As a result, Morocco is currently experiencing a difficult political situation, characterized by a general m... Stay up to date with the weekly newsletter! Morocco ; Home; RELATED. The Commission proposed there be only twelve regions, covering larger areas and greater populations and with much greater autonomy. Some were Moroccan branches of French political parties based in the settler community, others were specifically Moroccan organizations. The Army’s main battle tanks are 220 US-made M6001A, although there are still 40 Soviet-era T-72 tanks on the books. As all the constitutions make clear, the head of state is the King (or Sultan, in 1908) who is ‘Commander of the Faithful’ (amir al-muminin). This would permit the operation of a local autonomy plan for the Western Sahara: the two Saharan provinces would be empowered to use local resources to develop the infrastructure and improve the economic conditions. A second generation of parties was founded between the late 1960s and early 1980s, the most repressive period of Hassan II’s rule. Communal and district courts hear personal-estate actions against residents of their jurisdiction, again, under a certain sum. READ online. However, as the US State Department ‘Country Reports on Human Rights Practices‘ on Morocco for 2011 points out, courts often do not act independently in practice and are subject to corruption and extra-judicial influence. OECD iLibrary. In 2003, terrorist crimes were added to the list, but the penalty has not been carried out since 1993 (although by August 2008 there were 150 prisoners on death row). The party won the municipal elections in 2009, and, with 47 seats, came fourth in the 2011 parliamentary elections. Further experience has come from participating in peace-keeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Serbia, and Ivory Coast. Parts of the regions of Guelmim–al-Semara and Laayoune–Boujdour–Sakia al-Hamra and all of Oued Eddahab Lagouira are in the territory of Western Sahara. First-instance courts hear civil cases related to persons or inheritances, and to social and commercial laws. Since coming to the throne, King Mohammed VI has emphasized that the rule of law is a fundamental underpinning of his concept of a constitutional monarchy. Article 4 of the preceding (1996) Constitution said exactly the same thing, as did every previous Constitution (1992, 1972, 1970, and 1960), but the rule of law during the reign of his father was extremely circumscribed. The death penalty (by firing squad) can be applied for aggravated murder, torture, armed robbery, arson, treason, desertion, and attempts on the king’s life; it also exists in the military courts. Officials were arrested and prosecuted for crimes ranging from assault and battery to petty bribery in all parts of Morocco and Western Sahara, but many cases are not brought to trial. In January 2017, Morocco signed a $91 million deal with Harris Corporation to provide AN/ALQ-211 Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite (AIDEWS) systems to help protect its RMAF F-16 aircraft fleet against electronic threats. The administrative-police functions include public order, public security, and traffic control on roads outside the cities. The Constitution (Article 80) states that ‘The judicial authority is independent of the legislative power and of the executive power’ and that magistrates are not removable (Article 83). Trade courts deal with commercial and business disputes with a value under a specific amount. They also hear criminal cases involving petty offences. FINAL DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION Comments are welcome by 31 August 2016: please provide comments to cignag@ebrd.com 2 This Report does not constitute … The National Security includes various technical services, such as scientific and computer specialists. The main light tanks are French (AMX-13) and Austrian (SK-105 Kürassier). The corps of judges is also unrepresentative of Moroccan society. There are also specialized tribunals: a commercial court system that hears commercial cases involving large sums, with its own system of appeals; administrative courts that deal with initial cases involving the public authorities; independent audit courts that operate at the central and regional levels; and a separate Standing Tribunal of the Royal Armed Forces. In February 2010, a royal directive outlined a plan to modernize and professionalize the National Security by improving the quality of recruits and reducing corruption, with increased investigation, prosecution, and training – including a human-rights component – for security personnel. Towards New Arrangements for State Ownership in the Middle East and North Africa Corporate governance of state-owned enterprises in Morocco… HTF MI 'Morocco Insurance Industry - Governance, Risk and Compliance' report is the result of extensive research into the insurance regulatory framework in Morocco. In this new paper, Mohamed Benhlal analyzes Morocco’s recent constitutional amendments, which seemed, on paper, to make significance progress towards good governance. