Rights of the Child: Budgets and effective implementation of children’s rights
The National Human Rights Council took part at the annual full-day meeting on the rights of the child “Towards better investment in the rights of the child”, on Thursday, 12 March 2015, at the Palais des Nations, Geneva (28th session of the UN Human Rights Council). This annual full-day meeting reflected on the fact that reforms initiated by States for the rights of the child “have not been followed by adequate public resource allocation and spending for their effective implementation”.
In a statement on behalf of the CNDH, Mr. Khalid Hanfioui, children’s rights officer, said that there is no budget coordination and reporting mechanism in Morocco and that without adequate public resource allocation there will be no effective implementation of the rights of the child. The State’s commitments and services, such as health, education, participation, social protection, etc., he said, will remain empty promises unless translated into allocations in local and national budgets and efficient public spending for the child, particularly vulnerable children.
The CNDH is for a strong participation of children in the political and public resource allocation processes. This participation should be provided for in the regulations and should be strictly implemented when public resources are allocated.
In its statement, the Council shed light on its efforts to protect the rights of the child. To this end, it launched, for example, a campaign for the establishment of a redress mechanism for children (victims of children’s rights violations). It conducted a series of consultations in this regard, following a survey that was commissioned on the subject in partnership with the UNICEF.
The CNDH also reiterated commitment to the National Plan of Action on Democracy and Human Rights. It called on the Moroccan government to adopt the plan and to allocate the financial resources needed for its implementation. The plan aims to integrate the human rights based approach in public policies. It can be used to better promote and protect children's rights.
The NPADHR was initiated by the CNDH following a participatory approach involving all stakeholders, government departments, national institutions and civil society. It was updated twice, in light of the new constitutional provisions and the priorities of the current government.