STUDY ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Background

In accordance with the prerogatives of the Advisory Council of Human Rights, a national institution for the promotion and protection of human rights, and by virtue with the human rights international conventions and Morocco's commitment in this area, the Council held several consultative meetings with government departments concerned (the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry in charge of the Moroccan Community Abroad) and specialized national institutions (High Commissioner Office of Planning (HCP), the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad, Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans living Abroad, the Observatory of the Protection of the Child) in addition to the parliament and some civil society associations working in the field.

It also participated in several international meetings on the issue of human trafficking and considered successful experiences and best practices in the field. It has studied international relevant conventions and considered existing data and statistics.

To address this issue, the Council adopted a participatory and integrated human rights based approach. This approach takes into account the reality of the phenomenon, national efforts made to fight it, its international consequences, possibilities and means of international and regional cooperation, comparative successful experiences in this area.

The Council considers human trafficking as a grave human rights violation. It violates the right to life, the right to freedom and the right to be free from all kinds of slavery. It targets children, in particular. It affects their fundamental needs to grow up in a safe environment and their right to be free from exploitation and sexual abuse. It affects women as well. It is a humiliation and a grave violation of human dignity, prohibited in all human rights convention.

The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring 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 shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs”;

Human trafficking includes:

- Trade in children: sale and exploitation in pornography and sex tourism;

- The functional exploitation of children through forced labor;

- White slavery and sexual slavery;

Victims of human trafficking can be classified as follows:

- Children;

- Women;

- Domestic workers and victims of forced labor;

- Victims of the removal of organs

State of ratification of human trafficking related conventions

Morocco has ratified the following conventions and protocols:

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000), ratified on 19 September 2002;

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (2000), ratified on 22 May, 2010;

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2000), ratified 22 May, 2002;

The Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution by Others (1949), ratified on August 17, 1973;

The Slavery Convention (1926), ratified on 11 May, 1959

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1991), ratified on 21 June, 1993;

The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), ratified on 7 November, 1956;

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), ratified on June 21, 1993;

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), ratified on 21 June, 1993;

The International Labour Organisation’s Convention (# 29) on Forced Labour (1930), ratified on 20 May, 1957

The International Labour Organisation’s Convention (# 105) on the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (1957), ratified on 1 December 1966;

The International Labour Organisation’s Convention (# 182) on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999), ratified on July 26, 2001

Morocco has not yet ratified the following conventions and protocols:
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (it was ratified and the Council of Ministers on 7 May 2009 but official ratification and publication procedures have not been completed);

The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000);

The Additional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children;

A resolution the UN General Assembly adopted in its 81st session, on 4 December 2000, by virtue of which the GA confirms that sexual abuse, trafficking in women girls for economic and sexual exploitation through prostitutions and other forms of sexual abuse and modern forms of slavery are grave human rights violations.