Morocco’s New Electronic ID Card Sparks Language Controversy

The absence of inscriptions in the Amazigh language on the new CNIE is causing a stir among many Moroccans, as was the case during the vote on the text establishing the new status of Bank Al-Maghrib.

In an oral question to the first Chamber, addressed to the Minister of the Interior on the matter, the author recalls the content of Article 21 of Organic Law No. 26-16 dealing with the official nature of Amazigh, the modalities of its integration into education and into priority areas of public life. According to this article, the information to be included on official documents, including the national identity card, must be recorded in both Arabic and Amazigh.

Curiously, the draft law relating to the CNIE, in its version transmitted to parliament by the Council of Government, nowhere mentions the Amazigh language, preferring Arabic and French.

For the record, the advantages of the new CNIE are, on paper, very numerous. Judicial information of the holder, his email address, his telephone number and an emergency number will be recorded. Any holder of this card is automatically exempt from providing certain administrative documents such as the birth certificate, the certificate of residence, the certificate of life and the certificate of nationality. Moreover, the new CNIE, more secure with visual, digital and physical security levels, with an encrypted strip and a PIN code, facilitates the authentication of its holder.