Naharnet

Morocco Urged to Speed Up Reforms Ahead of Rights Meet

A global advocacy group on Tuesday urged Morocco to speed up reform and remove "barriers to exercising freedoms" on the eve of an international human rights summit in the kingdom.

This week's forum in Marrakech "should be an opportunity for the Moroccan authorities to move from words to deeds" on rights reform, the head of the International Federation for Human Rights, Karim Lehidji, said in a statement.

In a report published Tuesday, the FIDH recognized "essential but insufficient reforms" that Morocco had made in the field.

"Many judicial reforms are struggling to be adopted," Lehidji said.

The organisation, which is made up of 178 groups worldwide, said it was concerned over "repression against those who protest publicly and peacefully against government policies" in Morocco.

More than 5,000 people from 94 countries are expected to attend Thursday's rights summit.

One of Morocco's most high profile rights groups, the independent Moroccan Association of Human Rights, already announced it would boycott the event for what it said was the government's "systemic ban" on its activities.

Source: Agence France Presse


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