On 19 June 2019, SIGMA organised in Rabat, Morocco – together with the Ministry of Administration Reform and Civil Service of Morocco – a joint OECD-EU high-level conference on public governance. In 2003, terrorist crimes were added to the list, but the penalty has not been carried out since 1993 (although by August 2008 there were 150 prisoners on death row). parliamentary elections of 7 October 2016, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, protesting the incorporation of the Western Sahara, Consultative Commission on Regionalization, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2011 US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Morocco. Further experience has come from participating in peace-keeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Serbia, and Ivory Coast. He was appointed in November 2011, after elections, and heads a coalition including the centre-right nationalist Istiqlal, the liberal Popular Movement (Mouvement Populaire, MP), which has Berber roots, and the left-wing Party of Progress and Socialism (Parti du Progrès et du Socialisme, PPS; formerly the Parti Communiste du Maroc). A second generation of parties was founded between the late 1960s and early 1980s, the most repressive period of Hassan II’s rule. The Ministry of Justice recognizes that the level of judicial competence is generally low, a consequence of the poor training of judges by the National Institute of Judicial Studies, which lacks staff and resources, and because of shortcomings in court internships. In August 2015, Morocco signed a deal with Russia to purchase its first submarine, an Amur-1650, worth $340 million. That authority, baraka, is an inherited quality passed by genealogical descent from the founder of the Alaouite dynasty Moulay al-Cherif and his son Moulay al-Rashid (1666-1672), who seized power when the Saadi dynasty disintegrated in half a century of civil war. Ministers can be questioned orally in both chambers, and a vote of no-confidence in the government can be passed. The Military Thus, not all the new parties were entirely supportive of the regime: on the left, former members of the USFP and PPS set up the Organization for Democratic and Popular Action (Organisation de l’Action Démocratique et Populaire, OADP) in May 1983. According to Article 6 of the 2011 Constitution, the law ‘is the supreme expression of the will of the Nation’. The Judicial At the same time, the French established what was effectively a three-part legal system in Morocco. His authority is derived from his role as the political head of a community defined by belief. When he died in 1927, he was succeeded by his son Mohammed V, who became the symbolic rallying point for a modern nationalist movement that asserted his legitimacy while trying to limit his powers. There are no provisions for legal aid in civil matters – even though legal representation is compulsory before the bench – except in cases involving alimony. Morocco is the world’s largest exporter of phosphate, which is an industry controlled by the royal family and by the elite who monopolize larger, multi-sector industries and who are close associates of the mon… Each session lasts for no more than four months. Al-Fassi, Ouezzani, and others set up the National Action Bloc (Bloc d’Action National, BAN) and proposed a Plan of Reforms in 1934, which the French rejected. Mounting Tensions Between Morocco’s Main Political Parties. As UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech Approaches, What is the State of Morocco’s National Security? HTF MI 'Morocco Insurance Industry - Governance, Risk and Compliance' report is the result of extensive research into the insurance regulatory framework in Morocco. The general opinion of the judicial system is low, partly because there is such a high level of illiteracy. According to the World Bank, the value of the weapons Morocco imported in 2016 was about $26 million. Local Government Local governance at a glance The local government structure comprises 16 regions, provinces and prefectures, and urban and rural communes (Rao and Chakraborty, 2006). Both chambers debate the government’s programme, but only the House of Representatives can vote it down. The other historic leader of the MP, Abdelkarim al-Khatib, founded the Popular Democratic and Constitutional Movement (Mouvement Populaire Constitutionel Démocratique, MPCD; 1967), which adopted an Islamist tone. In criminal cases, there are court-appointed defence lawyers for indigent defendants who act pro bono, but there are no public defenders. