PACE President and Speaker of House of Representatives Satisfied with Quality of Relations Linking the Two Institutions (Joint Communique)

Speaker of Moroccan House of Representatives Habib El Malki held a meeting via videoconference on Thursday, November 26^th, 2020, with President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Rik Daems, in which they reviewed the various aspects of the positive cooperation being consolidated between the two parliamentary institutions.

The two parties expressed their satisfaction with the quality of their relations and agreed on marking in 2021 the tenth anniversary of granting Morocco the partner for democracy status with the PACE in 2011, which will reflect the strategic importance of this partnership.

On this occasion, the PACE President lauded the role of His Majesty King Mohammed VI in the Arab world and his involvement in the fight against climate change, stressing that “Morocco is a very important country for PACE.”

Mr. Daems reviewed the PACE's political priorities, particularly concerning the environment and human rights, as well as the positive results of the cooperation with Morocco. In the same respect, he urged for the active continuation of the participation of the Moroccan Parliament in the works of the Assembly. He also encouraged Morocco to accede to the 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 Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the “Istanbul Convention.”

For his part, Mr. El Malki highlighted the active participation of the Moroccan parliamentary delegation in the works of PACE, the role of Morocco in the fight against terrorism and the preservation of peace and security, and the progress of the Kingdom in building the rule of law. In this respect, he cited, as examples, 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 human trafficking that might result from migration flows.

In this context, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Morocco noted that after three phases of evaluating the partnership, in 2013, 2015, and 2019, the PACE reports point to the irreversible nature of the construction of the rule of law and democratic renewal in Morocco, which calls for the upgrade of the partner for democracy status towards 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 have agreed to pursue the discussion on ways to mark the 10^th anniversary of the partnership between Morocco and PACE, evoking the possibility of organizing a visit of a high-profile Moroccan personality on the occasion of one of the Assembly’s next part-sessions in 2021.