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window). Other problems are the quality of legal personnel and difficulties of gaining access to the courts. He used his constitutional power to appoint the Prime Minister (the leader of the largest party) and to approve and promulgate laws vigorously, repeatedly dissolved Parliament, rewrote the constitution several times, and rigged elections in favour of his supporters. In the end, the sultan, after changing his title to ‘King’ in 1956, won the post-independence struggle for power. Morocco is currently under the Alaouite Dynasty and each King since 1666 has belonged to the Alaouite family. Authenticity and Modernity Party Morocco has made access to drinking water a priority for many years. The Open Government Review of Morocco is the first of its kind analysing a country’s open government policies and practices and their institutional and legal frameworks for implementation against OECD instruments. The Police. FEATURE STORY. As a result, the executive is made up of members of the largest party or coalition of parties in the Parliament determined by the results of the general elections. According to Morocco’s Constitution, executive power is vested in the government, which consists of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (Article 87). Tensions are already mounting between the main political parties. Women in particular are rarely aware of their rights. In 1913, a decree (dahir) took all but civil cases out of the hands of the qadis (religiously educated judges), and reorganized the administration of justice in both jurisdictions along French lines. In 2019, Morocco ranked 61 out of 137 countries included in the annual GFP review. However, basing his analysis on governance indicators such as the Worldwide Governance Indicators and components of the Arab Democracy Index, Benhlal points out that the practice of governance of Morocco is not as positive as claimed in the political discourse. Both dynasties claimed their legitimacy ultimately from descent from the Prophet Muhammad, but that was a very large cohort. Readers are advised to seek … Moreover, autonomous regions elsewhere in the world have functioned smoothly only on the basis of the rule of law and respect for human rights, which might conflict with the vast prerogatives of the King under the current system. Beneath the highest level, consisting of the regions, are the provinces, which are subdivided into communes. Mohammed V’s son, Hassan II, who ruled from 1961 until 1999, maintained the facade of a constitutional monarchy, but he was the master of his realm. Al-Fassi, Ouezzani, and others set up the National Action Bloc (Bloc d’Action National, BAN) and proposed a Plan of Reforms in 1934, which the French rejected. At the same time, the French established what was effectively a three-part legal system in Morocco. Such a research faces methodological and practical impediments stemming from the paucity of information on funding and other governance … The military forces’ extensive combat experience in the Western Sahara has given them operational expertise in desert warfare and combined air-land warfare. He also spent time training in the office of Jacques Delors, when Delors was President of the European Commission. These organizations have increased several folds since the late 1990s and especially after the 2011 wave of Arab uprisings. After 1912, the Protectorate slowly negotiated an end to the capitulation system; the British were the last major power to agree to end protected status in the French zone in 1937, but not in the Spanish zone, where the capitulations were renounced only at independence, in 1956. That year, the number of people who reached military age was estimated at 604,533 personnel, while military expenditure was estimated at $3.4 billion. Not only do the elections constitute an evaluation of the success or failure of the constitutional reforms that Morocco adopted in 2011, but also a litmus test for ... What is the state of security today in Morocco? April 9, 2013. The Air Force relies on older French planes, mainly Mirage F1-C and F1-E acquired in the 1970s and 1980s and American F-5E Tiger. The first political parties were founded during the Protectorate, before World War II. This study analyses initiatives undertaken in Morocco to support the management of critical risks. The constitutional reforms undertaken by Morocco since the 2011 protests have modified legislative and institutional procedures, yet their real impact on governance needs to be assessed. This was a rolling process, and the final stage in 1930 saw the promulgation of the famous Berber Dahir, which was envisioned as a tidying-up process under which tribal qaids (administrators) would deal with minor criminal matters under French law and civil matters according to what the French defined as Berber customary law. Governance Structure Conformément à la circulaire du Premier Ministre n°17/2009 du 21 Octobre 2009, le programme e-gouvernement a été doté d'une gouvernance reposant sur trois structures : Le Comité Interministériel