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. In 2018, military expenditure accounted for 3.1 per cent of GDP, compared with 3.2 per cent in both 2017 and 2016, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The Navy is being re-equipped with Dutch-built SIGMA frigates. The Cabinet determines and implements public and foreign policy and oversees the passing of laws by Parliament. The Executive Istiqlal split again in 1957, when Mahjoubi Aherdane and Abdelkarim al-Khatib set up a Berber-dominated, royalist party, the Popular Movement (Mouvement Populaire, MP), and yet again in 1959, when Mehdi Ben Barka led the left wing away to form the National Union of Popular Forces (Union Nationale des Forces Populaires, UNFP; called Socialist Union of Popular Forces or the Union Socialist des Forces Populaires, USFP from 1974). The country’s forces have gained valuable experience as a result of political instability in North Africa, in particular the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south, as well as more limited experience as part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. An overview of human rights in Morocco. The Open Government Review of Morocco is the first of its kind analysing a country’s open government policies and practices and their institutional and legal frameworks for implementation against OECD instruments. Four months after the parliamentary elections of 7 October 2016, Abdelilah Benkirane, leader of the winning Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), was unable to form the coalition government required by law. The Communist Party was legalized in 1937 and grew through the trade unions. Interview with a Public Sector expert, Fabian Seiderer, on Governance in Morocco. These organizations have increased several folds since the late 1990s and especially after the 2011 wave of Arab uprisings. The most important subdivision of the MP turned out to be the MCPD, which merged with an Islamist party, Reform and Renewal (Réforme et Renouvellement), led by Abdelilah Benkirane in June 1996 (in 1998 the name was changed to PJD). The French did, however, maintain the institution of royal family and appointed another brother, Yusef, as sultan. The Air Force relies on older French planes, mainly Mirage F1-C and F1-E acquired in the 1970s and 1980s and American F-5E Tiger. Among other actions, the country has adopted a series of legislative measures and institutional reforms to improve how water management is defined and regulated, remedy inequalities of access, protect water quantity and quality, and reuse it. Parliament and political parties were reduced to marginal roles, and there were severe constraints on the media. Some were Moroccan branches of French political parties based in the settler community, others were specifically Moroccan organizations. He also spent time training in the office of Jacques Delors, when Delors was President of the European Commission. Most of the population cannot afford legal services, as the average lawyer’s fee is equivalent to two to four weeks of the minimum wage. After the protests against the Berber Dahir in 1930, the first Moroccan nationalist groups were set up, and three young leaders became the founding fathers of Moroccan politics, Allal al-Fassi, Mehdi Ben Barka, and Mohammed Hassan Ouezzani. French code-law came to predominate in most of the legal system. FEATURE STORY. There is also a small-claims legal system. Women were first recruited as uniformed officers in 1997. Benhlal makes important recommendations about political oversight, implementation of the rule of law and anti-corruption measures to ensure that these constitutional amendments will be more than a veil of good governance. As under the French system, an investigating judge investigates serious offences and can remand a suspect into pre-trial custody. The 2011 US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Morocco reported that corruption and the abuse of detainees were widespread among both National Security officers and gendarmes, undermining law enforcement and the judicial system. Transport planes are largely US-made. Avec 189 États membres, des collaborateurs issus de plus de 170 pays et plus de 130 antennes à travers le monde, le Groupe de la Banque mondiale est un partenariat sans équivalent : cinq institutions œuvrant de concert à la recherche de solutions durables pour réduire la pauvreté et favoriser le partage de la prospérité dans les … The Government of Morocco has been criticized for a lack of effective resource governance, which has been mainly linked to an incomplete regulatory framework and insufficient disclosure policies (NRGI). In 1913, a decree (dahir) took all but civil cases out of the hands of the qadis (religiously educated judges), and reorganized the administration of justice in both jurisdictions along French lines. In January 2010, King Mohammed VI set up a Consultative Commission on Regionalization, ostensibly to examine how administration, regional development, and finance functioned under these arrangements. These historic nationalist parties still exist, though the PDI won no legislative seats since 2002. Human Rights in Morocco. There are three levels of jurisdiction. This has