IV. Case Studies

The following are examples of associations that have faced arbitrary obstacles of one kind or another to declaring themselves according to the law. While these organizations have for the most part continued to operate, these obstacles imposed by the authorities have undercut and weakened them. Furthermore, these obstacles exemplify the way that authorities often disregard in practice laws that are protective of human rights.

Most of the featured cases involve the withholding of receipts for documentation, although in one case featured below, involving the Morocco section of the World Mountain People Association, the arbitrariness by local authorities extends to refusing to recognize that if an association obtains a provisional receipt and is not challenged within 60 days, it is properly declared (see under Amazigh rights and development organizations).

In another of the cases featured below, involving the Amazigh Network for Citizenship, one of its local branches was issued a provisional receipt but then was notified within the 60-day period that the local representative of the state attorney had expressed "reservations"; it was not told what those reservations were, however.

In two cases the authorities took preemptive steps even before the law's declarative process could be set in motion. In one, authorities in al-Ayoun stepped in to ban the Sahrawi human rights association CODESA from holding its constitutive assembly, thereby preventing it from fulfilling one of the steps it must take before submitting its founding papers. In the other, involving a prospective Moroccan branch of the French organization Neither Whores Nor Submissives, the minister of interior himself issued a statement, even before presentation of founding documents, that any registration attempt would be blocked. These represent perhaps the most glaring examples of the extent to which Moroccan authorities disregard the declarative spirit of the law on associations, and apply arbitrary, subjective interpretations in assessing whether an organization meets the vaguely defined criteria of the law on associations.

The Moroccan National Association of Unemployed University Graduates (ANDCM)

The National Association of Unemployed University Graduates is a large umbrella group of local associations nationwide composed of unemployed Moroccans holding university degrees. Its platform is organized around the right to work, a right that, in the association's view, the public sector should fulfill by providing employment to graduates of Moroccan universities.

The rate of unemployment at the end of 2006 among young Moroccans holding university degrees was officially 23.7 percent, more than twice the rate for the general population.[16] According to the official statistics, four out of every five university graduates had been jobless for at least one year. This population, estimated to be one-quarter million strong, has at times shown its restlessness: unemployed graduates were among those who blockaded the port of the city of Sidi Ifni in June 2008, leading to city-wide disturbances and police repression that caused dozens of injuries.[17]

The ANDCM presented its founding papers to the wilaya (governorate offices) of Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zâir in October 1991, according to ANDCM president Abdellah Moujdi of Rabat.[18] Authorities at the wilaya refused, without explanation, to provide the ANDCM a receipt. Since then, the association has held nine congresses, the last one in December 2008. Each time, it has attempted to inform the authorities at the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zâir wilaya in writing of the newly elected officeholders, as required by article 5 of the law on associations. Each time, said Moujdi, the authorities have refused to issue a receipt, without ever explaining this refusal.

According to Moujdi, authorities refrain from legally recognizing the ANDCM so as to avoid having to regularize relations with it. The lack of legal recognition means that the ANDCM is ineligible for grants that public institutions provide to nongovernmental associations, and is excluded when authorities engage in rounds of consultations or organize meetings with Moroccan NGOs. Local authorities refuse to let the ANDCM hire public halls for its gatherings, forcing it to rely on the largesse of trade unions whose headquarters house large meeting halls.[19]

As long as the authorities regard it as not properly declared, the ANDCM cannot hold rallies legally on public thoroughfares. Despite this, the ANDCM and its local affiliates persist in staging frequent public rallies and marches in support of their demands. In Rabat members gather regularly outside of parliament and various ministries, where they unfurl banners and chant slogans.

These demonstrations by the ANDCM have sometimes resulted in informal concessions, whereby government officials receive representatives of the association and pledge to hire a certain number of jobseekers. More often, however, it is the police, rather than concessions by officials that have ended their public protests. The police and auxiliary forces, wielding batons, have often dispersed the demonstrators with considerable force, inflicting sometimes serious injuries. Reuters photographer Rafael Marchante described to Reporters without Borders how Moroccan security forces beat unemployed graduates and Marchante as he tried to cover their demonstration on May 21, 2008, in front of the parliament building:

These demonstrations are held each week outside parliament. This week I appeared to be the only person covering it. The auxiliaries were beating the demonstrators violently, including young women, kicking them in the face. Five or six auxiliaries came up to me, grabbed one of my cameras and beat me. I produced my information ministry accreditation but one of them, who appeared to be their superior, tore it up and then punched me twice in the face.[20]

In many instances after forcibly dispersing their gatherings, authorities have prosecuted ANDCM members on charges of participating in "unauthorized" assemblies; to that charge, they sometimes add the charge of membership in an unauthorized association, even though (as noted in chapter III) this charge cannot be found anywhere in Moroccan law. For example, authorities prosecuted on such combined charges Saïd Marzouki, president of the association's chapter in Jerrada, and Anas as-Salmani, president of the section in Beni Madhar, both small cities in northwest Morocco. The charges against the two stem from events of June 4, 2008, when Marzouki participated in two sit-ins with members of the association, the first in Beni Madhar and the second in Jerrada. Marzouki told Human Rights Watch that the unemployed graduates had staged the sit-ins without first notifying the authorities, adding that he was certain the authorities would not have authorized them.[21] The security forces used force to disperse both sit-ins. After the second sit-in, police summoned Marzouki and as-Salmani. According to Marzouki, the local prosecutor subsequently charged them with insulting a police officer, obstructing traffic, disobeying orders, incitement to commit crimes (based on slogans they allegedly chanted), and membership in an unauthorized association. The court convicted Marzouki and Selmani and sentenced them to seven and five months in prison respectively, terms they served in full.

