VZCZCXYZ0009
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRB #2604/01 3641610
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301610Z DEC 05
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2385
INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 3624
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 2703
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 5297
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 2909
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3928
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 8533
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 1018

UNCLAS RABAT 002604 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS DISCUSS CHALLENGES 
AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN MOROCCO 
 
 
¶1.  This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Please 
protect accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Summary:  Five Moroccan human rights advocates, 
including a member of Morocco's Equity and Reconciliation 
Commission, offered views on Morocco's accomplishments and 
shortcomings in the field of human rights during a December 
14 roundtable for visiting DRL officer Martinez.  With the 
final report of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission 
(Instance Equitie et Reconciliation -- IER) just submitted to 
the Palace, discussion of the IER was a focus, with one 
activist arguing that the IER was an important step forward 
but only a partial one.  While refraining from specific 
comment on the human rights situation in the Western Sahara, 
one participant rued that the Western Sahara conflict 
continued to eat up scarce Moroccan resources.  The advocates 
agreed that most Moroccans did not have enough information 
about the US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to have an 
informed opinion, and consequently there was a negative 
undercurrent toward the FTA in Morocco.  They identified 
illegal migration as an emerging area of concern for human 
rights.  The activists were vague about areas in which US 
assistance could best support their efforts, though all 
welcomed it in spite of international debate on some current 
US human rights practices.  End Summary. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) On December 14, Polcouns hosted a roundtable 
discussion on human rights for visiting DRL officer Martinez 
to review the human rights landscape in Morocco.  In addition 
to emboffs and DRL, present were: 
 
-- Rachida Afilal, Leadership Feminin and MEPI-funded World 
Learning project implementer; 
 
-- Dr. Abdelhay Moudden, Professor of Political Science, 
Director of the Center for Cross Cultural Learning, and 
member of the IER; 
 
-- El Habib Belkouch, Director, Center for the Study of Human 
Rights and Democracy; 
 
-- Abderahmane Bourhim, Association of the Amnesty 
International Groups of Morocco; and 
 
-- Mohamed Abouhani, Helen Keller International (HKI) 
 
---------------------------------- 
Equity and Reconciliation: A Start 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) After providing background on DRL-funded activities 
in Morocco, with DRL Martinez outlining the process for USG 
funding of human rights projects, Polcouns turned to Moudden 
for an update on the IER.  Moudden said that the IER had 
completed its mandate and shut its doors following the 
submission of its final report and recommendations to the 
Palace on December 1.  Moudden, clearly proud of the 
accomplishments of the IER, said he had every reason to 
believe that the recommendations in the report would be 
"accepted." 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Moudden emphasized that the IER was a commission, 
not a court, and was charged with telling the King the truth 
about past human rights abuses and recommending the types of 
compensation due to victims.  He said the King would also 
decide about how much of the final report would be made 
public.  (Note:  Since the roundtable, the King has 
reportedly decreed that the entire report will be made 
public.  End Note.) 
 
¶6.  (SBU) While the participants agreed with Moudden about 
the IER's mandate, the shortcomings of the mandate were 
discussed.  Belkouch argued that some negative practices of 
the past continue, and members of the security forces 
frequently disregard the law.  Bourhim echoed this sentiment, 
pointing out that human rights abuses committed under the 
reign of King Mohamed VI were not covered by the IER's 
mandate.  While appreciating the work of the IER, Belkouch 
said the commission represented only one aspect of the human 
rights landscape in Morocco.  Given that the IER's mandate is 
limited to human rights abuses that occurred between 1956 and 
1999, how were abuses post-1999 to be handled, he asked? 
 
Issues such as constitutional reform and separation of powers 
were outside the scope of the IER and remained urgent 
priorities for the country, in his view. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Moudden said the completion of the IER's work 
should be regarded as a "first phase" of "equity and 
reconciliation in Morocco."  In the second phase, the 
present, Moudden said human rights violations would continue, 
but they would be marginalized.  That represented a major 
step forward, he felt. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Belkouch agreed the commission's work allows 
Morocco to move into the future.  Afilal believed the IER 
fulfilled the King's desire "to heal Morocco's wounds" and 
emphasized that the report is "about more than laying history 
to rest;" rather, she said, it served as a "guarantee for the 
future, a guarantee that human rights will be respected in 
Morocco." 
 