been used as the basis for a strong campaign to make Morocco the first Arab country formally to abolish the death penalty. Increasing European hegemony led religiously inspired nationalists to overthrow him and replace him with one of his brothers, Abdelhafid. The main light tanks are French (AMX-13) and Austrian (SK-105 Kürassier). Within the framework of the Morocco Country Programme and the implementation of the "Advanced Regionalisation Process", the MENA-OECD Governance Programme has contributed to improving the quality of local-level policies and strengthening citizens' trust in governance.Strategic assistance was provided to achieve three … However, as the US State Department ‘Country Reports on Human Rights Practices‘ on Morocco for 2011 points out, courts often do not act independently in practice and are subject to corruption and extra-judicial influence. First-instance courts hear civil cases related to persons or inheritances, and to social and commercial laws. The military forces’ extensive combat experience in the Western Sahara has given them operational expertise in desert warfare and combined air-land warfare. As a result, Morocco is currently experiencing a difficult political situation, characterized by a general m... Stay up to date with the weekly newsletter! Foreigners and their local agents were exempted from both Moroccan law and taxation, by the system of capitulations and placed under the jurisdiction of their national consuls, which allowed them to do business unfettered and behave badly. In this new paper, Mohamed Benhlal analyzes Morocco’s recent constitutional amendments, which seemed, on paper, to make significance progress towards good governance. Sultan Mohammed V was obliged to sign the Dahir, but it brought a storm of protest from Arab nationalists, who saw it as an attack on Islam, by degrading the Sharia. The death penalty (by firing squad) can be applied for aggravated murder, torture, armed robbery, arson, treason, desertion, and attempts on the king’s life; it also exists in the military courts. He earned a BA in law at Rabat-Agdal University and a PhD in law from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, where he wrote his thesis on EEC-Maghrib relations. Religious personal-status law was maintained as the responsibility of Sharia courts for Muslims and rabbinical courts for Jews. Corporate Governance in Transition Economies Morocco Country Report June 2016 Prepared by: Gian Piero Cigna Ahmed Meziou With the assistance of: Nestor Advisors . Morocco is currently under the Alaouite Dynasty and each King since 1666 has belonged to the Alaouite family. The first political parties were founded during the Protectorate, before World War II. Northern Morocco, particularly the region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, has historically been an area where disenfranchised youth have been recruited into violent extremist activities. The National Security includes various technical services, such as scientific and computer specialists. Political Parties Link / Embed. As a result, many were muted in their criticism and positioned themselves in the political centre. The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) project reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries and territories over the period 1996–2018, for six dimensions of governance:Voice and AccountabilityPolitical Stability and Absence of ViolenceGovernment EffectivenessRegulatory QualityRule of LawControl of Corruption The Worldwide Governance … Not only do the elections constitute an evaluation of the success or failure of the constitutional reforms that Morocco adopted in 2011, but also a litmus test for ... What is the state of security today in Morocco? Since coming to the throne, King Mohammed VI has emphasized that the rule of law is a fundamental underpinning of his concept of a constitutional monarchy. Each of Morocco’s first five constitutions since independence began the same way: ‘Morocco is a constitutional democratic and social monarchy.’ The sixth Constitution in 2011 added the word ‘parliamentary’: ‘Le Maroc est une monarchie constitutionnelle, démocratique, parlementaire et sociale.’ The monarchy is very old: the current dynasty dates back to the mid-17th century and is the oldest surviving ruling family in the Arab countries. The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) was founded in August 2009 by Fouad Ali el-Himma, a close friend of King Mohammed VI and a palace advisor. The acquired copyright protected images used on/as featured image of this page are: ©Hollandse Hoogte | ©Hollandse Hoogte | ©Fanack | ©Fanack | Fanack ©Fanack. Yet despite its relatively progressive orientation, the new Constitution maintains the monarch as the most important political actor, with his formal rights and legitimacy unchanged. Public Opinion Access to the Courts But Mohammed VI, who came to the throne when he was quite young – he was born in 1963 – has modernizing and technocratic credentials. The current Prime Minister is Abdelilah Benkirane of the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (Parti de la Justice et du Développement, PJD). After 1912, the Protectorate slowly negotiated an end to the capitulation system; the British were the last major power to agree to end protected status in the French zone in 1937, but not in the Spanish zone, where the capitulations were renounced only at independence, in 1956. The Constitution is a product of modern nationalism and the struggle for independence, yet there was an early project for constitutional rule in 1908, on the eve of the Protectorate, which proposed limited controls on the sultan and was based on the idea that the Japanese, equipped with a constitution, had defeated the autocratic Russian empire in 1906. Royal family members claim direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad via his daughter Fatima, his son-in-law Ali Ibn Abu Talib, and their son Hassan. The parties vanished during World War II but re-emerged after the American invasion of 1943, with the foundation of the Independence Party (Parti de l’Independence, Parti Istiqlal, or Istiqlal, PI), whose manifesto marks the beginning of modern nationalism and the modern Moroccan state. In a context of increasing globalization, marked by the intensification of trade in a more competitive environment, the port sector in Morocco and in the world, has become an important lever for development and competitiveness of a country. Tensions are already mounting between the main political parties. Other problems are the quality of legal personnel and difficulties of gaining access to the courts. Morocco’s military strength in 2019. The judicial system was subjected to interference by the authorities in political cases, and dissidents were arrested, held incommunicado for long periods, and tortured. Legal System Since the early 2000s a much closer relationship with the United States, part of the so-called ‘War on Terror’, has made possible a modernization programme, particularly of the Air Force, with an order for 24 F-16 fighter aircraft, some of which have been delivered. There are enormous difficulties to realizing it. Please contact us in case of omissions concerning copyright-protected work. Authenticity and Modernity Party Before the Protectorate began in 1912, Moroccan law was the Sharia, with the addition of regulations in particular areas based on a mixture of expediency and treaty agreements with foreign countries. Tweet. Towards New Arrangements for State Ownership in the Middle East and North Africa Corporate governance of state-owned enterprises in Morocco… The constitutional reforms undertaken by Morocco since the 2011 protests have modified legislative and institutional procedures, yet their real impact on governance needs to be assessed. The Supreme Court hears appeals from lower courts and resolves jurisdictional disputes. The October session is opened by the King. In partnership with the General Directorate of Territorial Collectivities (DGCT) and the Association of Regions of Morocco (ARM), TASHAROC wishes to study the possibilities of operationalising the recommendations from the 1st national conference on advanced regionalisation for citizen participation, with the British … This was reflected in the King’s speech in March 2011 and the constitutional amendment in July of the same year. Good governance The constitution, which entered into force in 2011, establishes more stringent requirements in terms of good governance and the performance of public institutions. The Monarchy The “Morocco New Governance Framework Implementation Support Project” is being funded with a US$4.5 million grant from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Transition Fund, approved on February 20, 2013. The bicameral Parliament consists of the House of Representatives (395 members), elected for five years by direct universal suffrage, and the House of Councillors (with a maximum of 120 members), elected for six years by a complicated system of indirect elections by local councils, professional organizations, and labour unions. According to the Constitution, Parliament exercises legislative power and can validate the authority of the government. In Morocco, internal demands for institutional reform backed by popular support have become a major lever in assisting to establish good governance in the country since early 2011. This area of Morocco … Transparency and open budget, the true stakes in Morocco’s governance reform; BLOG. The Navy is the poor relation of the services: it has some modern French-built frigates, but its main fleet consists of aging patrol and coastal craft that cannot prevent fast boat smuggling across the Mediterranean. Governance Structure Conformément à la circulaire du Premier