ICTJ in the News

December 19, 2005

International justice centre publishes documents on IER report

Morocco Times

By Kaoutar Tbatou  

The International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) has published a series of documents concerning the report on the human right abuses committed in Morocco between 1956-1999, submitted to HM King Mohammed VI by the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER).
 
The documents, published on the ICTJ's website www.ictj.org, include a media advisory, summaries of the IER's report, and a statement given by Driss Benzekri, president of the IER, on the conclusion of the Commission's mandate.

The ICTJ also published a press release announcing the handing over of the report to HM King Mohammed VI, and a progress report on human rights condition in Morocco.

Most of the documents are presented in Arabic, French, and English.

The media advisory, which was issued on Dec.16, announced the Moroccan Sovereign's approval of the public release of the final report of the IER.

"The highly anticipated public dissemination of the report will make a crucial stage in the course of the commission's work as the processes it recommends provide Morocco with a tremendous opportunity to advance victims' rights and prevent future abuses," the ICTJ said in the advisory.

In its report on human rights in Morocco, entitled "Morocco's Truth Commission Experience: One More Step toward Truth and Justice", the ICTJ "traces the historical process, dating back to the early 1990s, that lead to the formation of the IER in early 2004," the Centre said in a release also published on the web site.

In the statement Benzekri gave, the IER president presented information on the content of the report and the decisions taken by the Commission at the end of its mandate.

The report contains "all our results and conclusions concerning the relevant issues that fell under our investigative domain, as well as recommendations and propositions towards legislative, institutional, and educational reforms meant to guarantee the non-repetition of grave violations of human rights," Benzekri said

"The IER has finalized its decisions concerning, on the one hand, compensations for victims and/or their beneficiaries, and, on the other, concerning all the other forms of reparation," he added.

The IER was set up by HM King Mohammed VI in January 2004. Its mission is to conduct out-of-court settlement of past human rights abuses in Morocco.

The ICTJ was established to assist countries pursuing accountability for past human rights abuses. The centre is active in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.