Friday, November 8, 2024 at 7:40 p.m.
Bogota – Under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the Kingdom of Morocco is positioning itself as a pioneering state in the fight against violence against children, said Thursday in Bogota, Redouane Houssaini, director of the United Nations and International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad.
Redouane Houssaini, who represents Morocco at the first global ministerial conference to end violence against children (Bogota – November 7 and 8), indicated that the Kingdom has placed the protection of children among its priorities, including it in its various national legislations and by adopting numerous programs focused on the needs of the child.
He highlighted the particular attention that the Sovereign continues to pay to improving the conditions of childhood, as well as the personal involvement of HRH Princess Lalla Meryem, President of the National Observatory for Human Rights. l’Enfant (ONDE), to promote and strengthen the rights of children.
Redouane Houssaini stressed that the programs implemented by Morocco in this area aim to promote the right of children to protection against all forms of violence, mistreatment or exploitation, as well as their right to physical rehabilitation and psychological and social reintegration.
Indeed, he added, Morocco has ratified the majority of international and bilateral agreements which establish and improve the conditions of childhood, notably the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and has introduced reforms legislative measures with a view to harmonizing national legislation with this Convention.
Commendable efforts have also been made to combat child labor, especially after the reform of the labor code, continued Redouane Houssaini, announcing in this context that Morocco will host in 2025 the sixth World Conference on the Elimination of Child Labor. children.
He reiterated that these efforts constitute a model on the continental level, stressing that Morocco is willing to share its experience with other countries on the African continent, where by 2050, one child under 18 in three in the world will be African.
It should be remembered that this commitment by Morocco resulted in the creation of permanent protection and monitoring institutions, including the Children’s Parliament and ONDE.
A pioneer in this field, this Observatory has set up a platform to report acts of violence against children and has created a listening center with a toll-free number intended to protect children from abuse. through the reporting of cases of violence, exploitation or neglect.
This event, organized by Colombia in collaboration with the Swedish government, WHO and UNICEF and the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on violence against children, brings together for two days more than 1,200 participants, including ministers , senior government officials, international organizations, NGOs, media and children.
This Conference aims to proclaim a common and bold vision to end all forms of violence against children and will be sanctioned by the adoption, by consensus, of a Declaration aimed at placing the right and the good -being of the child at the center of national plans to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.2, which aims to end all forms of violence against children.