The refusal by authorities to legally recognize the ANDCM extends to its many chapters around the country. Local authorities did issue receipts in some instances when local sections of the ANDCM presented their founding papers, but when it came time for them to present updated lists of the chapters' office-holders (as per article 5 of the law on associations) the authorities refused to issue receipts. One example is the experience of the ANDCM's chapter in the city of Nador. The bacha[22] of that city had in the past issued receipts for documents submitted by the association, but refused to do so after the chapter submitted an updated list of office-holders following its December 2008 congress, according to its president, Abd al-Ali Boussattati. In the 1990s, in the southern Moroccan city of Tiznit, local authorities issued the local ANDCM section a receipt for its founding papers but refused to do so when the chapter tried to submit its updated documentation as required, according to Brahim Elansari, a member of the chapter at that time.[23]

Boussattati insists that the Nador chapter is legal because it had followed in good faith the procedures set forth in the law. However, he said that the local authorities in Nador persist in telling him that it is not. Boussattati said that on March 5, 2009, security forces broke up a sit-in organized by the chapter in front of the provincial government building in Nador. They arrested nine of the protesters and questioned them before releasing them without charge. The reports completed by the police and presented to the detained protesters stated that they had been participating in a demonstration organized by an unrecognized association, Boussattati said.

Another effect of the ANDCM's lacking legal recognition, Boussattati said, is that the association is not included among the NGOs that local authorities invite to official events or official consultations with civil society. Nor can it hire public halls. Instead, it relies on trade unions to provide them space for meetings.[24]

Amazigh rights and development organizations

The Amazigh, also known as Berbers, are the indigenous people of North Africa. They are overwhelmingly Muslim. Today the two largest Amazigh populations are in Morocco and Algeria, where some are actively engaged in trying to secure their cultural, linguistic, and political rights. In recognition of Amazigh aspirations King Mohammed VI of Morocco created a Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture in 2001 and launched a program to begin teaching the Tamazight language in schools.

Some Amazigh activists want Tamazight declared an official language of Morocco, and regional autonomy for the Rif region, which has a large Amazigh population. After some activists founded the Amazigh Democratic Party in 2005, authorities petitioned the Rabat administrative court to outlaw it on the grounds that it violated the prohibition, in the political parties law, on parties based on religion, ethnicity, or language.[25] The court ruled in favor of the ban in April 2008.

The Amazigh Network for Citizenship, which advocates for the cultural, linguistic, political, and civil rights of Morocco's Amazigh population, is among the many Amazigh organizations in Morocco that authorities have refused to treat in accordance with the law on associations. The national bureau of the association, based in Rabat, along with its branches in Tanalt, Tiznit, Casablanca, and Ifrane, have all submitted founding papers to the relevant branch of the local administration in conformity with the law. However, the local administrations have consistently refused to provide a receipt to the local branches, while the Network's national bureau has gotten receipts only after long delays.

The national bureau submitted its founding documents to authorities in Rabat after its inaugural congress in July 2002. The authorities refused to issue a receipt. The association submitted its papers again following its second congress in July 2005, and obtained a receipt for the first time only in June 2006, after campaigning publicly to demand it. The Network held another congress in August 2008 and filed with local authorities a declaration of the decisions taken at the congress, as required by law. It did not receive a receipt for that filing until June 2009.

Authorities rarely furnish a justification for refusing to issue a receipt to an association. However, the associations often learn of possible motives through informal channels. Authorities in Rabat did not explain to the Amazigh Network for Citizenship why they would not grant it a receipt for its 2008 filing. Ahmed Arehmouch, a Rabat-based attorney and member of the network's executive committee, said he believes that authorities withheld the receipt because of the network's endorsement, in the platform emanating from its August 2008 congress, of a separation between religion and the state.[26] Secularism is a controversial demand in a country whose constitution in article 19 calls the king the "Commander of the Faithful" and "Defender of the Faith."

The caïd[27] in Tanalt refused to accept the registration documents from the network's branch in that city after it held its inaugural congress in August 2008, both when members delivered it to him in person and when they sent it to him by registered mail.[28] The branch tried again in the presence of a bailiff, who completed a report attesting to the caïd's refusal to take the dossier. The branch then challenged the caïd's refusal before an administrative court, which at this writing has not yet ruled on the case. In the meantime, the branch continues to function, but with obstacles. For example, the caïd prevented the branch from distributing in schools AIDS awareness materials in Tamazight, justifying this refusal by saying that the branch is not legally recognized, according to Arehmouch.[29]

An attempt to create a branch in the southern city of Assa resulted in government authorities' blocking the network by means of another stratagem. In this case, the branch submitted its founding documents and received a provisional receipt from the bacha in that city, Mohamed Stitou. But before the expiry of the 60-day period provided by the law, Stitou informed the branch of official objections to its creation: in an undated two-sentence letter received in early 2009, Stitou wrote that he had consulted the state attorney at the court of first instance in Guelmine, who had expressed "reservations" about the establishment of the Assa chapter.

