26/11/2020 President
In a video conference today, Habib El Malki, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco, and Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), reviewed the different aspects of the positive co-operation being consolidated between the two parliamentary institutions.
The two parties expressed their satisfaction with the quality of their relations, and agreed to mark in 2021 the tenth anniversary of the granting to Morocco of partner for democracy status with PACE in 2011, reflecting the strategic importance of this partnership.
On this occasion, the PACE President welcomed the role of His Majesty King Mohammed VI in the Arab world and his involvement in the fight against climate change, while underlining that “Morocco is a very important country for PACE”.
Mr Daems reviewed PACE's political priorities, particularly with regard to the environment and human rights, and the positive results of co-operation with Morocco. He urged the active continuation of the Moroccan Parliament's participation in the Assembly's work and encouraged Morocco to accede to Council of Europe conventions, including the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, also known as the "Lanzarote Convention", and the Convention on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the "Istanbul Convention".
Mr El Malki, for his part, highlighted the active participation of the Moroccan parliamentary delegation in the work of PACE, the role of Morocco in the fight against terrorism and the preservation of peace and security, as well as the progress made by the Kingdom in building the rule of law. He cited, as an example, its achievements in combating violence against women, gender equality, the fight against and prevention of torture, the management of migration issues and the fight against trafficking in human beings that can result from migration flows.
In this context, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Morocco pointed out that after three phases of evaluation of the partnership, in 2013, 2015 and 2019, the reports prepared by PACE show the irreversible nature of the construction of the rule of law and the democratic renewal that Morocco is undergoing, which would point to the evolution of the status of partner for democracy into a more advanced form.
In conclusion, the PACE President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Morocco agreed to continue the discussion on ways to mark the 10th anniversary of the partnership between Morocco and PACE, by raising the possibility of organising a visit by a Moroccan personality of a higher level on the occasion of one of the Assembly's next part-sessions in 2021.