e-gouvernement par abréviation CIGOV, présidé par le Ministre en charge de l’Industrie, du Commerce … The Communist Party was banned in 1952 but resurrected in 1974, still with Ali Yata at its head, as the Party of Progress and Socialism (Parti du Progrès et Socialisme, PPS). Transparency and open budget, the true stakes in Morocco’s governance reform; BLOG. One of the new constitutional provisions is that the regional councils should be elected by universal suffrage (Article 135): how could a democratically self-governing Western Sahara coexist with authoritarian Morocco? Because of its history, Morocco has a dual legal system, under which civil legislation, based on the French code system, defines contract, commercial, administrative, and criminal law and provides the bases of codes of civil and criminal procedure, while Islamic law provides the basic structure governing personal, family, and succession issues. There are no provisions for legal aid in civil matters – even though legal representation is compulsory before the bench – except in cases involving alimony. According to Article 6 of the 2011 Constitution, the law ‘is the supreme expression of the will of the Nation’. The French did, however, maintain the institution of royal family and appointed another brother, Yusef, as sultan. The parties vanished during World War II but re-emerged after the American invasion of 1943, with the foundation of the Independence Party (Parti de l’Independence, Parti Istiqlal, or Istiqlal, PI), whose manifesto marks the beginning of modern nationalism and the modern Moroccan state. That authority, baraka, is an inherited quality passed by genealogical descent from the founder of the Alaouite dynasty Moulay al-Cherif and his son Moulay al-Rashid (1666-1672), who seized power when the Saadi dynasty disintegrated in half a century of civil war. By bringing together a multitude of OECD instruments and expertise in different areas of public governance, the … By bringing together a multitude of OECD instruments and expertise in different areas of public governance… The 2011 Constitution, which was immediately the result of the Arab Spring movement, was the long-term consequence of this liberalizing trend. The Monarchy Transport planes are largely US-made. Islamic law too is codified, in the Mudawana. Comments are welcome: please provide comments to cignag@ebrd.com 2 This Report does not constitute legal advice. Each session lasts for no more than four months. Governance | Morocco News is a news reader (RSS reader) providing a summary of headlines and latest news stories disseminated in the reliable news sources from Morocco News. Corporate Governance in Transition Economies Morocco Country Report June 2016 Prepared by: Gian Piero Cigna Ahmed Meziou With the assistance of: Nestor Advisors . Similarly, although defendants are presumed innocent and have a legal right to a fair public trial with right of appeal, this is not always the case in practice, especially in political cases involving those protesting the incorporation of the Western Sahara. This has been used as the basis for a strong campaign to make Morocco the first Arab country formally to abolish the death penalty. … But individuals did not, in the end, ‘disappear’, and the repression was focused, not generalized. Each of Morocco’s first five constitutions since independence began the same way: ‘Morocco is a constitutional democratic and social monarchy.’ The sixth Constitution in 2011 added the word ‘parliamentary’: ‘Le Maroc est une monarchie constitutionnelle, démocratique, parlementaire et sociale.’ The monarchy is very old: the current dynasty dates back to the mid-17th century and is the oldest surviving ruling family in the Arab countries. Foreigners and their local agents were exempted from both Moroccan law and taxation, by the system of capitulations and placed under the jurisdiction of their national consuls, which allowed them to do business unfettered and behave badly. The “Morocco New Governance Framework Implementation Support Project” is being funded with a US$4.5 million grant from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Transition Fund, approved on February 20, 2013. The national civilian police force is the National Security (Sûreté Nationale), which is an armed force of about 60,000, under the Ministry of the Interior. Regions are administered by a Wali (governor), appointed by the King, and a regional council, elected by direct universal suffrage. Offically a parliamentary constitutional democracy, in … The Open Government Review of Morocco is the first of its kind analysing a country’s open government policies and practices and their institutional and legal frameworks for implementation against OECD instruments. The reason is that formation of a coalition is much more difficult than expected . In criminal cases, there are court-appointed defence lawyers for indigent defendants who act pro bono, but there are no public defenders. Article 20 of the new constitution in 2012 states, ‘Right to life is the first right for every human being. Because the decree legalizing unions