The bacha's notification to the Assa chapter of the network means it cannot function legally, even though he did not specify what those reservations were. The network filed suit in administrative court in Agadir, challenging the authorities' opposition to the section's declaration. The case is pending at this writing, and officials have still not specified the basis for their opposition, according to Arehmouch.[30]

Another small Amazigh organization called the Aguelmam Association for Development and Culture, located in the commune of Dayet Aoua, in the Dayet Ifrah district of the province of Ifrane, obtained a final receipt for its founding papers from the local caïd in 2005. Aguelmam then pursued activities promoting Amazigh culture and the Tamazight language.

However, since filing papers informing authorities of the results of its internal elections held in December 2007, it has been unable to get a receipt for this filing. The association's president, Lahcèn Oussaïd, told Human Rights Watch that the Aguelmam association has lobbied unsuccessfully for the receipt:

The caïd said, "Just wait a bit, you'll get it." But it never came. After four months, we wrote to the 'amil [governor]. Fifteen days went by with no response. The 'amil then referred us to the head of the DAG [Directorate of General Affairs, an agency that is part of the interior ministry][31] in the Ifrane government office. I tried to see the DGED head but he refused to meet with me. I submitted a written complaint to the local authorities, and also informed the press that they were refusing to issue us a receipt. But nothing worked.

Oussaïd said the authorities never provided any formal reason for refusing to issue a receipt to the Aguelmam association. However, he said that he heard unofficially that authorities were withholding legal recognition because Oussaïd himself had become more active in Amazigh politics. In 2006 he attended the congress of the Amazigh Democratic Party and won election as vice secretary-general of its youth wing; he also served on the party's national steering committee. In 2008, as noted above, a court ruled in favor of a government lawsuit to ban the party.

According to Oussaïd, non-recognition has not prevented the Aguelmam association from conducting its activities, which include programs to combat illiteracy. It has even carried out projects in conjunction with the Royal Institute on Amazigh Culture. The association also has been able to open a bank account. The main day-to-day impact of the non-recognition of Aguelmam, says Oussaïd, is that authorities exclude it from the officially sponsored events to which they invite NGOs. This is a significant disadvantage in a rural area such as the one in which Aguelmam operates, where local authorities and institutions are central to community life.[32] Oussaïd told Human Rights Watch that the association is hoping to regularize its status through contacts with the authorities, before resorting to administrative court.[33]

Thawiza Association for Culture and Development Selouane/Nador, an Amazigh cultural organization in Selouane, a small city in the province of Nador near Morocco's Mediterranean coast, obtained legal recognition when founded in 2005. Among its activities was to co-organize in October 2008 a conference on strategies for autonomy for the Rif region. Thawiza notified the basha of Nador about the impending conference and held it without encountering obstacles or adverse measures.[34]

However, after Thawiza elected new officeholders in early 2009, the caïd of Selouane refused to issue a receipt for the document reporting the election results. The caïd gave no explanation to Karim Meslouhi, an Amazigh activist whom Thawiza had chosen as its new president, when he came to present the document. But when other Thawiza members returned to the caïd's office to request the receipt, the caïd told them that the problem was their election of Meslouhi, who advocates political autonomy for the Rif region.[35] Meslouhi told Human Rights Watch that Thawiza had not filed suit in administrative court, explaining, "I have no confidence in the court to solve our problem; it's the ministry of interior that should be applying the law."[36]

The Moroccan section of a France-based association interested in the rights of indigenous peoples encountered problems emanating from yet another variation of authorities' failure to respect the law on associations. The section of the World Mountain People Association (Association des Populations des Montagnes du Monde, APMM)[37] obtained its provisional receipt from the bacha of Meknes when it submitted its founding documents in October 2007, but has yet to receive its final receipt. Section President Saïd Kemal told Human Rights Watch, "Every time I stop by at the desk in charge of the file at the office of the bacha of Meknes, the clerk there tells me the investigation is still going on."[38]

The law on associations is clear regarding this situation: if the state authorities do not formally oppose an association's existence within 60 days of the local authority's having issued it a provisional receipt, that association can begin functioning legally. However, the bacha of the city of Mrirt in Khenifra province in the wilaya of Meknes-Tafilalet had his own interpretation: when the association applied to hire a large public hall in that town for an event in March 2009, the bacha refused, explaining that the association lacked the final receipt and that its provisional receipt had "expired." The association was forced to transfer the venue of the meeting to a private home, according to Kamel.[39]

