HRW says Morocco provided substantial constitutional guarantees in human rights

“King Mohammed VI proposed in June constitutional amendments with substantial human rights guarantees”, it said in its annual World Report 2012.

The report says that “the new constitution recognizes Amazigh, the Berber language, as an official language and prohibits torture, inhuman, and degrading treatment; arbitrary detention; and enforced disappearances.”

It notes that the new constitution also requires any person who is arrested to be informed “immediately” of the reason for his arrest, and to enjoy the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial.

HRW adds that the constitution guarantees equality for women, highlighting the “major reforms to the Family Code in 2004” which raised the age of marriage and improved women’s rights in divorce and child custody.

In this regard, it points out that “on April 8 Morocco withdrew its reservations to articles 9(2) and 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,” which, it says, signaled a commitment to eliminate gender discrimination in marital rights and responsibilities and reflected a 2007 law that gave Moroccan mothers the same rights as Moroccan fathers to confer Moroccan nationality on their children when the other spouse is non-Moroccan.