Delegation calls for respecting human rights during national reconciliation

Rabat, Jan. 19 (BNA): The Shura Council’s delegation to the International Seminar on the Experiences of National Reconciliation, led by the Second Deputy Chairperson, Hala Ramzi Fayez, has stressed the need to respect human rights and continue the democratic process while implementing national reconciliation initiatives. The seminar was organised at Morocco’s House of Councillors by the Association of Senates, Shura and Equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World (ASSECAA) on January 17-18, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the National Council for Human Rights in Morocco. The delegation said that the national reconciliation requires the courage and the sincere will of the political leadership to investigate the facts and study all the positive and negative aspects through independent parties, in order to promote the positive aspects and avoid the negative ones, stressing the need to enact the necessary legislation to respect the human rights principles. The delagation called for encouraging civil society organisations to play their role in the field of national reconciliation. It also called for involving all branches, as well as public and private institutions and NGOs in the national reconciliation process, being a matter of national interest. Within its 10 recommendations to the seminar, the dellegation emphasised the importance of revising school curricula to include the values of tolerance, co-existence and rejection of violence, sectarianism and racism. It also stressed the importance of ensuring a balanced representation of women in all stages devoted to transitional justice and national reconciliation, calling for the need to ensure that all constitutional and legal procedures of national reconciliation emanate from the popular will and are not the result of external pressure that would undermine the country’s sovereignty, unity and interests. The delegation also participated in the special session devoted to the official launch of the Parliamentary Network on Food Security in Africa and the Arab world.