Sahrawi human rights associations in al-Ayoun

Moroccan authorities have deprived of legal status several Western Sahara-based Sahrawi human rights associations that have tried to follow the procedures for obtaining legal recognition. Human Rights Watch described these cases in its December 2008 report "Human Rights in Western Sahara and the Tindouf Refugee Camps."[40] Referring to two of the larger organizations, the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State (Association Sahraouie des Victimes de Violations Graves des Droits de l'Homme Commises par l'Etat Marocain, ASVDH) and the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (Collectif des Défenseurs Sahraouis des Droits de l'Homme, CODESA), the then-governor of al-Ayoun-Boujdour-Seguia al-Hamra, M'hammed Drif, made clear to Human Rights Watch that the reason these organizations are refused legal recognition is that their imputed political views in favor of independence for Western Sahara violate Morocco's constitution:

For CODESA and the ASVDH, the problem is that their founding statutes do not respect the Constitution of Morocco.... If they present an application for legal recognition that conforms to the law, like the AMDH [Association Marocaine des Droits de l'Homme] or the OMDH [Organizations Marocaine des Droits de l'Homme] did, then they will be approved. They must first of all renounce the Polisario line.[41]

(The Polisario is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro, the Sahrawi independence organization.)

The al-Ayoun-based ASVDH remains an unrecognized association because the bacha in al-Ayoun has refused since 2005 to accept the set of founding documents the association submitted. This refusal persists despite a ruling by the administrative court of Agadir in September 2006 that the bacha had exceeded his powers under the law on associations when he refused to accept the ASVDH's founding documents. Despite this court ruling, the bacha refused again in 2008 to accept the documents from ASVDH president Brahim Dahhan and filed an appeal before an administrative appeals court in Marrakesh against the ruling in first instance by the Agadir court. The Marrakesh court on December 17, 2008, dismissed the appeal on the grounds that it had not been filed within the required deadline for such filings.

Despite these administrative court rulings against him, the bacha of al-Ayoun continues to refuse to receive the papers from the ASVDH. As noted in chapter II, an administrative court lacks enforcement power, so a ruling in favor of an association does not necessarily translate into a change in behavior by the authorities. In this case, the local authorities have flouted the court's ruling with impunity.

While the ASVDH continues to operate and to issue a large number of statements and reports about human rights violations against Sahrawis, the lack of legal status has adverse consequences for it and its members. In November 2007 the al-Ayoun Court of First Instance convicted an ASVDH executive committee member, Sadyk Ballahi, of membership in an unrecognized association, while acquitting him of participating in and inciting illegal demonstrations.[42] The court sentenced him to six months in prison but let him remain free pending the outcome of his appeal. On October 20, 2008, the al-Ayoun Court of Appeals, to its credit, overturned the conviction of Ballahi on the membership charge-but not before Ballahi, a resident of Guelmine, had spent two days in police custody and then fifteen months with a possible prison term hanging over him.  The appeals court held that the "misdemeanor of membership in an unrecognized association is non-existent," which renders "incorrect" on the law the lower-court's guilty verdict against the defendant. [43]

The ASVDH, because of its unrecognized status, is unable to organize lawful demonstrations in public thoroughfares. Security forces violently disrupted its effort to organize a peaceful sit-in in a square in downtown al-Ayoun on international human rights day on December 10, 2006, even though the association had notified the authorities in advance and had received no order prohibiting the gathering, according to ASVDH Vice-President el-Ghalia Djimi.[44] The wali (governor) later argued that the ASVDH lacked legal status and was therefore not legally entitled to organize a demonstration.[45]

On May 22, 2007, an al-Ayoun appeals court upheld the guilty verdict against two men for membership in an "unauthorized association" – namely the ASVDH -- among other charges.[46] The court affirmed the March 7, 2007 conviction by an al-Ayoun court of first instance of ASVDH secretary-general Brahim Sabbar and steering-committee member Ahmed Sbaï on the membership charge and on charges of inciting violent demonstrations that took place in Western Sahara during 2005 and 2006. The appeals court increased the sentences that the lower court had imposed on the two men from 12 months to 18 months in prison.  Both men served their sentences, Sabbar concurrently with another sentence he was already serving on other charges.

With respect to CODESA, authorities in al-Ayoun have used tactics different from those they used against the ASVDH to prevent it from declaring itself legally. The authorities stepped in to block CODESA from holding its constitutive assembly, set for October 2007, thereby impeding it from fulfilling one of the steps it must take before submitting its founding papers to the local authorities.

The Moroccan government wrote to Human Rights Watch in 2008 to justify its decision to prevent the legalization of CODESA:

Reviewing the principles underlying the inaugural assembly of the "Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders," we find that the goal in establishing this association is to "promote the culture of human rights in Western Sahara and Morocco's southern cities and universities that contain students coming from these regions." This constitutes an infraction of the provisions of article 5 of [the law on associations].

Given that this association aims to organize and represent a specific segment of Moroccan society while excluding others, not to mention that even its name displays its discriminatory origin, it directly violates the requirements of article 3 of the [law on associations].