did not explicitly forbid Moroccan workers from joining, the unions began to recruit Moroccans, until the Protectorate administration issued another decree forbidding it. Matching expectations with opportunities for participation in civic life is also an important component in addressing security and stability in the country. Full sessions are held in public. The Judicial The constitutional reforms undertaken by Morocco since the 2011 protests have modified legislative and institutional procedures, yet their real impact on governance needs to be assessed. The Navy is the poor relation of the services: it has some modern French-built frigates, but its main fleet consists of aging patrol and coastal craft that cannot prevent fast boat smuggling across the Mediterranean. Interview with a Public Sector expert, Fabian Seiderer, on Governance in Morocco. The 2011 US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Morocco reported that corruption and the abuse of detainees were widespread among both National Security officers and gendarmes, undermining law enforcement and the judicial system. Second-level jurisdiction includes courts of appeal from the first-instance courts and criminal cases involving serious offences. However, the country’s military costs are high, amounting to 10.1 per cent of total government spending in 2011. Governance Reform in Morocco. As under the French system, an investigating judge investigates serious offences and can remand a suspect into pre-trial custody. Parliament and political parties were reduced to marginal roles, and there were severe constraints on the media. The Communist Party was legalized in 1937 and grew through the trade unions. Four months after the parliamentary elections of 7 October 2016, Abdelilah Benkirane, leader of the winning Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), was unable to form the coalition government required by law. Public Opinion In a context of increasing globalization, marked by the intensification of trade in a more competitive environment, the port sector in Morocco and in the world, has become an important lever for development and competitiveness of a country. As a result, many were muted in their criticism and positioned themselves in the political centre. parliamentary elections of 7 October 2016, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, protesting the incorporation of the Western Sahara, Consultative Commission on Regionalization, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2011 US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Morocco. In partnership with the General Directorate of Territorial Collectivities (DGCT) and the Association of Regions of Morocco (ARM), TASHAROC wishes to study the possibilities of operationalising the recommendations from the 1st national conference on advanced regionalisation for citizen participation, with the British … Both chambers debate the government’s programme, but only the House of Representatives can vote it down. Morocco. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. GIZ also provides support to its Moroccan partners in the fields of … The party has been led by Ilyas el-Omari since January 2016. He could not resist European pressure and agreed to accept a protectorate, although the French authorities removed him as sultan. After the protests against the Berber Dahir in 1930, the first Moroccan nationalist groups were set up, and three young leaders became the founding fathers of Moroccan politics, Allal al-Fassi, Mehdi Ben Barka, and Mohammed Hassan Ouezzani. Sultan Mohammed V was obliged to sign the Dahir, but it brought a storm of protest from Arab nationalists, who saw it as an attack on Islam, by degrading the Sharia. Other posts, especially in the economic field, are filled by the King. Ministers can be questioned orally in both chambers, and a vote of no-confidence in the government can be passed. The Military The country’s forces have gained valuable experience as a result of political instability in North Africa, in particular the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south, as well as more limited experience as part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. French code-law came to predominate in most of the legal system. The Moroccan army is notable for its large number of personnel and high level of training. The Navy is being re-equipped with Dutch-built SIGMA frigates. The current Prime Minister is Abdelilah Benkirane of the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (Parti de la Justice et du Développement, PJD). Since independence, the civil- and criminal-law systems have been based on French, Spanish, and Islamic law, following French legal procedure. Attempts by the Ministry of Justice to set up a multi-media public-awareness campaign on basic rights failed because of lack of funding. As UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech Approaches, What is the State of Morocco’s National Security? This area of Morocco … The Constitution is a product of modern nationalism and the struggle for independence, yet there was an