AREAS OF JUSTICE, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PRISON RELATED COMPLAINTS TOPS THE LIST OF COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY CCDH IN 2009

The Advisory Council on Human Rights received in 2009 formal complaints and grievances related directly or indirectly the practice of some rights and freedoms. Complaints related to the areas of justice, public administration and prison come fist at the list of complaints the Council received.

The Council received in 2009 a total of 3885 requests and complaints. It also received a number of citizens at its headquarters, while a number of citizens chose to communicate with the Council by phone.

2009 witness a decrease in the number of complaints received by Council. The number of complaints, mostly related to individual reparations, the Council received in 2007 and 2008, was higher.

The complaints the Council received in 2009 are related to several areas. Most of them are related to the areas of justice, public administration and prison. This highlights the challenges Moroccan projects face, particularly those related to the reform of the judiciary and public administration.

The high number of complaints related to justice raises many questions about the relationship between society and the judiciary and the legal empowerment of broad categories of citizens. The same is applied at the level of complaints related to the administration, bearing in mind that Morocco has now an administrative court before which administrations can be sued.

It’s worth mentioning that complaints are no longer limited to the national territory. Indeed, the Council received several complaints from Moroccans residing abroad. The following chart illustrates the number and type of complaints the Council received.

The Council received 1311 complaints related to the field of justice. They are distributed as follows: grievances and requests relative to cases brought before competent judicial authorities (425 complaints), execution of court orders (198 complaints), grievances relative to unusual proceedings (321 complaints), grievances from lawyers (101 complaints), complaints relative to court orders (120 complaints), miscellaneous (146 complaints).

It seems thus that a number of citizens submitted their complaints to the Council although their cases were brought before competent courts. This imposes the need to examine this phenomenon in the future, to reveal the defects and the reasons. The way courts communicate with the litigants should be examined as well. The reasons why a litigant believes that his/her proceeding of his/her case derails should also be examined.

The execution of court orders still cast a shadow over the judicial work, in spite of the efforts made. It is necessary to give this point the required importance. The non-execution of court orders may be a detriment to equality before the law, guaranteed by virtue of the Constitution.

The Bar Association is supposed to be the resort of litigants in the event of disputes with their lawyers. However, a group of citizens preferred to resort to the Council. The bar association needs to develop effective mechanisms to communicate with the litigants, especially in the case of dispute with lawyers.

It is worth mentioning that all complaints and requests the Council received were treated. Those related to violations were referred to the Communication Unit (a direct communication mechanism between the Council and the Ministries of Justice and Interior. It addresses human rights violations). Complaints relative to administrations were referred to Diwan Al Madhalim.

181 complaints related to human rights violations were thus referred to the Communication Unit, 895 complaints, submitted by prisoners or their families, to the Ministry of Justice and the General Delegation of Penitentiary Administration and Reinsertion, 104 complaints from people with special needs to the Ministry of Social Development, Family and Solidarity and the Ministry of Interior, according to their competences, 1311 complaints relative to the field of Justice to the Ministry of Justice (1191 complaints were referred to the Ministry and 120 complainants were oriented), 467 complaints relative to the public administration and its relationship with citizens to Diwan Al Madhalim, 275 grievances about the functioning of the local administration and commune services to the Ministry of Interior, 186 complaints, submitted by the resistance fighters and members of the Liberation Army, to the High Commissioner for Former Resistance Fighters and Members of the Liberation Army and 26 complaints relating to the rights, interests and the situation of Moroccans living abroad to the Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans Living Abroad (some cases were referred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; complainants were informed about that). The Council informed all complainants of the fate of their complaints, which reached the total of 3885 complaint.

It’s worth mentioning that citizens from all the national territory resorted to the Council in 2009, especially from Casablanca. The following table lists the first eight cities according the number of citizens who resorted to the Council.