A seminar opened on Saturday in Kénitra within the framework of the Regional Human Rights Caravan, the objective of which is the mobilisation of local and regional actors and partners with a view to anchoring the culture of human rights.

Through this caravan, the organisers aim to consolidate the role of the National Human Rights Council and its regional commissions in mediation between citizens and the administration, to root the approach of participation with the various actors at the local and regional level, and to foster relations of coordination and cooperation with civil society.

They also aim to mobilise local and regional skills and public figures and to develop partnerships with institutional actors to promote the culture of human rights at all levels of education, particularly in universities, in order to encourage scientific research in the field of human rights. Opening the seminar, the president of the Rabat-Kénitra regional commission of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), Abdelkader Azraih, explained that it is a matter of reflecting on the ways and means of rooting these rights "while taking into account our identity and the achievements made so far". The culture of human rights is "a productive culture that Morocco must promote", he stressed, recalling in this regard the agreement signed between the CNDH and the Faculty of Legal Sciences of Rabat for the creation of a Master's in Human Rights.

Few countries, he noted, have attempted regionalisation in terms of human rights at a time when Morocco is in the process of institutionalising this proximity experience by working with local actors on a programme that must extend throughout the year. Mr. Azraih announced that at the end of this caravan, a study day will be organised to finalise a document on a future project for human rights in the region.

In his presentation on the human rights situation in the region, Mr. Sedki Amedjar, of the Moroccan Human Rights Organisation (OMDH), painted a bleak picture of its socio-economic indicators. The population of the Gharb-Chrarda-Beni-Hssen region, he said, "suffers from poverty and economic and social marginalisation", even though this part of the Kingdom possesses natural, economic, and human wealth.

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Mr. Amedjar pleaded for the protection and consolidation of human rights to also encompass the fight against the various forms of poverty. The current stage requires, according to him, integrating the fight against poverty into the human rights system.

One of the highlights of the meeting was the tribute paid to Mrs. Zhor Alaoui, born in Kénitra in 1940, for her career as a militant for women's rights. Mrs. Alaoui, indicated Mr. Hassan Aït Bella, member of the regional commission, is a militant imbued with the principles of human rights who has been involved in all stages of the fight for the promotion of women and freedom of expression.

"During my journey," said Mrs. Alaoui, "I acquired the conviction that there is no contradiction between cultural particularity, including the Islamic reference, and universal values. On the contrary, they enrich each other." For her, the question of human rights remains posed even in democratic countries.

After Kénitra, the caravan will travel to Sidi Kacem on 21 December and to Sidi Slimane on the 22nd of the same month.