The Minister expressed these views during the talks with Chairman of the Moroccan National Human Rights Council (NHRC) Idris Al-Yazmi, in the presence of and NHRC’s members, as well as former members of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the on-going visit of the Bahraini official human rights delegation to Morocco, and Dr Salah hailed the solid deep-rooted fraternal relations bonding the kingdoms of Bahrain and Morocco and the fruitful cooperation between them.
Then, he was briefed on the formation of the National Human Rights Council, the mechanism adopted in selecting its members and the gradual development of its role from an initially advisory body when it was first established in the early 1990s to its current status.
Idris Al-Yazmi explained that the NHRC’s roles include mainly monitoring human rights violations, lodging complaints to the concerned sides, contributing to activating the mechanisms outlined by the international human rights conventions signed or ratified by the Kingdom of Morocco, visiting reform and rehabilitation centres, in collaboration with the relevant sides and examining the appropriateness of the existing legislative and regulatory texts to the human rights treaties.
He also underscored the accomplishments of the National Human Rights, as an advisory body, since its establishment, noting that the Equity and Reconciliation Commission emerged from it, investigated into violations of human rights that took place in a given period in Morocco’s history and recorded them in a national report through which many legal and judicial procedures were taken.
Idris Al-Yazmi said that there was a lack of human rights culture in our societies, which, he asserted, affected the behaviour of law-enforcers negatively.
The Human Rights Affairs Minister said that the Royal Order No. 46 for 2009 promulgating the establishment of the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) was issued, in line with the government’s continuous approach to protect human rights through setting up the required mechanisms, noting that the NIHR receives human rights complaints and refers them to the relevant sides to verify them, provide assistance and advice for the affected groups, promote the human rights culture and review national legislations to examine the extent of their suitability with international laws and conventions, among others.
He underlined that the National Institution for Human Rights represented a unique GCC experience in the fields of human rights protection and consolidation of rights and freedom, adding that it is assuming its duties perfectly, in line with the Royal directives to make it (NIHR) a beacon of human rights awareness and a human rights think-tank.
He added that Bahrain dealt with the repercussions of the regretful incidents of 2011 wisely and according to the international standards, and presented a bright model in the field of human rights after the bold initiative of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to set up the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, consisting of eminent independent international judges, and the political leadership’s acceptance of its recommendations and pledge to implement them through legal and constitutional channels.