Morocco’s Human Rights Chief Calls for End to Death Penalty, Citing Constitutional Protections

The question of the abolition or not of the death penalty has been so agitated in recent months, in the face of the barbarity of certain crimes, especially related to the rape and murder of children. The President of the CNDH noted that "Article 20 of the Constitution does not provide for any exception to the right to life", and that in addition, the legislator has the constitutional obligation to protect it from any attack or offense". She indicated that the CNDH "pleads against the argument often used by certain political leaders not to abolish the death penalty by justifying it by the hostility of public opinion to such a measure".

The CNDH, according to its president, carries out many actions such as ensuring the monitoring and protection of the rights of those sentenced to death by carrying out, among other things, regular visits. "The CNDH and the abolitionists are convinced that the death penalty has no effectiveness in reducing crime. On the contrary, its application will only provoke the deepest sense of injustice and an unquenchable thirst for brutality and violence," said Amina Bouayach.

She stresses that condemning to the death penalty will in no way prevent criminals from committing their crimes. For her, the solution to the fight against crime is not the death penalty. "For the CNDH, abolishing the death penalty is to protect the first of human rights," she added.