Furthermore, Moroccan authorities are preventing the legalization of this association due to the obligation to respect the bedrock principles of the nation. This group tries to use the cover of a human rights association to create a political organization connected to the Polisario Front, which aims to compromise national territorial integrity by advocating separatism. It thus violates the requirements of article 3 of the same royal decree, which states, "Any association is void if it is founded on a cause or has an objective that is illegal, contrary to good morals or that aims to undermine the Islamic religion, the integrity of national territory, or the monarchical regime, or that calls for discrimination."[47]

In accusing CODESA of being an organization that is "discriminatory" by its essence, Moroccan authorities are applying an unreasonably expansive notion of that term, which is used to connote practices that have a negative impact on members of particular groups, not those that aim to positively benefit particular groups. The provisional bylaws of CODESA speak in general terms about protecting international human rights and ensuring respect for those rights by the Moroccan state (a copy of the bylaws is one of the documents an association must submit when declaring itself before the authorities). The bylaws contain nothing that could be construed as advocating discrimination. Another CODESA document, its draft platform, makes clear that its "priority is to defend the collective rights of the Sahrawi people" from violations committed by the Moroccan state, although it goes on to say that it will concern itself with all human rights issues in Western Sahara and not just those affecting the Sahrawi people. It also provides a political analysis of the evolution of the Western Sahara conflict that runs counter to the official Moroccan version, referring to Morocco's "invasion" rather than "reclaiming" of the disputed region.

In embracing an objective that focuses on the plight of one particular category of persons (the Sahrawis), CODESA is no different from thousands of nongovernmental associations around the world that are formed to promote or defend the interests of one social group, be it a group sharing an ethnicity, religion, disability, common belief, condition, or interest. It is no more "discriminatory" than would be an organization formed by Moroccan migrants in France to defend the rights of Moroccans living in that country.

As for the claim that CODESA "aims to compromise national territorial integrity by advocating separatism," and thus violates article 3 of the law on associations, such interference in freedom of association would require evidence of advocacy of violence to be justified under international law. However, the government provided no evidence, either to CODESA or to Human Rights Watch, to support the allegation that even peaceful advocacy of "separatism" was an aim of the organization. It is no secret that CODESA's founders include several Sahrawi activists known for their pro-independence views. However, the personal views of the founders cannot be attributed to the organization itself, and they therefore provide no legal basis for acting against it.

By preventing CODESA's registration-rather than by opposing it after it has filed its founding papers-Moroccan authorities are demonstrating once again that the law on association is in practice not a declarative regime but rather one of prior authorization.

The Commission for the Protection of Public Property in Morocco (INPBPM)

The National Commission for the Protection of Public Property in Morocco (l'Instance nationale pour la protection des biens publics au Maroc, INPBPM) is a Rabat-based organization dedicated to safeguarding Morocco's land resources and heritage from corruption, misappropriation, or illegal monopolization by means of "confronting those who are corrupt or corruptible regardless of their social status."[48] The INPBPM submitted its founding papers on August 1, 2006, to the local administration at the wilaya of Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zâir, where the clerk on duty refused to issue the association a provisional receipt. When the INPBPM heard nothing from the authorities within the 60-day period provided by the law, the INPBPM took the position that it was now properly declared, having adhered to the procedures laid down in the law on associations, its president, Tarek Sbaï, told us.[49]

Rather than filing a case in court, the INPBPM initially protested to the minister of interior the refusal to issue receipts, since in its judgment, the refusal was a political matter, Sbaï said. The INPBPM wrote letters on November 15, 2006, to the prime minister and interior minister about the problem but received no answer. None of its correspondence addressed to public officials has produced a response, he said.

The INPBPM eventually filed a case in the Rabat administrative court, which responded by issuing an order designating a bailiff to accompany and bear witness to the INPBPM's efforts to file its papers at the wilaya.[50] A bailiff accompanied the INPBPM on June 2, 2009, and in his report stated that the association delivered the papers to the official on duty at the public affairs office within the wilaya, who refused to issue a provisional receipt for them or to identify himself.[51]

The INPBPM has formed chapters in the cities of al-Hoceima, Sidi Ifni, TanTan, Smara, Assa, and Mrirt, none of which has succeeded in getting a receipt when depositing founding documents. The Hoceima section sent its founding papers by registered mail to the local administration, return receipt requested, but their mailing was returned to the sender, Sbaï said. In some cases, he added, authorities explained orally to members of the local sections that since the national association was not recognized, they could not grant recognition to the local sections.[52]

There have been practical consequences to the fact that authorities view the INPBPM as undeclared. Because it lacks legal personality, the association cannot file suits in Moroccan court in pursuit of its objective to protect public property.[53] In addition, authorities at the Rabat wilaya denied a request by the INPBPM to hold on April 17-18, 2009, a congress at the School of Mines, saying the INPBPM had no receipt, Sbaï said.

But, in a reflection of the ambiguities between practice and the law, after the wilaya refused, the INPBPM persuaded the School of Mines to make a meeting room available to it anyway. The INPBPM also managed to open a bank account, something that banks typically refuse to do for associations that cannot produce the receipts issued by the local administration.

The Union of Promotion Nationale Workers in al-Ayoun

The "Promotion Nationale" is a national public-sector program designed to provide work for unemployed or underemployed adults in labor-intensive projects and activities. It has a particularly large presence in Western Sahara.

