Morocco’s Humanistic Approach sets a Worldwide Example

The ambassador, representative of Morocco to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, affirmed that Morocco’s call to spread values of peace, harmony, and coexistence at the national and international levels, in accordance with the high directives of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, is highly recognized and praised from the international community.

On February 18th, 2021, the United Nations Economic and Social Council held a meeting on the topic of “Reimagining Equality: Eliminating racism, xenophobia and discrimination for all in the decade of action for the SDGs”, Omar Hilal intervened stating that His Holiness Pope Francis, congratulated Morocco for its commitment to providing sound and appropriate education against every form of extremism, often leading to violence and terrorism, and is considered an offense to all religions and against God himself. The pope’s statement was during his visit to the Kingdom of Morocco, in March 2019, at the invitation of His Majesty, King Mohammed VI.

In this context, the Moroccan diplomat highlighted the deeply rooted culture of tolerance, coexistence, respect for others and dialogue between cultures and religions in the Kingdom, stressing that this heritage is part of the collective consciousness in the daily life of Moroccan society for more than 12 centuries.

Ambassador Omar Hilale indicated during the meeting that Morocco’s constitution reinforces the commitment to human rights, equality and non-discrimination. It is noteworthy that this meeting was marked by the participation of Secretary-General of the United Nations, president of ECOSOC, as well as the President of South Africa, the Vice President of Costa Rica, the European Commissioner for Equality, and the Director General of the International Organization for Migration.

“Article 23 of the Constitution expressly prohibits all incitement to racism, hatred and violence, explaining that equality before the law and gender equality are guaranteed in Articles 6 and 19 of the constitutional document.” Omar Hilale added.

The Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Tendayi Achiume, describes Article 30 of the Moroccan constitution as “wise and visionary” because it states that non-citizens enjoy the basic freedoms recognized for Moroccan citizens, according to the law.

Based on the wise and humanistic approach of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the status of thousands of immigrants residing in Morocco has been regularized in recent years, more than 80 percent of these immigrants come from sub-Saharan African countries.

Morocco is proud to have been behind the issuance of important international documents, especially Rabat Plan of Action regarding the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence. He also presented Fez Plan of Action on the role of religious leaders in Preventing Incitement to violence, and Marrakesh Declaration on the rights of religious minorities in the Islamic World.

The Moroccan ambassador stressed that the plan of “Decade of Action towards Sustainable Development Goals” provides precious opportunities that can be seized to put an end to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance, and extremism.

He concluded that the digital world plays a crucial role in spreading values ​​and principles of open-mindedness, tolerance, acceptance of differences, stressing on the need of an ethical approach dealing with the virtual world to confront messages of hate, racism and discrimination as recommended by UNESCO.