among other things, of article 18 of dahir no. 1-58-008 on the general status of the civil service. It calls for "professional discretion for all facts and information in the performance of duties".