¶9.  (SBU) While not sure of details, Moudden said there could 
be a role in the coming year for outside donors to assist 
with the implementation of the recommendations -- for 
example, to turn the notorious Tazmamart prison into a 
cultural center, to establish a center for the study of human 
rights, or to assist with compensation for the victims of 
abuses. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Gaps between Words, Action, and Resources 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Belkouch stressed that, in spite of improvements 
in some areas, a gap remained between the state's openness to 
airing human rights concerns and its commitment to 
implementing changes that would minimize abuses in the 
future.  He stressed there was further need for "training." 
Rachida Afilal agreed that passing new laws to protect human 
rights was important, but the application of the laws was the 
key.  Belkouch said the majority of Moroccans, "the King 
among them," wanted a democratic state, but there had to be 
follow-through to bring it about; a lack of commitment to 
implementing change suggested that the commitment at the top 
to ending human rights abuses was weaker than it appeared. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Bourhim said he thought a glaring weakness in 
Morocco was the lack of a national human rights strategy for 
police.  He was concerned about the extent of impunity of the 
security forces and the lack of judicial independence 
(Comment:  All of these areas are identified in the mission's 
annual human rights report.  End comment).  He felt the GOM 
needed to devote more resources to protecting human rights. 
One example was the office of the ombudsman; by providing a 
channel for the people to air views and concerns directly to 
the Palace, it filled an important function, but no one knew 
about it (comment:  despite its fancy website), so what good 
was it?  The Moroccans were also somewhat critical of their 
own ranks, agreeing with Belkouch's comment that many human 
rights organizations in Morocco were "doing basically the 
same thing." 
 
--------------------------- 
Watch Out for the Islamists 
--------------------------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Abouhani saw Morocco's Islamists as adversaries 
when it came to human rights.  "Radical Muslims have the ear 
of the masses" in some parts of Morocco, he said, which he 
worried held back the social and economic development of the 
country.  Literacy was an essential component of an improved 
human rights climate, he said.  Because of widespread 
illiteracy in Morocco, Abouhani said human rights concerns 
were more strongly pushed by NGOs and the elite than the 
masses. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Human Rights and the National Development Initiative 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU)  While not specifically a human rights initiative, 
all of the activists viewed the King's National Human 
Development Initiative (INDH) as a positive step.  Afilal 
believed the INDH's emphasis on poverty reduction would have 
 
a leavening effect on human rights.  Abouhani noted that 
given the high rate of illiteracy and misery in the country, 
human rights could not become entrenched without social and 
economic development.  Belkouch also linked human rights 
issues to political and economic development in the country. 
 
--- 
FTA 
--- 
 
¶14.  (SBU)  When asked about the potential impact of the 
US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, which will take effect 
January 1, 2006, the participants were ambivalent about 
whether it represented a step forward for Morocco.  Moudden 
said very little was known about the FTA in Morocco, and 
there was little discussion of the FTA beyond the elites. 
The reaction of "ordinary Moroccans," he said, is primarily 
negative, and there is a sense that Morocco is "not really 
ready" for an FTA with the US.  "If you talk to small 
business owners in Morocco," Moudden said, "there is no 
understanding of the FTA."  He chided the GOM for a "lack of 
communication" about the FTA and worried that Moroccans 
lacked the "savoir faire" to take advantage of the agreement. 
 Other participants said there had been insufficient public 
debate about the FTA.  That said, the participants welcomed 
any initiative that could provide jobs and promote economic 
development in Morocco, which they reiterated were an 
essential underpinning to protecting human rights. 
 
------------------- 
Illegal Immigration 
------------------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU)  Illegal migration to Morocco is creating new 
human rights pressures in the country, according to the 
participants.  Without economic development and an increase 
in jobs, Morocco cannot absorb sub-Saharan migrants.  At the 
same time, the participants agreed that European countries, 
particularly Spain, cannot expect Morocco to police the 
migrants on its own.  The migration problem was giving 
Morocco a bad name, they said, when Spain was also a human 
rights violator in forcibly repelling intending sub-Saharans 
from their land border with Morocco.  While illegal migration 
was not a new phenomenon for Morocco, Abouhani said "it just 
landed on us as a human rights issue."  The participants felt 
Moroccan human rights organizations had little experience 
with the migration issue. 
------------------------------- 
Opportunities for US Assistance 
------------------------------- 
 
¶16.  (SBU) The five participants, two of whom work for 
organizations that already receive US assistance, welcomed 
further US assistance to support human rights work in 
Morocco.  They were unperturbed about reports dominating the 
press about alleged US torture of prisoners. They said the US 
had a great deal to offer "across the board."  Abouhani said 
the US was still relatively unknown to Morocco, and as such 
Morocco was "dangerously dependent" on EU funding.  He hoped 
the US viewed Morocco as a "fellow Atlantic country."  Beyond 
a blanket welcome for US assistance, however, the 
participants did not specify priority areas, apart from "more 
hands-on training." 
 
¶17.  (SBU) DRL Martinez did not clear this cable. 
****************************************** 
Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat 
****************************************** 
 
Riley