Community Reparation in Morocco
Project FMAS plans to share those extremely important Moroccan experiences about transitional justice and community reparation on Remix the Commons platform. Portail E-joussour takes in charge of this project, which based in Rabat, Morroco.
Presentation
Background
In Morocco, from 1959 to 1999, Former King Hassan II often ruled his country with an iron fist. That period is called as the years of lead in Morocco, during which those who were considered a threat to the regime were subject to a wide range of human rights violations. Thousands were subjected to arbitrary arrest, torture, and enforced disappearance, leaving behind a bitter legacy.
However, starting in the early 1990s, a gradual process of dealing with the past began to take root, culminating most recently in the work of the Moroccan Equity and Reconciliation Commission (Instance Équité et Réconciliation (IER)), established by the successor to the throne, King Mohammed VI.
On January 7, 2004, the IER was created, which is the first truth commission in the Arab world. This also has been hailed internationally as a big step forward, and an example to the Arab world. Since that, the IER has been working on addressing the terrible legacy of this era by investigating some of the worst abuses in Morocco and arranging reparations for victims and their families.
Over the duration of its mandate, the IER has amassed an archive of more than 20,000 personal testimonies from victims and their families, which has been organized in a central database in Rabat. It has conducted a range of meetings, conferences, and seminars around a multitude of issues that are keys to understanding Morocco’s past and present.
It has also taken the monumental step of holding public hearings to give victims a platform from which to share their sufferings. Throughout its work, the Commission has aimed to document, preserve, and analyze the roots of the crisis in an attempt to help Morocco come to terms with its past.
Goals
Project FMAS aims to share videos about this process of transitional justice and community reparation. For Morocco, the Community Reparation Project is a huge project contributed to transitional justice. A total sum of 159 million Dirhams was mobilized and total number of completed projects was 149.
Those videos talked about how to preserve memory of victim communities during “the years of lead” in Morocco and what kinds of public hearings took place, in fact those hearings gave the highlight of an extensive process of citizen deliberation, compassion and free expression in Morocco. They also talked about lots of stories about how community reparation project aimed to improve the living conditions of the people in victim communities and empower them. In fact, those materials mainly focused on women and children.
Project FMAS believes Moroccan experiences in transitional justice as commons are useful and valuable to other countries, especially to Arabic countries have the similar history of transitional justice, such as Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Algeria and so on.
Characters of Community Reparation in Morocco
This table was excerpted from "Comparing community reparations in Morocco, Peru and Indonesia", which was prepared by Ruben Carranza, Director, Reparative Justice Program at the ICTJ, and partly based on “The Rabat Report: The Concept and Challenges of Collective Reparations” (ICTJ 2009).
| The approach to deciding community or collective reparations | The program is meant for regions which saw gross violations, suffered from marginalization and did not have opportunities of development projects and whose image was marred (by hosting) illegal detention centers. 11 regions of 16 were identified by the truth commission Communities in those regions were asked to propose projects to the State,which the State would approve. |
|---|---|
| Examples of material and/or symbolic community reparations measures | 1st batch of income-generating projects [2007-2009] includes 13 projects in 11 regions, involving aviculture, food-processing, handicraft-making, apiculture, environmental tourism-related, datesplanting, drip-irrigation systems, welldigging, and goat-breeding. 1st batch of symbolic and memoryrelated projects include consultations on how to transform 3 former secret detention centers into ‘memory preservation centers,’ identifying historical and archaeological landmarks in the politically-active Hay Mohammadi neighborhood in Casablanca; the Fadma Ouherfou Center for Training, Referral and Information to remember victims of enforced disappearances, a documentary on the 1984 riots in Nador; the Rif Center for Collective Memory Preservation, a magazine on memory, and the setting up of ‘citizenship clubs.’ |
| Notes on funding for | 1st batch of income-generating projects funded with Moroccan |
| Reparations | dirhams 4.9 million [$500,000], from European Union (EU). An almost equal amount was allocated to symbolic and memory-related projects, also funded in part by the EU. |
| Role of victims in project design and implementation |
Communities were asked to participate [in relation to the 1st batch of reparations projects] in “crosscutting training sessions with all the different coordination bodies (agencies at the State and local level) on the following topics related to project management: participative approaches, empowerment, conflict management, gender-sensitization and project architecture.” Close to $130,000 was allocated for this, with the overall goal of ensuring better involvement of the community reparations stakeholders with the State and donor agencies. |
Contents
Documentaries
The Memory of the Future
From 1956 to 1999, Morocco witnessed huge violations of human rights which included arbitrary detention, arrest, torture, ill-treatment and excessive use of force on the part of Monarch authorities.But from 1990s, Morocco witnessed the beginning of the serious reforms and shift to the more democratic society. Morocco seriously treated the new family code, penal code, the reform of liberty code, a better representation of women in parliament, the creation of the Justice and Reconciliation Commission, as an independent commission which granted the compensation about four thousands victims of human rights violations. This documentary gives an overview about the procedure of transitional justice and community reparation project in Morocco.
