The "Tata Call" committee said that it has dedicated its efforts, since the September 2024 floods that swept through the Tata province, to mobilising dozens of partisan, trade union, human rights, associative, and media organisations to support the victims of this natural disaster. Its activities varied between organising press conferences and work meetings with the secretaries-general of parties and parliamentary groups, and consultative days that brought together victims with experts and associations; while knocking on the doors of the judiciary, and other initiatives aimed at achieving justice for the afflicted.
The "Tata Call" committee added, in a statement, that "despite its pride in the scale of national mobilisation and solidarity, it considers these efforts insufficient, given the scale of the tragedy," recording in this framework "the ignoring of the victims' demands, as the majority of them are still in a state of total destitution, which forced some villagers to use self-made and primitive means to bring life back to water springs and their subsistence crops, in the absence of government support which remained confined to bulletins on official television."
The committee also recorded "the fighting of civil initiatives, as attempts by civil society, which mobilised to find practical solutions to help the population and develop the province, were confronted; elected officials and activists who tried to contribute to collective thinking spaces to help the population were also threatened, while the authority encourages formal meetings framed by associations raised within the prefecture's departments," in addition to "the restriction of social movements, as members of protest movements face judicial pressures and threats, and their only crime is defending the victims' issues and alerting to administrative failures in managing disasters."
The same body demands "the immediate release of the detainees, led by Moulay Lahcen Jaafari, Said Ait El Mehdi, and those with them among the defenders of the rights of natural disaster victims," with "urgent justice for the victims, including the reconstruction of houses, the restoration of irrigation canals and systems, compensation for herders, and reparation for individual and collective damages; with the inclusion of those who were unjustifiably excluded from the lists of beneficiaries."
Among the demands of the "Tata Call" committee is also "the formation of a fact-finding committee by the House of Representatives through activating Article 114 of its internal regulations and Article 67 of the Constitution to investigate the facts of the floods and the Al Haouz earthquake, determine responsibilities, and arrange penalties."
It was stated in the statement that the committee is determined to "continue its judicial procedures, within the framework of strategic litigation, against the Moroccan state, in the person of the Head of Government, to achieve justice for the victims, through its legal team headed by lawyer Habib Ben Cheikh," and "to present a presentation on the occasion of the Universal Periodic Review session in Geneva for 2025, and testimony before the Human Rights Council, to present the situation of the Tata province as a model for the absence of spatial justice in our homeland, in parallel with considering the results of the Moroccan state's review."
The same party also confirmed its determination to "organise workshops in coordination with university legal laboratories to study Law 110.14 and propose amendments that reflect the lessons of recent disasters," and "continue coordination with parliamentary groups and civil organisations to develop national laws and policies in a way that serves spatial justice and sustainable development."
The statement said that "scientific data related to accelerated and extreme climate changes indicate, unfortunately, that Morocco will witness frequent natural disasters with deep impacts on humans and the environment, and this reality requires a citizen awareness that enhances solidarity and collective responsibility, in addition to effective public policies that anticipate risks and respond to needs effectively."
The "Tata Call" committee called, once again, to "expand the space for joint work between the state and society," calling on all national actors to "exploit every disaster and make it an opportunity to build a just Morocco, embracing all its citizens."
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