In 2007 a group of workers in Western Sahara decided to form a union called

the Union of Promotion Nationale Workers in al-Ayoun. They held a constitutive assembly on May 18 of that year. According to its president, Mohamed Mbarek Braikou, the union seeks to give a voice to Promotion Nationale workers' demands for medical insurance, contributions to social security, paid vacation, higher salaries, public housing, compensation for workplace injuries, and equal pay for men and women. He said the union's members are all Sahrawis, but its demands are only social and economic, not political.

The union attempted to deliver its founding documents to the bacha of al-Ayoun on May 25, 2007. The bacha refused to take the file, explaining that the Promotion Nationale workers had no right to form a union, according to Braikou. The union engaged a bailiff to witness its second effort to deliver the file. Once again, the bacha refused to take it. The union next filed suit at the administrative tribunal of Agadir, which ruled that the bacha had exceeded his authority when he refused to accept the documents and issue a receipt. Despite this court decision, the bacha has continued to refuse to issue the receipt.

Braikou said that authorities routinely block the union's efforts to hold sit-ins in al-Ayoun to reinforce workers' demands. In April 2008 the union informed local authorities of its intention to hold a sit-in on the 8th of that month. The security chief of al-Ayoun asked the union orally not to hold the event, but no written order was provided. When the union went ahead with its sit-in, the police dispersed the demonstrators by force. Authorities gave an oral but no written refusal when the union informed them of plans to hold another sit-in on November 20, 2008. The union went ahead with the event, and once again the police used force to break it up. When the union informed authorities of a sit-in planned for March 26, 2009, authorities ordered them not to hold the event because other demonstrations were expected in al-Ayoun that day. The union canceled their event.[54]

The union cannot hire a public hall in which to meet, and relies instead on the Fédération Démocratique du Travail, a national union, to make a room available to them in its al-Ayoun offices.[55]

Associations led by Al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan members

Members of the Islamist al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan (Justice and Spirituality) movement encounter a whole variety of violations of their right to freedom of association. Although al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan contends that it obtained legal recognition in 1983 and has maintained it ever since,[56] authorities subject its members to a regime of surveillance and harassment. The organization, thought to be Morocco's largest religiously-based movement and the strongest opposition force in the country, seeks to re-Islamize Moroccan society. It wants to curb the king's executive powers and contests article 19 of the Constitution, which confers on the king religious authority as "Commander of the Faithful."

In addition to restricting and harassing al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan and its members directly, authorities around the country apply various forms of pressure on associations that are not formally affiliated with al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan but whose leadership includes members of that movement. The local authorities rarely state their reasons for these and other actions impeding these groups, just as they rarely state their reasons when they refuse to take other associations' documents or issue them receipts. However, members of the affected associations say they are given to understand that the problem resides in the associations' having selected as leaders persons affiliated with al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan. The movement has documented the plight of tens of organizations that local administrative authorities have destabilized in this way.[57]

While some of these associations led by al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan members continue to pursue their activities, the impediments are real: In addition to the usual challenges facing undeclared associations, such as not being able to hold meetings in public halls, in some cases local authorities ordered members of the association to cease all activities, telling them the association was not legally recognized, or posted police outside the association's office to bar persons from entering.

For example, al-Ma'rifa,[58] an educational association working to raise the professional level of teachers and defend their socioeconomic interests in Sidi Slimane, in the province of Kenitra (Gharb-Chrarda Bnei Hcene wilaya), has, since its creation in 2005, encountered the refusal of the bacha to accept its documents. Al-Ma'rifa President Mohamed Dahhan said he tried four times to meet with the bacha to discuss this refusal, but the bacha refused to meet each time. "The officials told me the bacha was not in, but I could see him entering and leaving the building," Dahhan told us.

Dahhan said the bacha never informed the association why authorities refused its file, but he said he is quite sure that it is due to having members of al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan in its leadership. Al-Ma'rifa has largely ceased to function, Dahhan said.[59]

The Mishkat Educational and Cultural Association, also based in Sidi Slimane, claims that it too is victim to the authorities' intolerance for the presence of office-holders affiliated with al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan.[60] At its founding in July 1999, al-Mishkat had no problem filing its documents with the local authorities and obtaining its final receipt. The association then set about pursuing its activities, which were primarily charitable and social: distributing meat to the poor on the occasion of Muslim feasts, and arranging for doctors to provide free medical care, medications, and circumcisions of newborns.

However, shortly after its founding, al-Mishkat began to encounter obstacles to its activities. Authorities blocked an outing for families it had organized to a lake on May 14, 2000. They then blocked a book fair al-Mishkat had planned to hold in a city-run hall in November 2000. After obtaining approval to use the hall, they were informed orally that the hall was no longer available to them. The bacha issued a written order to that effect only after al-Mishkat held two days of sit-in protests, al-Mishkat's former president, Saïd al-Khli', said.

