The Secretary General of Morocco’s Ministry of the Modernization of Public Service told a newspaper Sept. 28 that an inter-ministerial committee has been established to draft a law on access to information.
The proposal is expected to be prepared mid-2011 when Morocco will host the 4th anti-corruption conference of the countries party to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
On Right to Know Day Sept. 28, the National Coalition for Access to Information Rights in Morocco published a communiqué and participated in a workshop organized by the European Commission in Rabat, Morocco, on access to information and protection of sources of journalists. The workshop was chaired by Said Essoulami, director of CMF MENA, and coordinator of the Moroccan Network for the Right of Information (RMDI),
The Moroccan Network urged the government to initiate national consultations in view of a draft law on access to information. The Network said it regrets that Morocco “continues to pursue the retention of valuable information,” that the laws criminalize unauthorized disclosure of documents that should be made public; and that “standards of transparency and accountability are not yet introduced in the management of public affairs, despite official statements on administrative reform policies.”
The Network continued by saying that “media and business, the biggest consumers of public information, are seriously affected by the lack of transparency.” The Network said “government officials, judges and journalists have been subject to disciplinary actions and criminal penalties for revealing information that is the duty of governments to make available to the public.”
The Moroccan Network for the Right to Information was formed to mark the World Day of Press Freedom in May 2010, at the initiative of CMF MENA and Transparency Morocco. Contact: info@cmfmena.org
Jordan is still the only Arab country to have enacted a FOI law, according to a background paper by Said Almadhoun, fellow, Open Society Justice Initiative, published in February 2010.
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