MASARYK UNIVERSITY Faculty of Social Sciences Department of International relations and European studies International relations Advocating Human Rights: The Case of Freedom of Expression in Morocco DIPLOMA THESIS Bc. Tereza Raková Supervised by: Mgr. Hubert Smekal, M.A., Ph.D. UČO: 333206 Department: MV Matriculation year: 2011 Brno 2014 I declare that I work on this thesis “Advocating Human Rights: the Case of Freedom of Expression in Morocco” independently. All sources of information and references used in this thesis are listed at the end of the work. Brno, 26 May 2014 i I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mgr. Hubert Smekal, M.A., Ph.D. for his valuable comments and guidance while supervising my thesis. Furthermore I would like to send my special thanks to E. P., my Moroccan guide who helped me to understand the Moroccan society. Discussions with him always enriched me. I offer my thanks to Helen, my language consultant. I would like to thank all my beloved ones, my family and friends, who have supported me throughout my life. My biggest thanks goes to the one who always inspired me and will never cease to do so, to my soul mate Martin. ii Table of Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Definition of Key Terms ................................................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Research Questions .......................................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Research Design & the Methods .................................................................................................................... 5 1.3.1 Research Design ............................................................................................................................................. 5 1.3.2 Research Strategy ........................................................................................................................................... 6 1.3.3 Research Sample ............................................................................................................................................ 6 1.3.4 Data Collection ............................................................................................................................................. 8 1.3.5 Conceptualisation and Operationalisation ...................................................................................................... 9 1.3.5 Research Output .......................................................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Thesis Outline.................................................................................................................................................. 11 1.5 Prime Sources of Inspiration......................................................................................................................... 11 2 Theoretical Background ............................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Human Rights and International Relations ................................................................................................ 13 2.2 Human Rights NGOs and World Politics .................................................................................................. 15 2.2.1 Theoretical Debate ....................................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.2 NGOs’ Strategies ........................................................................................................................................ 17 2.2.3 Networking ................................................................................................................................................. 21 3 Findings ........................................................................................................................................ 23 3.1 Morocco & Human Rights ............................................................................................................................ 23 3.1.1 Years of Lead, Dark Age For Human Rights ............................................................................................ 24 3.1.2 Towards he Better Tomorrows ...................................................................................................................... 26 3.1.3 Constitution(s) and International Treaties .................................................................................................... 27 3.1.4 Morrocan Freedom of Expression ................................................................................................................ 29 3.2 Moroccan Human Rights Organisations ..................................................................................................... 34 3.3 NGO’s Strategies Within The Actual Cases ............................................................................................... 37 3.3.1 Education as a Starting Point and Continous Effort.................................................................................... 37 3.3.2 Investigation ................................................................................................................................................ 37 3.3.3 Report Publishing ........................................................................................................................................ 38 3.3.4 Mobilisation of Public Opinion .................................................................................................................... 38 3.3.5 Lobbying ..................................................................................................................................................... 39 3.3.6 Direct Assistance ......................................................................................................................................... 40 3.3.7 Peaceful Manifestations ................................................................................................................................ 40 3.3.8 Boycotts ....................................................................................................................................................... 40 3.4 Networking ...................................................................................................................................................... 41 3.4.1 Human Rights Advocacy Networks ............................................................................................................ 41 3.4.2 Advocacy Networks in Particular Cases of Oppression ................................................................................ 43 4. Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 48 4.1. Did Moroccan Authorities Sanction Individuals Exercising Their Freedom of Expression? ........... 48 4.2 Did Human Rights Advocates Bounce the Authorities Back? ................................................................ 51 4.3 What Strategies Did They Apply? ................................................................................................................ 51 4.4 Why the Advocates and Their Strategies Vary From Case to Case? ...................................................... 54 4.4.1 Factors Internal to Advocates ...................................................................................................................... 54 4.4.2 Factors External to Advocates .................................................................................................................... 57 4.5 Did the Advocates Create Networks to Respond the State Oppressions? ............................................ 59 4.5.1 What Conditions Does Networking Depend on? ......................................................................................... 59 4.5.2 Which Advocates Are Likely to Create Networks and Which Are Not? .................................................... 62 4.5.3 Links Between Formation of Network and Strategies Employed? ................................................................ 63 4.6 The Role of Media .......................................................................................................................................... 65 4.7 Closing Remarks: Risse’s Theory and My Networks ................................................................................ 66 4.8 Limits of Mine, and Suggestions for Further Research ............................................................................ 67 5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 70 6 References ................................................................................................................................................................ 72 7 List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................................. 79 8 List of The Tables ..................................................................................................................................................