Mahjoud El Haiba (Head of the Interministerial Delgation for Human Rights – DIDH) and Rupert Joy (Head of the EU Delegation to Morocco) chaired the high-rank kick-off meeting held on 18th of December 2014. Moreover, the ambassadors of the involved EU Member States and representatives from the partner organisations were present.

Amongst the speakers were Abdelzarrak Rouwane (Project leader and Secretary General of the DIDH), Angel Sanchez (Project Leader, Spain), Michel Forst (Project Leader, France), Patricia Hladschik (Project Leader, Austria, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights). They presented the involved bodies as well as the fields of work and the planned activities of the project.

The main objective of the project is the enhancing of respect of human rights and the consolidation of democracy in Morocco. Therefore, the project shall strengthen the DIDH institutionally und support it in the fulfilment of its tasks. Furthermore, the project aims at extending the technical capacities of the DIDH and promoting the integration of the human rights approach into public policies. During the implementation, around 30 European experts will provide their expertise to the DIDH and undertake seminars, trainings and study visits together with the Moroccan institutions.

The project will run for 24 months in the period between 2014 and 2016 and is funded by the European Union with € 900.000.

Further information on the project may be found here.

The project folder and the press release of the event may be found in the attachment (both in French).