CNDH organizes and participates in several events on Migration in Marrakech

As a part of its participation in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and the Intergovernmental Conference to adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), the National Human Rights Council of Morocco (CNDH) organizes and takes part in several events from 6 to 11 December 2018 in Marrakech, Morocco.

Hence, CNDH Chairperson Driss El Yazami will take the floor on the 5th December at the opening session of the GFMD. He will also speak at the Intergovernmental Conference to adopt the GCM on 10 and 11 December on behalf of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), an international network that brings together more than 120 national human rights institutions (NHRIs).

On the 6th and 7th of December 2018, the CNDH will hold an international seminar on “Migration dynamics in Africa: Current situation and challenges for a common research agenda” at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Ben Guerir (a town near Marrakech). Held in partnership with the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, the Office chérifien des phosphates (OCP), and UNESCO-Morocco, with the support of the French Embassy in Morocco, this event will bring together about forty researchers from seventeen countries (South Africa, Germany, Benin, Cameroon, Cambodia, Italy, Lebanon, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Spain, Canada, France, United States, Tanzania). The objective: “establishing the outlines of an African agenda of multidisciplinary research on migration, focused on the themes that are identified as central or themes that currently get little attention”.

On Friday, 7 December 2018, the CNDH and UNESCO will present “the African Cities Initiative for Migration” at a plenary session at the GFMD. This jointly developed project aims to support territorial authorities, especially municipalities, in the implementation of social inclusion policies for migrants. Intra-African cooperation, human rights approach and gender equality will be the drivers of this project. The initiative will be presented jointly by Ms Golda El Khouri, UNESCO Representative, Mr. Driss El Yazami, CNDH President, and Mr. Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of the African United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).

The CNDH have developed two other projects with UN agencies for the Marrakech global migration events. This includes, an exhibition of objects by migrants children entitled “Uprooted journeys: The role of an object”. Organized in partnership with UNICEF, the exhibition will be open to public from 5 to 10 December 2018 at the Palais des Congrès in Palmeraie Golf Palace, Marrakech. The second project is a temporary FM radio (“Mig Radio”) implemented thanks to an authorization from the Moroccan High Authority of Audiovisual Communication. This project was developed by UNESCO and FMAS (Forum des Alternatives Maroc) in partnership with the CNDH.

Thanks to the efforts and mobilisation of GANHRI, the role of NHRIs is recognized in the final text of the Global Compact for safe, Orderly and Regular Migration as national mechanisms that can help with the implementation of the GCM. The CNDH is thus scheduling two gatherings for NHRIs on 9 December 2018. The first with the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions’ Working Group on Migration, bringing together the NHRIs of Morocco, Niger, Kenya, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The second is a Compact follow-up meeting with several NHRIs attending events in Marrakech, from the different parts of the world.

The CNDH is also invited to take part in several other events, including the Euro-African Migration and Development Hub on 8 December 2018 at Dar Saïda, Marrakech, by the Heinrich Böll Foundation of North Africa- Rabat, Morocco, and on 9 December, a seminar by the French Institute (at Maison Denise Masson) as well as an interactive panel held by the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF).

GFMD participants will have the opportunity to interact with the CNDH and consult its publications at its booth at the Palmeraie Confrenece Center from 5 to 7 December 2018. The Council’s chairperson will hold meetings with several chairs of delegations and leaders of many international organisations throughout the week.