early project for constitutional rule in 1908, on the eve of the Protectorate, which proposed limited controls on the sultan and was based on the idea that the Japanese, equipped with a constitution, had defeated the autocratic Russian empire in 1906. Women were first recruited as uniformed officers in 1997. The proposed policy has not yet been put into effect, although the constitutional basis for it was laid out in the 2011 Constitution (Section IX). Within the framework of the Morocco Country Programme and the implementation of the "Advanced Regionalisation Process", the MENA-OECD Governance Programme has contributed to improving the quality of local-level policies and strengthening citizens' trust in governance.Strategic assistance was provided to achieve three … Benhlal makes important recommendations about political oversight, implementation of the rule of law and anti-corruption measures to ensure that these constitutional amendments will be more than a veil of good governance. The Transition Fund was launched at the WB-IMF last annual meetings in Tokyo by the G8 Deauville … This was a common model for early opponents of European imperialism in Africa and Asia. Despite criticisms that PAM is a political tool for the monarchy, the party came in second in the 2016 parliamentary elections, obtaining 102 seats. This was essentially the system adopted in the first Moroccan Constitution of 1962, but the Parliament was reduced to a single chamber for most of the 1970s and 1980s. Morocco: Corporate Governance Laws and Regulations 2020. There are three levels of jurisdiction. Only one-quarter of judicial trainees are women, and 90 percent are from the cities, although only 55 percent of the population is urban. The latter was first enacted in 1957 and modified in 2004 and is by far the most controversial (see Women). They included the National Rally of Independents (Rassemblement National des Indépendants, RNI; 1978), which backed away later from uncritical support of the King; the National Democratic Party (Parti National Démocratique PND; 1981), a centre-right party that split from the RNI; the Constitutional Union (Union Constitutionelle, UC; 1983), a centre-right party claiming to represent the post-independence generation; the Action Party (Parti de l’Action, PA; 1974), a Berber modernist party; and the Popular National Movement (Mouvement National Populaire, MNP; 1991), a centrist offshoot of the MP, led by one of its former leaders, Mahjoubi Aherdane. Morocco is a monarchy, and has been ruled by members of the Alaouite dynasty since the beginning of the 17th century. As part of the policy under the French Protectorate of dividing Arabs from Berbers, the French authorities installed a system of customary law in the Berber areas. The most important subdivision of the MP turned out to be the MCPD, which merged with an Islamist party, Reform and Renewal (Réforme et Renouvellement), led by Abdelilah Benkirane in June 1996 (in 1998 the name was changed to PJD). Morocco is the world’s largest exporter of phosphate, which is an industry controlled by the royal family and by the elite who monopolize larger, multi-sector industries and who are close associates of the mon… The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) was founded in August 2009 by Fouad Ali el-Himma, a close friend of King Mohammed VI and a palace advisor. The system relies heavily on university academic performance: half the trainees have a law degree, and the rest have higher qualifications, but 80 percent have had no previous professional experience. The acquired copyright protected images used on/as featured image of this page are: ©Hollandse Hoogte | ©Hollandse Hoogte | ©Fanack | ©Fanack | Fanack ©Fanack. Overview of governance in Morocco: the monarchy, the executive, the legislative, the legal system, local government, military and police. A taoutiq judge (who handles notary issues and issues concerning minors), assisted by aduls (religiously-trained clerks), applies the personal law in the first-instance court. As a political official, the … Royal family members claim direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad via his daughter Fatima, his son-in-law Ali Ibn Abu Talib, and their son Hassan. Professional Skill The Ministry of Justice recognizes that the level of judicial competence is generally low, a consequence of the poor training of judges by the National Institute of Judicial Studies, which lacks staff and resources, and because of shortcomings in court internships. The United States Government, through USAID, is working closely with different political actors – political parties, government entities, civil society organizations (CSO), and civil society as a whole – to help them build their capacities, facilitate citizen participation, and ensure sustainable participatory governance. Please contact us in case of omissions concerning copyright-protected work. This is formalized in five codes that have been updated and revised at various times: Civil (1913), Penal (1962), Penal Procedure (1959), Commercial (1996), and Mudawana (for family law).