Al-Mishkat's problems with the authorities grew more severe the following year, when the association went to the bacha to present the required written notification of the results of its internal elections. Instead of issuing a receipt on the spot as required by law, the official at the bacha's office informed al-Mishkat that it would have to cease its social and charitable activities. Al-Mishkat member Mohamed Lamiesser explained, "We were distributing every year 120 sheep, providing healthcare for about 400 people, arranging circumcisions for free and paying for the family celebration around the circumcision. This is a poor area of the country. They saw that we were competing with the state in the provision of services."

Al-Mishkat saw no choice but to submit to this demand, said al-Khli'. At the same time, the organization decided to change its bylaws so that elections would be held at five-year instead of two-year intervals. One reason for this amendment, al-Khli' explained, was to minimize the frequency that al-Mishkat had to file declarations with the authorities, since these filings were the occasion for interference. The organization submitted its amended bylaws in 2001-eliminating charitable and social work objectives and lengthening the intervals between elections-and received its receipt from the bacha. Al-Mishkat continued its social and charitable work, but at a reduced level and only in a supporting role for other organizations authorized to conduct those activities, Lamiesser said.

Despite issuing the receipt in 2001, authorities only intensified their harassment of al-Mishkat. Beginning that year the authorities refused each time the association sought to hire the town's youth center for an event.

In 2006, following its scheduled internal elections, al-Mishkat attempted to submit the notification of the voting results along with other required documents, but the bacha refused to accept them. Al-Mishkat then hired a bailiff to witness and report on its efforts to submit the documents to the Economic and Social Services office of the bachaouia (the bacha's administration) of Sidi Slimane on September 12 and 15, 2006. The bailiff's report states that the official on duty refused to take or sign for the documents.[61]

Al-Mishkat did not challenge the bacha's refusal in an administrative court, preferring to count on the bailiff's report as proof of their good faith effort to comply with the law. Al-Khli' told us also that they feared that filing suit in court would trigger a reprisal by authorities; al-Mishkat preferred to quietly pursue its activities and hoped to be left alone.

But when al-Mishkat sought to organize a lecture in a public hall for February 3, 2007, by al-Khli' about his pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the bacha summoned its leaders on February 1 to inform them orally they could not hold the event, even though they had earlier obtained approval to use the hall. The bacha refused their request to provide them written notification of the ban and its legal basis. When people approached the public hall on February 3 to attend the event, security forces turned them away.[62]

Al-Mishkat has been able to conduct without harassment a limited number of activities in its offices, which they rent from a private landlord and which can accommodate about 30 persons. The one exception, said president Slawi Benali, was a several-week-long course al-Mishkat offered to persons preparing to go on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. Benali said that after authorities noticed the would-be pilgrims gathering at the office, the police stationed an agent near the entrance to al-Mishkat's office and later phoned some of those taking the course or visited their homes to question them about it. Benali said participants in the course informed him of these measures; none said they suffered any other measures or were prevented from departing on the pilgrimage.

While authorities have not shut Al-Mishkat down, their refusal to recognize it hampers even the limited activities it can undertake since being forced to abandon its charitable and social mission. Among other things, the lack of legal recognition makes al-Mishkat ineligible for grants that the local authorities make available to local organizations.

Benali said that even though no official ever gave him a reason for the repressive measures, he is convinced that the affiliation with al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan is behind it. Benali acknowledged that he and other leading members of al-Mishkat are members of al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan but insisted that their association and its activities are independent of that movement. Mohamed Lamassier said, "The unfortunate thing is that people were benefiting from our services-and the state has deprived them of those services."

As-Sobh was founded in 1999 in the city of Sidi Kassem to pursue cultural, athletic, and social activities, according to its founding statutes. Around the time that authorities granted as-Sobh its final receipt, the association-like many other recognized associations-received a subsidy from the municipality (in as-Sobh's case, a one-time grant of 3,000 DH, equivalent to US$375). In 2002 as-Sobh rented an office in downtown Sidi Kassem from a private landlord.

In its early years, as-Sobh conducted its activities without significant obstacles, holding cultural and educational events at the local youth center. In May 2003 it sponsored an event at which doctors provided medical care and circumcisions at no charge.

Shortly after that, authorities in Sidi Kassem began harassing the association, in particular by preventing it from holding events except at its own headquarters. In 2005 they blocked a festival of traditional chanting at a local, privately owned movie theater, a teachers' conference for teachers at the public library, and an evening devoted to the Quran at the town's youth center during Ramadhan. In 2006 the authorities blocked as-Sobh from using a youth center for a children's festival.

