From the King's Mouth: Transcript of M6's Speech at the United Nations

The Moroccan National News Agency, MAP has posted a copy of the speech Muhammad VI  had his brother Moulay Rachid deliver in his name at the UN on the 28th of September. Its interesting to see what topics he chose to discuss.______________

Full text of HM the King's speech to the 67th session of the UN General Assembly

28 September 2012 —

New York (UN)

Praise be to God 

May peace and blessings be upon the Prophet,his Kith and Kin

Your Majesties,
Your Highnesses,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I should like to congratulate you most warmly, Mr President, on your election as President of this session of the United Nations General Assembly. Your election is a mark of esteem for your country as much as a recognition of your vast diplomatic experience.

I also want to commend your predecessor, Mr. Nassir Al-Nasser, on his efforts and achievements during the past year.

Similarly, I would like to praise His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of our Organization, for his untiring action and his keen desire to tackle crises. I applaud his initiatives to enable the United Nations to rise to the growing challenges facing our world.

Mr. President,

Sweeping changes are affecting today’s international arena. They include, in particular, a protracted global economic crisis - which has various implications and consequences - and a growing number of hotbeds of tension, political disputes and armed conflicts, as well as complex global challenges which exceed the capabilities of individual states, such as the achievement of sustainable development, the protection of the environment, respect for human rights, and the fight against the growing scourge of international terrorism and all forms of organized crime.


Given current changes in the world, we, the Member States, ought to provide the United Nations Organization with the means it needs to tackle challenges. To this end, we have to expand the scope of the Organization’s action and revitalize its approach while preserving its principles and objectives, so as to make it an active player in effective political governance and an instrument for equitable economic governance.

Mr. President,

The Kingdom of Morocco fully backs your decision to give special importance to resolving disputes by peaceful means. My country applauds the General Assembly’s decision to make the consolidation of this foremost principle in the United Nations Charter the key objective of the current session.

Achieving international peace and security remains the core mission entrusted to the United Nations. The tens of thousands of UN peacekeepers serving across the world to protect civilians and bring about the right conditions for political dialogue between the parties concerned clearly attest to the vital role played by our Organization in this domain.

The Kingdom of Morocco takes pride in being one of the first States to have contributed to peacekeeping operations under the UN banner. So far, my country has sent more than 50,000 members of the Royal Armed Forces around the world to serve the lofty objectives of the United Nations.

Morocco pledges to pursue its contributions to crisis management and will support efforts to promote preventive diplomacy.

The experience gained by the United Nations in conflict-affected countries points to the importance of securing smooth, systematic transition from peace restoration to peace consolidation. This requires, above all, that the pressing needs of the current crucial juncture be met. Otherwise, the threat of a return of violence and partition will continue to hang over the countries - even the regions - concerned.

Mr. President,

During the past year, the situation has seriously deteriorated in Africa, and more particularly in the Sahel and Sahara region, due to criminal, terrorist and separatist activism which now threatens the stability of the countries concerned.

The sister nation, the Republic of Mali, is confronted with a situation which threatens the country as well as its national unity and territorial integrity. Despite the sincere efforts exerted by countries in the region, including Morocco and the Economic Community of West African States, the contribution of the United Nations is needed in order to achieve national consensus, overcome the political crisis and confront separatist activism in the north. Only an independent, focused effort on the part of the United Nations can help achieve those objectives.

I should like, in this respect, to reiterate to our brothers in Mali Morocco’s commitment to continue to provide them with aid and active support for the success of the political process, and the preservation of their country’s national unity and territorial integrity.

On the other hand, the Kingdom of Morocco commends the notable progress made in several parts of Africa, especially in the sister nations Côte d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, towards the promotion of national reconciliation and a return to political normalcy.

Moreover, Morocco reiterates its firm commitment to pursuing cooperation and solidarity programs with various African sister nations, using efficient, dynamic approaches to South-South cooperation for the benefit of African citizens.

Mr. President,

The changes witnessed in the Arab region reflect the will of the peoples involved to build democratic societies where human rights are respected, and where citizens enjoy equal opportunities and a dignified life.

