For several months, Moroccan courts have been facing an unprecedented paralysis due to a national strike of court clerks which took place from Tuesday to Thursday, thus putting the entire judicial system in a blocking situation.
This strike, which affects all courts in the country, not only disrupts the smooth running of hearings, but also prevents the submission of requests and files to the court fund.
What about the consequences?
Lawyers, litigants, as well as all justice stakeholders, are heavily affected by the repercussions of this social movement.
The situation is becoming critical. Litigants see their cases postponed indefinitely and lawyers practice their profession in increasingly precarious conditions.
I. Context of the clerks’ strike
The current clerks’ strike stems from salary and statutory demands. The latter, who play a central role in the proper functioning of the courts, feel undervalued and denounce precarious and difficult working conditions.
Faced with the lack of a concrete response from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, the court clerks decided to further extend their strike action, thus bringing a large part of the judicial system to a standstill. Moroccan.
II. The impact of the strike on lawyers
For lawyers, the clerks’ strike represents a professional nightmare, because the role of clerks is crucial in receiving and recording motions, managing legal documents and holding hearings. Without their presence, courts cannot function normally, which poses several major problems for lawyers.
The first obstacle that lawyers face is the inability to file requests with the courts, something that blocks their daily work.
This situation causes significant delays in the management of files, thus increasing the pressure on legal professionals who find themselves unable to defend their clients within a reasonable time frame.
The paralysis of court registries has also led to the massive postponement of hearings and litigants are seeing their cases drag on, thus increasing legal uncertainty who are growing impatient with these delays.
III. Litigants: collateral victims
If lawyers are on the front line facing the difficulties caused by the clerks’ strike, litigants are also the first victims. The Moroccan judicial system is often perceived as slow and complex, and this strike only accentuates these difficulties in accessing justice.
Endless business
For litigants, each hearing postponement represents an additional delay in access to justice. Whether it concerns commercial, family or criminal disputes, the parties involved must wait, often without visibility of a resolution date.
For certain criminal cases, these delays can have dramatic and particularly serious consequences, especially for people in pre-trial detention.
Emotional and financial costs
It should be noted that delays in justice are not just numbers on calendars. Behind every postponed case, there are people waiting for a solution to their problems.
For some litigants, the wait translates into direct financial losses, unresolved commercial disputes, prolonged family conflicts, or even people in pre-trial detention awaiting trial. This wait also takes an emotional toll, with families and individuals caught in endless torment.
Towards a risk of loss of confidence in the judicial system
This prolonged paralysis of the courts risks undermining the credibility of the Moroccan judicial system. The apparent slowness and inefficiency of institutions could erode citizens’ confidence in their ability to obtain fair and speedy justice.
IV. Prospects and potential solutions
The current situation of Moroccan courts requires a rapid and effective response to prevent the paralysis from getting worse.
It is essential that the legitimate demands of clerks are heard and that a fair and equitable solution is found to meet their needs, while ensuring the continuity of the judicial institution.
Furthermore, this crisis could be an opportunity to rethink the functioning of Moroccan courts more generally, hence the dematerialization of procedures, for example, which could reduce the dependence of the judicial system on the physical presence of clerks and facilitate filing and management. remote requests.
In conclusion, the clerks’ strike has plunged the Moroccan courts into an unprecedented crisis, affecting both lawyers and litigants. If the situation remains stuck and is not quickly resolved, the consequences could be even more disastrous.
It is therefore urgent that the actors concerned find a way out of this impasse, in order to re-establish the proper functioning of justice and to restore the confidence of litigants in the judicial system is not permanently impaired.
The time has come for constructive dialogue and structural reforms for more effective, accessible and resilient justice.
Editorial/Le7tv (press release)