Ministre n°17/2009 du 21 Octobre 2009, le programme e-gouvernement a été doté d'une gouvernance reposant sur trois structures : Le Comité Interministériel e-gouvernement par abréviation CIGOV, présidé par le Ministre en charge de l’Industrie, du Commerce … FINAL DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION Comments are welcome by 31 August 2016: please provide comments to cignag@ebrd.com 2 This Report does not constitute … One model seems to have been the system of regional government in Spain; when these structures were outlined in the 2011 Constitution, Article 140 spoke of the principle of subsidiarity, a typically European Union concept that refers to policies being handled by the smallest, lowest, or least centralized level of authority. The Communist Party was banned in 1952 but resurrected in 1974, still with Ali Yata at its head, as the Party of Progress and Socialism (Parti du Progrès et Socialisme, PPS). In January 2017, Morocco signed a $91 million deal with Harris Corporation to provide AN/ALQ-211 Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite (AIDEWS) systems to help protect its RMAF F-16 aircraft fleet against electronic threats. Source: GFP review. The backbone of policing is the Royal Gendarmerie, part of the Royal Armed Forces, which comes under the Ministry of the Interior when it acts as the administrative police and under the Ministry of Justice when it acts as the Judicial Police (Police Judiciare), investigating crimes, gathering evidence, and bringing alleged perpetrators to court. There are also specialized tribunals: a commercial court system that hears commercial cases involving large sums, with its own system of appeals; administrative courts that deal with initial cases involving the public authorities; independent audit courts that operate at the central and regional levels; and a separate Standing Tribunal of the Royal Armed Forces. It covers steps taken by central government and local authorities, research centres… This was essentially the system adopted in the first Moroccan Constitution of 1962, but the Parliament was reduced to a single chamber for most of the 1970s and 1980s. In Morocco, internal demands for institutional reform backed by popular support have become a major lever in assisting to establish good governance in the country since early 2011. If the committee cannot agree, the House of Representatives has the last word. Full sessions are held in public. The previous elections were held on 25 November 2011, but voter turnout was low (45 per cent), indicating the lack of trust in the electoral system. This study analyses initiatives undertaken in Morocco to support the management of critical risks. The Constitution (Article 80) states that ‘The judicial authority is independent of the legislative power and of the executive power’ and that magistrates are not removable (Article 83). However, the country’s military costs are high, amounting to 10.1 per cent of total government spending in 2011. In the early days after Moroccan independence, the Soviet Union supplied a large amount of military equipment, most of which is no longer in service. The party won the municipal elections in 2009, and, with 47 seats, came fourth in the 2011 parliamentary elections. Women in particular are rarely aware of their rights. Noté /5: Achetez The Politics of Development in Morocco: Local Governance and Participation in North Africa de Bergh, Sylvia I.: ISBN: 9781786731166 sur amazon.fr, des millions de livres livrés chez vous en 1 jour The report on service delivery in Morocco, prepared by SIGMA, was presented during the event. In partnership with the General Directorate of Territorial Collectivities (DGCT) and the Association of Regions of Morocco (ARM), TASHAROC wishes to study the … In that year defectors from the OADP created the Democratic Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste Démocratique, PSD), former members of the OAPD set up the Front of Democratic Forces (Front des Forces Démocratiques, FFD), and, in yet another secession from the MP line, the Democratic and Social Movement (Mouvement Démocratique et Social, MDS) separated from Aherdane’s MNP. Economy . The 2011 Constitution, which was immediately the result of the Arab Spring movement, was the long-term consequence of this liberalizing trend. Constitutionality has a legitimizing role in Morocco, but so does monarchy. As a political official, the … Fanack provides an … The King used the parties as a way to divide the political forces. That year, the number of people who reached military age was estimated at 604,533 personnel, while military expenditure was estimated at $3.4 billion. Since independence, the civil- and criminal-law systems have been based on French, Spanish, and Islamic law, following French legal procedure. The Transition Fund was launched at the WB-IMF last annual meetings in Tokyo by the G8 Deauville …