The ACIJLP supports the demands of judges of Morocco And Calls upon the protection of their independence

Cairo, 14^th October 2012

  The ACIJLP supports the demands of judges of Morocco

And Calls upon the protection of their independence

The Arab Center for the Independence of Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) expresses its full solidarity with the judges' demands in the Kingdom of Morocco, regarding their demands aimed at the independence of judges and the judiciary.

The ACIJLP calls upon the concerned Moroccan authorities to take urgent and necessary measures to ensure guarantee of the independence of judges as the cornerstone in fair trial standards. Furthermore, constitutional and legal reforms in Morocco should ensure financial and administrative independence to Moroccan Judiciary and law needs to properly ensure for judges to spend the period scheduled for their job, to achieve their independence, security, access to adequate remuneration, conditions of service and pension and age of retirement.

The ACIJLP calls upon H.E. Mr. Mustafa Ramid, Moroccan Minister of Justice to give full consideration to the demands submitted by the judges in Morocco during their protest on 6\10\2012. The protest gathered about 2300 Judge in front of the Moroccan Court of Cassation in Rabat, demanding the guarantee of true and effective independence of judicial authority and actual implementation of Chapter VII of the new Moroccan Constitution.

The ACIJLP also calls upon the King of Morocco and the concerned Moroccan authorities to immediately intervene in order to prevent the Moroccan Ministry of Justice from interfering in the affairs of the judiciary, particularly relevant to the dominance of the ministry on judges through promotion, transfer and inspection.

The ACIJLP calls upon taking the necessary measures to subdue the Moroccan judicial police with all its components to the public prosecution authority directly and exclusively, for their appointment, promotion, transfer and chamber of misdemeanors regarding their discipline.

The ACIJLP points out that judges are in charge of taking final decisions on the lives, freedoms, rights, duties and property of citizens, so it is appropriate that the legislation relevant to the performance of their work duties should be consistent with the relevant international standards of judicial independence, applied and recognized widely, in particular the United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary., and the Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors.