HRW Disregarded Ethical Conduct in Matters of Human Rights – Moroccan Journalist

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has disregarded any ethical conduct in matters of human rights in the publication of its latest report on Morocco, said the journalist and writer Talaâ Saoud Al-Atlassi. In an article published Wednesday on Machahid24.com, Al-Atlassi explained that proper human rights conduct must include “respecting the principle of jurisdiction of rights, scrutinizing allegations and maintaining equidistance with the parties to the alleged conflict.” In his op-ed, the author argues that HRW has succumbed to the siren song of politics by deviating from a rigorous approach to human rights. According to him, the organization has ventured to launch politicized attacks on Morocco. The great mistake of the American organization, continued the journalist, was to base its report on a “leftist” and “marginalized” political movement in Morocco which is limited both “in quality and quantity in the Moroccan political fabric.” HRW drew what it wanted from this “inkwell”, before “cooking it up in the sauce of its personal hostility to Morocco”, stressed Al-Atlassi. He argued that the Moroccan human rights and media community, while rejecting the content of the HRW report, exposing its political nature and questioning its ill-intentioned origins, notes that the organization has suffered from a case of “political adolescence.” The author added that the days of “human rights tutelage” over Morocco are now over as the Kingdom experiences “a surge of development and widespread transformation.” “We have nothing to be ashamed of. […] We have much to be proud of, and we are making progress, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in consolidating democracy and establishing the principles and respect for human rights in Morocco,” he said. “HRW does not want to see this and strives to explore sporadic incidents that it distorts to stuff its reports against Morocco, in what constitutes a political service for its enemies and opponents and for those who distrust its progress,” he noted. Concluding, the Moroccan journalist stressed that this type of “political terrorism” will not affect a Morocco; “strong of the union of its components, King and people, to advance its project of reform and modernization.”