MORE THAN 60 EVENTS AND 200 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STAKEHOLDERS AT THE CNDH PAVILION CELEBRATING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UDHR
For the seventh consecutive year, the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) took part this year in the 24th edition of the International Publishing and Book Fair, known in French as Salon International de l’Edition et du Livre (SIEL) which ended this Sunday 18 February 2018, in Casablanca.
This year, the CNDH chose the theme “Together for Human Rights” to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human rights (UDHR). The CNDH pavilion hosted more than 25,000 visitors in a place where different articles of the UDHR, the founding international law text of 1948, were revived.
Covering more than 340 m², the CNDH pavilion scheduled a rich and diverse program which was developed with several partners (NGOs, universities, government, private sector…)
From 9 to 18 February, around 60 events and more than 200 national and international stakeholders from several countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Gambia, Belgium, Egypt, United States, France, Switzerland and Nigeria) participated in five scheduled sections: “My Declaration”, “New human rights territories”, “Tribute”, “An article, a region”, and “the book of the day”.
The section “My Declaration” gave the floor to personalities (such as Mesdames Amina Lemrini El Ouahabi, Souhayr Belhassan, Fatima Layachi, Bochra Bel Haj Hmida, Nadia Salah, and Messrs Ali Benmakhlouf, Mohamed-Sghir Janjar, Mustapha Ramid, Michel Forst) to freely comment on an article of the UDHR of her/his choice or to make her/his own reading of the whole Declaration.
During this event, the thirteen Regional Human Rights Commissions (CRDHs) invited their civil society partners from their respective regions to participate in ”An Article, a Region” section. Each CRDH illustrated one of the UDHR articles through live testimonies on concrete actions related to the subjects treated in the chosen article (equality, the right to culture, the right to health, the right to education…).
The section “New human rights territories” shed the light on new rights which are not explicitly stated in the UDHR. These rights are imposed today on the international community as new rights to be consecrated. This section was an opportunity to host Ministers Charafat Afailal and Nezha El Ouafi to tackle issues such as the right to water and environmental rights. The issue of the rights of older persons, new technologies, bioethics, business and human rights, sexual and reproductive health were also raised in this section.
One of the highlights of the CNDH’s program was, undeniably, the tribute paid to personalities and associations in recognition of their achievements in the promotion and protection of human rights. Tribute was paid to Mohamed Chafik, Najat Mjid, Najat Ikhich, Hanny Megally, Mahjoub El Haiba, Mohamed Sektaoui, Albert Sasson, “L'Boulvard” and the Association “Hanane”.
“The book of the day” section was devoted to invite writers and present their recent books, particularly L'idée de Constitution au Maroc: documents et textes by Mr. Mohamed Nabil Mouline, Sexualité et célibat au Maroc, pratique et verbalisation by Mrs. Sanaa El Aji, Dames de fraises, doigts de fée, les invisibles de la migration saisonnière marocaine en Espagne by Mrs. Chadia Arab, La parole et l’action by Mr. Henri Leclerc, Un jihad de l’amour by Mr. Mohamed El Bachiri and Abdelaziz Bennani, l’éclaireur, etc.
All the events of the CNDH were broadcasted through live streaming on Facebook and followed up by printed, audio-visual media and social networks (around 400,000 views and interactions to date, and videos that exceeded 30,000 minutes of duration).
As every year, the CNDH pavilion was equipped with accessibilities for persons with disabilities and all debates were translated into sign language and simultaneous interpretation in Arabic and French.