BACKGROUND 

Morocco's history since independence in 1956 has involved systematic human rights violations, including mass arbitrary detention and enforced dissappearance in response to social activism. Morocco has since ordered the release of detainees and victims of enforced disappearance and made files of victims available for review. Initiatives toward reform resulted in the establishment of the International Arbitration Commission(IAC) in 1999 to assess monetary reparations, which mainly faced criticims related to the lack of transparency around the reparations review and the absence of truth-seeking. The equity and Reconciliation Commission (IEF) established in 2003 addressed these gaps, and while national reparations programs have grown, many of the IER's recommendations, including ratification of the Rome Statute, have gone unanswered.

CAMPAIGN FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE

The kingdom of Morocco is an African country with both Atlantic and Meditteranean coasts. Morocco has been the focus country of several of the Coalition's campaigns for universal ratification and implementation of the statute. Constitutional amendments in 2011 do provide for the criminilization of genocide, war crimes, and the crimes against humanity, but the main impediment to ratification of the Statute has been its provision on immunities (Article 27). One positive sign may be Morocco's acceptance of recommendations to ratify the Rome Statute following its second cycle of the UN Human Rigths Council's Universal Periodic Review in 2012.

CIVIL SOCIETY ACTIVITIES

Civil society in Morocco, and in particular the Moroccan National Coalition for the ICC, have welcomed Morocco's growing capacity to engage with the ICC and encourage further efforts to adequately address the most serious international crimes. In 2013, the Coalition co-organized an outreach seminar with Mohamed V University-Agdal to enhance local awareness of the ICC's contribution to the rule of law. The previous year, Morocco hosted Coalition member Parliamentarians for Global Action's Working Group on the Universality of the Rome Statute of the ICC in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.