International Center for Transitional Justice Moving from Mirage to Reality TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND PREVENTION IN MOROCCO June 2021 Cover Image: Moroccans take part in an annual human rights march organized by the Moroccan Forum for Truth and Justice and the other members of the follow- up committee for the implementation of the recom- mendations of the country’s Equity and Reconciliation Commission. (Moroccan Forum for Truth and Justice) Moving from Mirage to Reality TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE AND PREVENTION IN MOROCCO Mustapha Hadji JUNE 2021 International Center Moving from Mirage to Reality for Transitional Justice About the Research Project This publication is part of an ICTJ comparative research project examining the contributions of tran- sitional justice to prevention. The project includes country case studies on Colombia, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, and Sierra Leone, as well as a summary report. All six publications are available on ICTJ’s website. About the Author Mustapha Hadji is an international consultant working in the field of democracy promotion and human rights. His experience includes working with the International Committee of the Red Cross, where he was a field protection delegate in charge of the protection of the civilian populations affected by conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and a protection delegate in charge of conducting visits to high-security detention centers in Chad. Mr. Hadji also worked for several years as an academic adviser in Washington D.C. He holds a master’s degree in global affairs from George Mason University in the United States, and a master’s degree in human rights and democratization from the Global Campus of Human Rights in Italy. Acknowledgments The author wishes to express his deepest gratitude to all the victims of the Years of Lead, the Equity and Reconciliation commissioners, and the civil society activists whom he interviewed for this study. Their courage and generosity are beyond measure. The author would also like to thank the Moroccan Forum for Truth and Justice, the Moroccan Human Rights Association, the Moroccan Human Rights Or- ganization, and the Mediator for Democracy and Human Rights for the documentation they provided and the valuable contacts they shared. ICTJ is grateful to the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs of the Minis- try of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg for support that made this research possible. About ICTJ The International Center for Transitional Justice works across society and borders to challenge the causes and address the consequences of massive human rights violations. We affirm victims’ dig- nity, fight impunity, and promote responsive institutions in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved. ICTJ envisions a world where societies break the cycle of massive human rights violations and lay the foundations for peace, justice, and inclusion. For more information, visit www.ictj.org © 2021 International Center for Transitional Justice. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other- wise, without full attribution. iv www.ictj.org International Center Moving from Mirage to Reality for Transitional Justice Contents Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................1 General Context .............................................................................................................................................. 5 The State of Human Rights in Morocco Before the IER ..............................................................................................5 An International Context Conducive to Change .........................................................................................................8 The Monarchy and Human Rights ..............................................................................................................................9 The Path Toward the IER ................................................................................................................................ 11 Morocco’s First Transitional Justice Attempt: The Independent Arbitration Panel ......................................................11 Civil Society’s Response: The 2001 National Symposium on Grave Human Rights Violations in Morocco 13 The Equity and Reconciliation Commission: A Limited Approach to Transitional Justice .............................17 Mandate 17 Lack of Investigative Powers ..................................................................................................................................20 Temporal Constraints ............................................................................................................................................20 Blind Spots ................................................................................................................................................................ 21 Outreach and Visibility ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Representation .......................................................................................................................................................22 The Impunity Gap ....................................................................................................................................................24 Reparations ................................................................................................................................................... 27 Individual Reparation ................................................................................................................................................28 Reparation and Gender .........................................................................................................................................30 Reparation and Exclusion .......................................................................................................................................31 Collective Reparations ............................................................................................................................................... 33 Unmet Expectations .............................................................................................................................................34 Exclusion ...............................................................................................................................................................36 The Heavy Weight of Memory .................................................................................................................................. 38 The Politics of Memory ........................................................................................................................................ 38 Selective Memory ..................................................................................................................................................40 Guarantees of Nonrecurrence: The Unfinished Journey ............................................................................... 41 The IER Recommendations: Setting the Stage for Prevention? ..................................................................................42 The Implementation Gap ..........................................................................................................................................43 The 2011 Constitution: The “Resting” Place for the IER’s Recommendations? .......................................................44 More Institutions, Less Impact ..............................................................................................................................46 Morocco and the UN Human Rights System ........................................................................................................47 Unfinished Institutional Reforms ..............................................................................................................................48 The Security Sector: An Accountability-Free Zone .................................................................................................49 The Military ......................................................................................................................................................50 The Security Agencies .........................................................................................................................................51 The Difficult Reform of the Judiciary ................................................................................................................... 53 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................55 www.ictj.org v International Center Moving from Mirage to Reality for Transitional Justice Introduction he preventive potential of transitional justice lies in its operationalization of the rights to truth, an effective remedy, guarantees of nonrecurrence, and justice.1 However, the prevention of human rights Tviolations