The Council of Europe delivered the fifth week-long training module, for the year 2017, on practical work of National Preventive Mechanisms (NPM) to Moroccan and Tunisian experts on 4-8 December. The training session was attended by 23 members of the Moroccan National Council for Human Rights (CNDH) and two invitees of the Tunisian National Authority for the Prevention of Torture (INPT).

As a comprehensive recap and practical application of competencies acquired in the course of the four preceding sessions, this module comprised three-day monitoring visits to two prisons in Meknes under conditions that were close to real conditions of NPM visits, while no NPM is established yet in Morocco. The Council of Europe team of trainers from France, Belgium and Switzerland – all very experienced detention monitors themselves – said they were impressed with their Moroccan colleagues’ skills and working methods.

As concerns the prevention of ill-treatment in prison settings, this ends the second cycle of the three-phase comprehensive training programme that is being delivered jointly by the Association of the Prevention of Torture (APT) and the Council of Europe to members and staff of the future Moroccan NPM. The latter is expected to be set up shortly by a law that will give new attributions to the CNDH.

Building on the trustful, close working and human relations that have been established between the Moroccan monitors and their foreign counterparts and on the dynamism thus created the cooperation programme for 2018 is presently being discussed between the parties in order to cover other areas of NPM work.

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Press Release

Council of Europe

South Programme II