SECOND MEETING OF THE PANDDH STEERING COMMITTEE

The Steering Committee on Developing the National Action Plan on Democracy and Human Rights in Morocco (PANDDH) held on February 23, 2009 in Rabat, its second meeting. According to the agenda, the Committee addressed the following items:

The committee structure: the establishment of its secretariat and its working groups;

Drawing up the working agenda;

Discussing the organization of a national seminar to review the results of the regional consultation meetings on the PANDDH and thinking on the priorities.

The committee opted for a flexible organizational structure that takes into account the diversity of its composition and effectiveness of work in order to achieve the goals expected.

At the end of the meeting, the Committee appointed a secretariat composed of:

Secretary General: Mr. Mahjoub El HAIBA;

Deputy Secretary General: Ms. Amina BOUAYACH;

Head of communication and press relations: Mr. Mohamed AIT LACHGUER;

Coordinator of the Working Group on Awareness-raising and Communication: Mr. El Mahjoub AIT GHENNOU;

Coordinator of the Working Group on Mobilization of Stakeholders and Capacity Building: Ms. Khadija ERREBAH;

Coordinator of the Working Group on Methodology, Coherence and Priority Themes: Mr. Mustapha RISSOUNI.

It was also decided to organize, on April 3-4, 2009, a national seminar on the priority themes of the PANDDH. This event will see the participation of about 200 stakeholders from various public institutions and civil society organizations.

It is worth mentioning that the process of developing the PANDDH was officially launched at the National Symposium, held on April 25-26 2008, in Rabat. Following this, a broad consultation and awareness-raising process was conducted with stakeholders through the organization of four regional meetings during the months of June and July 2008. The official inception of the steering committee on the PANDDH, in December 3-4 2008, was also one of the key phases of this process. The chairmanship of the committee was entrusted to the Minister of Justice in order to ensure the involvement and commitment of the Government in the process of developing and implementing a national public policy in the field of democracy and human rights.