| Title | The Memory of the Future |
|---|---|
| Creator | The National Council of Human Rights(CNDH) |
| Keywords | Testimonies of Victims, Women, the years of lead, Community Reparation Program, Transitional Justice, Morocco |
| Publisher |
The Advisory Council on Human Rights(ACHR) |
| Contributor | The United Nations Democracy Fund The Embassy of Netherlands in Morocco Association’s Network for the Development of South Eastern OAsises (RADOSE) Democracy and Development Network-Zagora (R.AZDED) Cooperation and Friendship Association-Figuig (AACF) |
| Length | 19:23 |
| Date | 2009 |
| Format | DVD |
| Language | English, Moroccan Arabic, French, Amarzigh |
| Source | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a65nRgacXGM&feature=youtu.be |
The Years of Lead in Morocco: Women Speak Out
As an important archive, this documentary includes lots of testimonies of female victims during the years of lead in Morocco, which were excerpted from public hearings 2004-2005. The victims and relatives all around Morocco speak out their memories and experiences about arbitrary arrest and detention, tortures, ill-treatment. These stories are sad and shocking, at the same time building a bridge to a new Morocco, because from them, people could discover the truth of the years of lead in Morocco.
| Title | The Years of Lead in Morocco: Women Speak Out Excerpts from public hearings 2004-2005 |
|---|---|
| Creator | The National Council of Human Rights (CNDH) |
| Keywords | Testimonies of Victims, Women, the years of lead. Community Reparation Program,Transitional Justice, Morocco |
| Publisher | The Advisory Council on Human rights(ACHR) UNIFEM Sub Regional Office for North Africa |
| Length | 13:44 |
| Date | 2009 |
| Format | DVD |
| Language | English, Moroccan Arabic, French, Amarzigh |
| Source |
Englishi version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGeVGn1qvII&feature=youtu.be Arabic version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkcTMhH_y68&feature=youtu.be |
Les yeux de l’avenir
En collaboration la ministère de jeunesse et sport ,le conseil consultatif des droits de l’homme (CCDH) à organiser des colonies de vacance pour les enfants originaires des régions qui ont souffert de discrimination durant les années de plomb. Pour les enfants des zones défavorisées comme Zagoura, Midelt, Bengrir, Figuig et Nador.
| Title | les yeux de l’avenir |
|---|---|
| Creator | The National Council of HumanRights(CNDH) |
| Keywords | Colonies de vacances, enfants, justice transitionnelle, années de plomb ,réparation communautaire |
| Contributor | CNDH , ministère de jeunesse et sport |
| Publisher | La maison du sous , portail du sud marocain , l’oriental , bimo .. |
| Length | 10 :00 |
| Date | 2010 |
| Format | DVD |
| Language | Arabe, le dialecte marocain . |
| Source | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB7pPfN6Id4&list=UUuIL5Ywlh0sndqq19tlgT6A&index=4 |
Le développement dans la région d’Alhoussima - Bniboufarhan
| Title | Le développement dans la région d’Alhoussima - Bniboufarhan |
|---|---|
| Creator | Association pour la Solidarité et la protection de l'environnement |
| Keywords | justice transitionnelle, années de plomb , réparation communautaire |
| Publisher | Association pour la Solidarité et la protection de l'environnement , union européenne |
| Contributor | CNDH , CDG |
| Length | 25 : 33 |
| Date | 2012 |
| Farmat | DVD |
| Language | Arabe, le dialecte marocain . |
| Source | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtzbYlbMDgk&feature=share&list=UUuIL5Ywlh0sndqq19tlgT6A |
Des Approches Citoyennes pour la réconciliation et la réservation de la mémoire dans la ville de khemisset
Le Documentaireprésente les deferents Axes de projet: “Des Approches Citoyennes pour la réconciliation et la réservation de la mémoire dans la ville de khemisset.