The peoples in the sister nations Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen have ushered in a new era and made much headway towards democratic transition, despite a complex, troubled political environment, a fact which makes it incumbent on the international community to provide support and assistance to these countries to lift the constraints they face.

On the other hand, it is most regrettable that the Syrian people are each day paying the blood price for their freedom. They yearn for the kind of democratic change that would enable each component of the Syrian population to contribute to achieving the desired change.

Morocco which, as the only Arab country sitting on the Security Council, has significantly contributed to mobilizing international support for the Arab League’s initiatives and resolutions, calls for concerted efforts and decisive action to compel the Syrian regime to put an end to the violence. It also calls for a political transition process which would allow for the full spectrum of opinions to be heard, the aspirations of the Syrian people to be fulfilled, and Syria’s national unity and territorial integrity as well as stability in the entire region to be guaranteed.


At the same time, it is necessary to raise the financial resources required to meet the needs of refugees in neighboring countries and those of internally displaced persons, as well as to ease the suffering of our Syrian brothers and put an end to their tragedy. In this regard, Morocco continues to show its solidarity by providing medical services on a daily basis to Syrian refugees in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.


These rapid developments in the Arab region must not distract us from the fundamental, longstanding challenge of resolving the Palestinian issue.

In this regard, the Kingdom of Morocco calls for the mobilization of international support to back the steps taken by the Palestinian National Authority so as to secure non-Member State status. At the same time, my country is of the view that negotiation is the best way for the Palestinian people to regain their legitimate national rights, and to set up an independent, fully viable and geographically contiguous Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel, in peace and security.


I therefore look forward to seeing the international community change its approach to resolving this crisis by reconsidering its intervention mechanisms and work methods to make sure direct negotiations are resumed very soon and in the best possible circumstances, under the auspices of the influential powers and with their commitment.


This cannot be achieved if the fait accompli policy is allowed to continue. In this regard, and in my capacity as President of the Al-Quds Committee, I have strongly condemned the Israeli scheme for the Judaization of occupied East Jerusalem, as well as the designs to wipe out the city’s spiritual and cultural identity and to change its demographic and urban features. Let me reaffirm, in this respect, that there will be no peace without East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.

Mr. President,

Being convinced of the importance and effectiveness of joint regional action, the Kingdom of Morocco has undertaken initiatives and bilateral contacts to inject fresh momentum into the Arab Maghreb Union. Indeed, my country believes such a strategic, inclusive regional bloc is needed. Not only does it meet the legitimate aspirations of our peoples, but it is also necessitated by the security and development challenges facing the five Maghreb states.

In a bid to overcome obstacles that might hinder the fulfillment of this Maghreb ambition, the Kingdom of Morocco has contributed in a sincere, dedicated manner to negotiations aimed at finding a realistic, mutually acceptable political solution to the regional artificial dispute over the Moroccan Sahara – a solution that guarantees the Kingdom’s national unity and territorial integrity, allows for reunification to take place and respects the characteristics of the region’s populations.

Morocco remains committed and willing to negotiate on the basis of the principles set and repeatedly confirmed by the Security Council, as well as on that of the Autonomy Initiative which the international community has deemed serious, realistic and credible. Morocco will also pursue its constructive cooperation with MINURSO, on the basis of the mandate entrusted to it by the Security Council – a mandate which will not change in any way, neither in form nor substance.


Your Majesties,
Your Highnesses,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I cannot conclude without referring to the need for collective, efficient and concerted action against all forms of extremism and hatred, as well as rejection and provocation of the other, and the undermining of his beliefs, whatever the reason and in whichever form.

Given the increase in such appalling acts - often with tragic consequences - I believe national efforts to confront them must be part of a concerted international strategy. The latter should take into account the constructive initiatives launched, build on the mobilization of all United Nations organs, be based on clear commitments, and encourage lawmaking and the dissemination of national and regional best practices in this area.

As Member States, we have to provide the necessary means and reiterate our political will to support the Organization and reform its structures and intervention mechanisms. The aim is to enhance its efficiency in terms of achieving peace and security and promoting cooperation, while enabling it to fulfill its indispensable mission of furthering tolerance and coexistence, for the benefit of mankind.


Thank you.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh.

