Seminar at House of Representatives to Present Report of Kingdom of Morocco Addressed to UN CSW65
The House of Representatives hosted on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, a seminar to present the report of the Kingdom of Morocco addressed to the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The seminar was organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality, and Family. It was attended by Chairperson of Social Sectors Committee Saida Aït Bouali; Chairperson of Thematic Working Group on Equality and Parity Fatima Zahra Nazih; Minister of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality, and Family Jamila El Moussali; Chairperson of Education, Cultural and Social Affairs Committee at House of Councilors Abdelali Hamieddine; and a number of parliamentarians.
In her address on this occasion, Minister of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality, and Family Jamila El Moussali noted that this seminar is part of the preparations for the participation of the Kingdom of Morocco in the works of the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. It is an occasion to present of the draft national report prepared by the Ministry in a participatory approach with the contribution of all Government departments, the concerned national institutions and civil society associations, and the Parliament.
The Minister added that the seminar is an essential step in the series of consultations launched by the Ministry as part of a participatory approach that engages all concerned parties to discuss and improve the components and data included in the draft national report addressed to the UN CSW65. The report enlists the achievements and gains of the Kingdom of Morocco and displays the cumulative national effort in the area of empowering women and promoting their rights in all sectors.
She also affirmed that the engagement of the Parliament in the consultation about this prominent report that represents the Kingdom of Morocco in the UN CSW65 is dictated by its vital role in promoting human rights in general and women’s rights in particular; through legislation, parliamentary control, diplomacy, and the different important events it organizes. The Minister highlighted that the Parliament is at the heart of the dynamic that aspires for further women empowerment in all economic, social, political, cultural, and environmental fronts.
The seminar was also an occasion to review the accomplishments achieved in women's participation in all sectors, especially in decision-making positions, and in eradicating all forms of discrimination and violence against women. The Minister noted that the Kingdom of Morocco, under the high directives of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, has been keen to institutionalize the culture of equality and parity and to advance the legal arsenal that prohibits discrimination. In this respect, Ms. El Moussali commended the contribution of the House of Representatives to enforcing said laws and the roles of the Government departments and other institutions in reinforcing their implementation through accompaniment and project funding. In the same context, she noted that many articles of the 2011 Constitution stand against gender discrimination and stipulate the constitutionalization of parity, which was later reinforced by several laws, including the organic laws relating to the two Houses of the Parliament, to communes, and to political parties, the Labor Code, as well as through the creation of the Authority for Parity and Fight against all Forms of Discrimination.
For her part, Chairperson of the Social Sectors Committee at the House of Representatives Saida Aït Bouali shed light on the great attention given by His Majesty King Mohammed VI to empowering women and ensuring their full and undiminished rights, as His Majesty made of the women's question an essential matter in building the aspired democratic and progressive society.
Ms. Aït Bouali stated that the position occupied nowadays by women in the Kingdom results from several historical accumulations and a political will that contributed to advancing their status, mainly through increasing their representation in the elected institutions, consolidating parity, and recognizing their economic rights, among others. She, however, noted the necessity for more efforts to advance women's economic situation and enhance their presence in decision-making positions in a way that keeps up with the goals outlined in several national programs, policies, and plans in this regard.
Chairperson of the Thematic Working Group on Equality and Parity at the House of Representatives Fatima Zahra Nazih noted that this report, to be presented before the CSW65, is a fitting occasion to evaluate the status of Moroccan women in the light of the efforts made on several levels.
In the same respect, she highlighted that women in Morocco had made a notable stride on all levels, acquiring significant gains in political, economic, and legal areas. Ms. Nazih focused on the correlation between women's question and the democratic transition in which Morocco has engaged. She stated, “Promoting the situation of women is one of the pillars to consolidating this transition and building a modern state, in addition to spreading the culture and values of equality and parity within society.”
The seminar was marked by a presentation of the draft report of the Kingdom of Morocco addressed to the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which will tackle “women’s participation in the public life, equal participation in decision-making, achieving gender equality, and ending violence.”
The draft report of the Kingdom introduces the national institutional aspect of promoting women's situation in all its facets. It also presents the most prominent plans, programs, policies, and legislation in this regard, in addition to the international obligations of the Kingdom in promoting women's rights and the accomplished and underway projects in this area.
The report also includes figures, indices, and data on the participation of Moroccan women in public life and decision-making, as well as the measures and legislation in place to end all forms of discrimination and violence against them, and to consolidate their economic empowerment, and, in general, the attainments achieved in favor of women in our country.
During the open debate with the attendees, the women deputies tackled several points relating to the report, especially the ones regarding the female human investment through education and awareness-raising, consolidating the pedagogical role of media in spreading the culture of equality, in addition to institutionalizing the constitutional organs that are likely to ensure women empowerment and grant them their economic, social, political, cultural, and environmental rights.