The bacha of Sidi Kassem at the time, Abdelhak Mechiche, began summoning as-Sobh's president, Qassem Baraka, to tell him the association would have to cease its activities or close down without ever giving a reason, according to Baraka. The police also summoned Baraka for questioning, the gist of which was to get him to confirm that as-Sobh was in fact an appendage of al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan. Baraka insisted that as-Sobh was an independent organization, even if some of its office-holders belonged to that movement.[63]

On November 14, 2006, as-Sobh held its scheduled congress and later that day tried to deliver to Mechiche the list of its newly elected executive bureau and other required documents. When the bacha refused to receive the documents, they sent them again by registered mail; again the bacha refused them. On December 14 as-Sobh officials had a bailiff accompany them as they tried to submit the documents. As the bailiff noted in his report, the bacha refused to take the file, explaining that as-Sobh's executive committee "could not be renewed."[64]

With the bailiff's report of December 14, 2006, proving their good faith effort to file the required documents, as-Sobh waited 60 days before resuming its activities. After receiving no formal objection, as-Sobh began operating again only to find that authorities were still barring it from organizing events except at its own office. Then, beginning in autumn 2007, authorities posted policemen outside as-Sobh's office who barred all access to it around the clock. One of the officers on duty told members of as-Sobh that he had orders from above to prevent all comers from gaining entry.[65] Thus, authorities have all but shut down as-Sobh, through measures that have no basis in law.

In Morocco, as in many countries around the world, parents of public school students form associations in order to monitor and support the education of their children. These associations, like others in Morocco, must declare themselves before local authorities if they wish to collect dues and pursue various other activities.

According to al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan members, authorities have refused to issue receipts for parent associations at schools in various cities around the country when those associations have elected members of al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan to leadership positions. Abderrahim Bensaïd, of as-Sobh, recounted how this practice worked in Sidi Kassem:

My son is in the Bir Anzarane elementary school. In September 2006 the parents elected nine parents to represent them. Then these nine parents chose their office-holders, including Mohamed Bilali as president and myself as a counselor. Both of us are active in al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan. When we went to give the caïd of the arrondissement the list of the newly elected committee, he looked at it and replied, "These two [meaning Bilali and myself] cannot be chosen." He announced this to the school principal and asked the outgoing president of the committee-in which there were no Adl members-not to turn over the committee's official stamp and administrative documents. The justification he gave was that the elections had not been conducted in a legal fashion. But this was only a pretext. We were not about to step down: that was a decision that the assembly of parents would have to take. Instead, we decided to freeze the committee's activities. When the time came for new elections, we decided not to have any al-Adl wa'l-Ihsan members running. The parents elected a new committee, and it got its receipt.[66]

Group against Racism and for Assisting and Defending Foreigners and Migrants (GADEM)

The Group against Racism and for Assisting and Defending Foreigners and Migrants (Groupe Anti-raciste d'Accompagnement et de Défense d'Etrangers et Migrants, GADEM) monitors the treatment by Moroccan authorities of migrants, in particular sub-Saharans living in Morocco or crossing Moroccan territory in the hope of reaching Europe. GADEM has been unable to obtain its registration receipt because authorities have said they object to its name.

When GADEM submitted its founding papers to the wilaya of Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zâir on December 20, 2006, the official on duty refused to issue a receipt for them. GADEM has contacted the wilaya several times in writing to obtain the receipt, without success.

Two weeks after submitting its founding papers, GADEM president Hicham Rachidi received a summons to report to police headquarters in Rabat. There, the police questioned Rachidi about his past and present activities and political affiliation. Then, recalls Rachidi,

We got to the heart of the matter. The police officer asked me if racism existed in Morocco. I answered that we were establishing the association precisely to make observations and reports on whether racism existed or not. And whatever we said, there were norms that had to be respected and that Morocco had ratified.The discussion lasted three hours. Other officials came in and took part in the discussion, in an atmosphere that was even a bit jocular because they seemed taken aback that I was not intimidated and that I was even making jokes. Then the officers told me, "You have to eliminate the reference to racism if you want the association to be recognized." I answered that I was not empowered to change the statutes or the name of the association because only the general assembly could change that.

Rachidi sent letters via registered mail with return receipt requested to the wali, the prime minister, and the minister of interior, but at this writing has received no response to any of these.[67] Rachidi does not even have the registered mail delivery receipts. He went several times to the post office to request them and was told each time to check again later.

Rachidi says that GADEM, despite lacking a receipt, has managed to open a bank account and rent office space.[68] It has also established itself as a leading critic of the government's policies toward sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco.

Neither Whores Nor Submissives (NPNS)

Another association that faces possible obstacles to registering because of its name is Neither Whores nor Submissives (Ni Putes ni Soumises, NPNS). The organization, created in France, advocates on behalf of the rights of girls and women, particularly in poor and working-class settings and wherever they are at risk of violence and face pressure to adhere to religiously-inspired norms of behavior.

After the French daily Le Monde reported on February 20, 2009, that NPNS planned to open a branch in Morocco,[69] Minister of Interior Chekib Benmoussa issued a statement announcing that should NPNS ever apply for legal recognition, authorities would not allow it. Minister Benmoussa explained, "The approach taken by this association, which has conducted respectable work in France, does not correspond to the approach that has been adopted in Morocco for treating issues related to the status of women." He added, "Morocco has several national and international associations that are active in protecting and promoting women's rights and that fully respect our values and traditions."[70] Minister Benmoussa did not frame his objection in terms of any of the criteria provided by article 3 for nullifying an association.

Yet, in a reflection of the frequent paradoxes found in the exercise of civil liberties in Morocco, the NPNS president travels frequently to Morocco to represent the organization and is well received, according to Mar Merita Blat, manager of NPNS's international section.[71]