UN Human Rights Expert Visits Morocco

The United Nations'  (UN) human rights expert Juan E. Méndez   is in Morocco now  to " assess improvements and identify remaining challenges." He will be there until the 22nd of September 2012 .  Human Rights Watch is asking him to look into the torture of protesters. The official UN announcement about the visit  is pasted below.
___________________      Morocco: First visit by UN Special Rapporteur on torture

GENEVA (12 September 2012) – Independent human rights expert Juan E. Méndez will visit Morocco from 15 to 22 September 2012, to assess improvements and identify remaining challenges regarding torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment, particularly in light of adopting a new Constitution in July 2011.

“My ultimate task is to engage with decision-makers and key actors to help the authorities uphold the rule of law, promote accountability for past abuses and allegations of torture and ill-treatment, fulfill the right of reparations for victims, and to ensure that alleged perpetrators are held responsible in conformity with international law,” Mr. Méndez said.

The Special Rapporteur, who visits the country at the invitation of the Government, will hold meetings with authorities, the judiciary, civil society, the national human rights institution, United Nations agencies, victims and their families. In Morocco, the Special Rapporteur plans to visit Rabat, Salé, Casablanca, Meknès and Skhirat-Témara.

Mr. Méndez will share his preliminary comments and recommendations at a press conference to be held on 22 September 2012, at 15:00, at the Hotel Diwan McGallery (place de l’Unité Africaine, 10005 Rabat). The Special Rapporteur will present a final report to the Human Rights Council in 2013.

Juan E. Méndez (Argentina) was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council as the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in November 2010. He is independent from any government and serves in his individual capacity. Mr. Méndez has dedicated his legal career to the defense of human rights, and has a long and distinguished record of advocacy throughout the Americas. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Torture/SRTorture/Pages/SRTortureIndex.aspx

(*) The independent expert will also visit Laâyoune, Western Sahara, on 17 and 18 September 2012.

Stolen: A Film about Modern-Day Slavery in the Western Sahara

Here is a piece from popmatters.com about the newly released documentary film "Stolen," that talks about the uncomfortable reality of modern day slavery in the Western Sahara and other places in North Africa.
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'Stolen': Seeing More Possibilities
By Cynthia Fuchs 5 April 2011
PopMatters Film and TV Editor

You can’t change these ideas until you get out and see other possibilities.
—Tizlam

“Is it true my white grandmother beat you as a child?” asks 15-year-old Leil, Her mother, Fetim, looks at her hard, still chewing her lunch. They sit at a table, a TV behind them, as well as a doorway, open onto a bright white daylight. Leil continues, “Violeta already knows,” as the camera cuts to filmmaker Violeta Ayala, seated across from them. Her face turns cloudy as she listens: “You’ll be in trouble, by saying that we were beaten,” cautions Fetim. Again, the camera shows her instructing her daughter, “It’s always been that slaves are beaten from a young age.”

The scene breaks here, as Leil gets up to welcome a younger sibling inside, through that bright-lit doorway. And the film, Stolen, has changed. Before this moment, as Ayala has narrated, the documentary was observing preparations for a family reunion. Fetim had come to a refugee camp in the Algerian desert as a child some 30 years ago, leaving behind her Moroccan mother Embarka and her siblings. At first, Ayala says, she and Dan Fallshaw meant to film Spanish-speaking refugees in the Western Sahara, and felt lucky to have access to a family about to reunite, thanks to a program initiated in 2004 by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees that brings Moroccan family members to the camp for five-day visits. With some 27,000 on the waiting list, the fact that Fetim and Embarka have been selected seems miraculous.

And yet: this story is now reframed, as Ayala and Fallshaw learn that their subjects are not only refugees, but also slaves. The filmmakers can’t begin to guess at the complications that follow from this discovery.

Stolen—screening 5 April at Stranger Than Fiction, a co-presentation with the African Film Festival, and followed by a Q&A with Ayala and Fallshaw—charts their efforts to understand what they find. Their questions elicit astonishing and also cryptic stories, as Fetim and Leil, as well as Fetim’s cousin Matala, sort through what is safe to tell “the foreigners.” The storytelling process, as it unfolds on camera, is at once fascinating and alarming, as it becomes clear that saying “too much” is more costly for Fetim than her Australian visitors anticipate.

At the same time, the filmmakers’ parts in the process are also complex, as they are increasingly responsible for what they’re filming—whether by paying for part of the celebration for Embarka’s visit or by documenting stories told by Fetim and her family, descriptions of the system of slavery still in place in the camps and elsewhere. As the film reports, the Polisario Liberation Front, a nationalist organization backed by Algeria, have been fighting with Morocco over the Western Sahara for the last 34 years. Neither the Moroccan government nor the Polisario wants such stories documented. And yet, with at least 2 million black people living in slavery in North Africa, Stolen insists, telling such stories is only a first step.

Indeed, Fetim’s initial revelation that she has a “white mother,” Deido, surprises Ayala, who wonders how they ended “up together, with so much racism in the past?” Deido explains, sort of. “Saharan people are not all the same,” she says, her interview shot as she sits before a striking red tent wall. “Some of them buy black people and own them, others free them, but keep them as their family. We don’t talk about this anymore.”

Still, Ayala and Fallshaw find that some black Africans do talk about this, but only when they are alone together, and for a brief time, in front of the “foreigners.” The film pieces together bits of conversations, a fragmented structure that results from the filmmaking process per se, as the Polisario and then the Moroccans try to confiscate and at last steal their tapes. The effect of the fragments is to the point, however, as the stories are shared and whispered, then covered over or repressed, as experiences are acknowledged and then denied, as autonomy is named—in the form of “liberation,” as Deido says she has granted to Fetim—and then rescinded, when papers are withheld and daily life continues as such.

As Ayala and Fallshaw tell it—their own voiceovers working in tandem, finishing each other’s sentences—they’re struck by Fetim’s submission to Deido, her performance of chores and her lack of independence. Further, though no one will “speak about this,” they also discover that Embarka belonged to Deido’s father, and that she bore him several children. “Deido’s father fucked her,” says Fetim’s friend Jueda after Fetim becomes so unnerved by the conversation that she leaves the room. “That’s how the white girl Fatma was born,” Fatma being Fetim’s sister, still living with Embarka in Morocco.

A friend of Leil, Tizlam, is also outspoken concerning what it means to be a slave. “You’re just scratching the surface,” she says, her face at once poised and fierce in dim shadows. “They come and take the children and the parents can’t say anything, they have no rights.” Her grandmother concurs, and they seem willing to speak, though they don’t seem to expect a change. “There is no law for us,” Tizlam says, “What we want is for this not to exist. It should be erased, it should be from the past, not the present or the future.” Ayala and Fallshaw describe their growing concern, not only for their own safety but also for “all the people who trusted us with their stories.”

Their worries are well founded, as they are detained by the Polisario. The filmmakers bury their tapes in the desert—an apt and awful metaphor for the experiences they’ve heard about—and then escape to Paris, where they pursue the story, hoping to recover their material and make public what they’ve witnessed. A phone call with Leil reveals, however, that their own ambitions and hopes don’t matter much: Leil cries, “Trying to do good, you did bad. Now the police are all over us.” As Ayala ponders this notion in voiceover, that “without intending to, we got Leila and Fetim in a lot of trouble,” the film structure makes clear the problem: she’s in a hotel room, at a distance. None of us can know what Leil and Fetim are experiencing—off camera.

The film traces how Ayala and Fallshaw come to know the ongoing complexities of slavery. As it is denied by most North African regimes (in Mauritania, Mali, and Senegal, as well as Algeria and Morocco) and described here by Ursula Aboubacar, the Deputy Director of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, as “a cultural issue that is existing.” That is, as Aboubacar puts it, the UN can only “combat” the practice by bringing it to the attention of local police forces, the Polisario included. Ayala is horrified by the lack of power wielded by the UN, or anyone else, it seems. Indeed, as Tizlam has said, “There is no law for us.”

