The Moroccan candidate Abderrazak Rouwane has won one of the five vacant seats of the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) for the 2022-2025 period.
Morocco’s ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans living abroad announced on Monday, October 11 that Rouwane who was competing against eleven other candidates secured 93 votes in the Geneva during the 18th Meeting of States Parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He will as a result be able to keep his seat for a period of four years, from 2022 to 2025.
The ministry’s press release stated that Abderrazak Rouwane’s win attests to Morocco’s reputable and credible image among other countries, as well as its vital role in the protection, respect and promotion of Human Rights.
“Morocco has long been engaged in the strengthening and promotion of Human Rights, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, by initiating a long process aiming to update its legal arsenal, as well as to establish national institutions working towards the protection of Human Rights and the prevention of any form of torture or inhuman treatment,” said the statement.
The CAT is the body of ten experts “of high moral character and possessing recognized competence in the field of Human Rights” that monitors implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by its State parties, which entered into force on December 10, 1984.
Abderrazak Rouwane, who holds a Master’s degree in International Human Rights law from the University of Essex in Great Britain, is considered by many a competent and skillful human rights expert with extensive knowledge of legal and universal systems.
Before now, the senior human rights expert held the post of Secretary General of the Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights. During a meeting on November 28, 2020, in Niamey, Niger, Rouwane was elected to be a member of the Permanent Independent Human Rights Commission of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC).