Inter-ministerial Delegation for Human Rights
Combatting trafficking in persons in Morocco:
Fostering cooperation between NREMs and state and non State actors in
reinforcing the institutional and legal framework.
22 May 2014
I- Key Events
 20 December 2010: The Consultative Council on Human Rights (CCDH) issued
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recommendations on the issue of human trafficking
17 to 21 June 2013: The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and
children, visited Morocco
09 September 2013: The National Council for Human Rights (CNDH) issued a thematic
report on « Foreigners and Human Rights in Morocco: For a new policy in the field of
migration and asylum »
10 September 2013: the government to adopted a comprehensive and integrated new
policy in the field of migration, based on a human approach
11 September 2013: Creation of a national Committee composed of three committees,
including a sub-committee in charge of the elaboration of the legal and institutional framework
on migration, asylum and trafficking in human beings coordinated by the Interministerial
Delegation for Human Rights (DIDH)
II- Methodology
 The sub-committee, composed of 9 relevant governmental departments and the CNDH in an advisory capacity,
was in charge of propsing a new legal and institutional framework on the basis of the following:
A- International law and international norms :
• The Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of
Others, 1949
• The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000, and its Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and PunishTrafficking in Persons, especiallyWomen and Children, 2000
• Core human rights conventions (Covenants, CEDAW, CRC, CRPD, CMW and CAT ... )
B- Recommendations of international and regional mechanisms, especially the recommendations of
the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in human beings following her visit in June 2013
C- Best Practices in Comparative Legal Systems
D- the Provisions of the new Constitution
E- Strategic Plans in the Field of Human Rights
E- Reinforcement of the existing Legislative and National Framework Relating to HumanTrafficking
F- Consultation with civil society, in coordination between the Ministry of Migration Affairs and DIDH,
III- Results of the Work of the Sub-committee on Human Trafficking
1. Legislative and institutional option
the Sub-committee decided to draft a specific law based on:
• Comprehensive approach, where the protection of victims and the punishment of
perpetrators are key aspects, in addition to revising certain provisions in other laws;
• Human rights principles;
• The international and regional dimensions of the phenomenon;
• The relation between reforming the legal framework for combatting human trafficking
and the legal frameworks for migration and asylum;
• Stipulation of alternative or complementary provisions regarding the aspects of
protection and assistance to vulnerable categories.
Taking into account the following fundamentals:
• International standards and good practices;
• Coordination and cooperation at national and international level;
• Criminalization of human trafficking and awareness-raising,
• Collection of data and information;
• Identification, protection, assistance and rehabilitation of victims;
The Draft Law aims at:
• Strengthening national criminal law to:
- cover all aspects of the crime, be it national, transnational,
- whether it was committed by an organized group, individuals or legal entities,
- and guaranteeing punishment depending on the seriousness of the crime, its results and
effects, and the gender of the victim,;
• Guaranteeing compensation of victims and their access to services;
• Creating governmental coordination mechanisms for combatting human trafficking;
• Evaluating of situation by an independent body as a national rapporteur on human
trafficking;
• Strengthening the civil society involvement in combatting human trafficking.
The Draft Law also evolves around the following principles :
- non-discrimination against victims of human trafficking;
- Prevention of all forms and manifestations of trafficking in human beings;
- Proportionality of punishment;
- Protection of vulnerable victims, especially women and children;
- Accessibility to public services;
- Best interest of the victim;
- Physical and psychological recovery;
- Victims’ compensation and reparation;
- Exemption from punishment in the case of reporting crimes before they’re committed;
- Identification of victims;
- Access to information for victims, informants and witnesses.
On the criminal level, the Draft Law includes:
 Identification of criminal acts that form the basis of human trafficking crimes;
 Criminal acts related to trafficking in persons are defined as the recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or
use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the
abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of
payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over
another person, for the purpose of exploitation
 Exploitation includes, for example, the removal of organs, the sale of children, subjugation to
slavery and forced labor, forced prostitution, incitement to disseminate obscene material, forced
marriage, forced begging, the use of children in armed conflict, unlawful conduct in making
biomedical experiments on persons; exploitation may also include exploitation of children in
illegal or criminal activities, armed conflict, work below the minimum age, and in gaining
revenues from coercive work and services.
 Identification of some cases where consent of the victim is irrelevant in approving sanctions and
cases of non-responsibility for some categories, as is the case for children and persons under the
jurisdiction of the perpetrators and victims of organized crime
 2-2 – The institutional choice
 The Draft stress the importance of creating an integrated institutional framework
composed of a governmental coordination mechanism and an independent
mechanism for monitoring and evaluation through:
- the designation of the National Council for Human Rights, an independent national
institution, as a mechanism for monitoring and evaluation
- Creation of an intergovernmental coordination mechanism to promote
national
efforts aiming at preparing and implementing public policy in the field;
- Establishment of a mechanism of compensation and assistance to victims