The documentary makes this case forcefully. In addition to assembling interviews that officials and others have tried to keep quiet, it includes footage of a screening and audience responses in Sydney. The ethical questions here impossibly tangled: even after Fetim, Leil, and Deido withdraw their consent to appear in the film, Alaya and Fallshaw include not only their interviews, but also footage of Fetim at the film’s premiere (the Polisario, a note explains, “flew Fetim to Sydney to protest at the film’s premiere,” along with her husband). Her objections have led to other repressions, as the Swedish public broadcaster SVT-UR has pulled the movie from its schedule. While the truth remains elusive off-camera, Stolen insists that still more needs to be exposed, that documentation is indeed only a first step.

African Refugees Targeted in Morocco

It bothers me when Moroccans refer to people from Subsaharan African as "Africans," as if they themselves are not "African." Because maybe "African" means Black and NOT AS GOOD AS US. That being said, I love Moroccans. We Shall Overcome.
Here is an article about the difficulties facing refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa living in Morocco. It is from the Inter Press Service website.

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MOROCCO: African Refugees Targeted
By Daan Bauwens


RABAT, Jun 23 (IPS) - More than 300 African refugees are gathered at the gates of the Moroccan United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), asking to be moved to another country because their rights are not respected in Morocco. Several refugees say they have been beaten up by Moroccan UN personnel.

On Tuesday morning, the refugees who are from Angola, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and some other countries, entered their ninth day of protest in front of the Moroccan office of the UNHCR in capital Rabat. Their numbers are steadily growing.

"We intend to stay here until our right to reinstallation is respected," says Stéphane Gnako, spokesperson for the refugees. "We demand to be moved to a safe place where we are treated with dignity."

According to the UN charter, every refugee has the right to be moved to another country if his or her rights are not respected in the country where they received asylum.

Many refugees in Morocco say they are caught in a trap. "Even though we are recognised by the UN as refugees, the Moroccan government does not want to grant us our rights," Laura Thérèse from Cote d'Ivoire, who has been living in Morocco since 2004 tells IPS. "I've studied in this country, I have done an internship of three months, only to realise afterwards that I didn't have the right to work."

African refugees' children have no right to education. "We have no right to integrate, no right to work, and no right to reinstall, so what are we supposed to do?" Laura Thérèse adds.

Stéphane Gnako holds up his refugee card. "It's a beautiful thing, not? But it is of no use to us. It is the responsibility of the UNHCR to see to it that our rights are respected, but all of us are condemned to a life as beggars in this country.

"Moreover, we are the victim of racial discrimination and violence, there is no chance for integration." According to a Congolese woman in the group, stones are thrown at her sometimes when she is walking down the street with her children. Several others report random assault.

Michael McCullough, a refugee from Liberia, says refugees are also attacked by officials. "We are chased by the police because we hold no documents. And we frequently get beaten up by them. Moreover, people who ask for reinstallation are beaten up by the guards at the UNHCR office."

Several refugees speak of mistreatment by UNHCR security guards if they insist on reinstallation.

On Monday evening, a group of 40 musicians, dancers and actors took to the streets of the Yacoub Mansour neighbourhood of Rabat in a colourful march. This was a part of 'Rabat Africa', a festival that aims for the integration of African refugees into Moroccan society. The festival was organised by UNHCR and the Orient-Occident Foundation, an international network of socio- educational agencies for immigrants and Moroccans in impoverished neighbourhoods.

"This is the only Moroccan festival with a political message," says Rachid Badouli, development and strategy director at the Orient-Occident Foundation. "It is only by means of culture that we can fight the racism African immigrants face. At this festival, we see Moroccan families next to Congolese, Kenyan or Angolese families," he tells IPS.

The festival is organised in the Yacoub Mansour neighbourhood because this is where African immigrants regularly suffer from violence, in some cases sexual violence. Last year, three refugee boys under 18 were subject to rape.

"We ourselves are immigrants in Europe," Badouli tells IPS. "There are lots of reports about racism on the streets of Brussels or Paris, while we treat our own immigrants no better. This is also a critique against the Moroccan state, that still doesn't want to open its gates to whatever is new or different."

The protesters at the UNHCR office are not joining the Rabat Africa festival. 'The festival is sabotaging our protest," says Stéphane Gnako. "We don't want to be manipulated into African merchandising. It's not by chanting, dancing, tam tam and other clichés that we will improve our conditions; that is mere absurdity. Is showing African culture going to save us from violence, racism and arrests? The answer is no."