| Title | Des Approches Citoyennes pour la réconciliation et la réservation de la mémoire dans la ville de khemisset |
|---|---|
| Creator | Réseau Azetta Amazigh et Association association jeunes avocats khemisset( AJAK ) |
| Keywords | réparation communautaire, justice transitionnelle , années de plomb , mémoire communautaire |
| Publisher | Réseau Azetta Amazigh et Association association jeunes avocats khemisset( AJAK ) |
| Contributor | programme de réparation communautaire de CNDH ,la fondation CDG , |
| Length | 20:54 |
| Date | 2012 |
| Farmat | DVD |
| Language | Arabe, Amazigh ,le dialecte marocain . |
| Source | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZQisVGNCoc&feature=share&list=UUuIL5Ywlh0sndqq19tlgT6A |
Les Pionniers de l'inconnu
La mémoire constitue aujourd’hui l’élément central dans toutes les expériences de justice transitionnelle. La mémoire replonge dans le passé des violations en vue de le récupérer, et réparer les dommages matériels et moraux qui ont été causés, ce qui constitue une condition nécessaire pour asseoir une justice transitionnelle, où règne la réconciliation entre les partis et aspire à un horizon basé sur des relations démocratiques marquées par le respect des droits de l’Homme. C’estdanscecontexte, l'Associationchouala pour l’ éducation et la culture section Tantana realise cedocumentaire “pionniers del’inconnu “ , un pjrojet qui s’inscritdansle cadre du programme de réparation,commuanautaire.
| Title | Les Pionniers de l'inconnu |
|---|---|
| Creator | Association Chouala pour l’éducation et la culture |
| Keywords | réparation communautaire, justice transitionnelle , années de plomb , mémoire communautaire |
| Publisher | Association Chouala pour l’éducation et la culture |
| Contributor | programme de réparation communautaire , CNDH , fondation CDG , conseil régional de Tantan |
| Length | 52:39 |
| Date | 2012 |
| Farmat | DVD |
| Language | Arabe, le dialecte marocain . |
| Source | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGAn2Qhtk0s&list=UUuIL5Ywlh0sndqq19tlgT6A |
Research and Reports
- Transitional Justice in Morocco: A Progress Report, published by ICTJ, 2005.11
- The Rabat Report: The Concept and Challenges of Collective Reparations, published by ICTJ,2009.02
- Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco, Author: Nadia Guessous, published by The Consultative Council on Human Rights, 2009.02
- Follow-up Report on the Implementation of Equity and Reconciliation Commission Recommendations, published by the Advisory Council on Human Rights, 2009.12
- Morocco: Gender and the Transitional Justice Process, Author: Julie Guillerot, Naima Benwakrim, Maria Ezzaouini, Widad Bouab, published by ICTJ, 2011.09
External links
- IER official website
- National Human Rights Council (Morocco) (CCDH)
- The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
- Remix the Commons Project
Autres pages
Characters of Community Reparation in Morocco, Communities and Individuals: Ways of Reconciliation, Community Reparation Program in Morocco: Contribution to Transitional Justice, Documentaries: Community Reparation Program in Morocco, Fiction et lecture pluraliste de l’hitoire, Fiction&histoire du temps présent : 6 Films Marocains, Justice transitionnelle: l'expérience Marocaine, Projet du FMAS
