Rabat, 17 Feb. Moroccan Foreign Minister Naser Burita today criticized the politicization of the rights situation in African countries by parties that “proclaim themselves evaluators” of these rights on the continent.
During his speech before the pre-world human rights forum in Rabat, Burita deplored that these parties, which he did not name, “are based on positions that leave aside dialogue and cooperation as pillars of the protection (…) of human rights, to adopt, unfortunately, positions of double standards”.
Morocco has repeatedly criticized reports by some international NGOs, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which question the human rights situation on its territory, and recently rejected a European Parliament resolution calling for the release of Moroccan journalists.
Burita assured in his speech today that there is no external protection of human rights, nor ex officio legitimacy for assessments dictated by foreigners.
Likewise, he underlined that “there is no serious alternative to the progressive, individual and collective appropriation of the universality of these rights”.
He added that the international commitment of African countries to human rights “cannot be held hostage to a logic of political confrontation” which further weakens universal solidarity in the defense of these rights.
However, the Moroccan minister called for a new international diplomacy in the field of human rights based on dialogue and cooperation.
Furthermore, he defended the need for a new Vienna Convention on human rights to assess, modernize and deepen the international system that protects these rights so that it is more balanced, and that African countries have their contribution to this system.
The Pre-World Forum on Human Rights, inaugurated today in Rabat and which will last two days, is the preparatory stage for the III World Forum on Human Rights to be held next month in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. ECE
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