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The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has called on France to issue an official apology to the Moroccan people for abuses committed during French colonialism, to make reparations for the damages caused, to respect Morocco’s right to self-determination, and to cease support for «Zionist entity crimes» against Palestinians, Lebanese, and other regional populations.
In an open letter published Sunday evening, ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit, the NGO also urged the release of classified defense documents and cooperation on international letters rogatory to Morocco to clarify the disappearance and assassination of leftist leader Mehdi Ben Barka.
The letter, viewed by Yabiladi, notes that Macron is scheduled to address the Moroccan Parliament on October 29, coinciding with Morocco’s National Day of the Disappeared, which marks 59 years since Ben Barka’s 1965 disappearance outside the Lipp brasserie in Paris.
AMDH’s letter underscores the involvement of «French agents in coordination with Zionist and American intelligence services... who handed [Ben Barka] over to the Moroccan regime». Since then, Ben Barka, a prominent opponent of Hassan II’s regime, has been missing. AMDH emphasizes that France «has not taken responsibility to reveal [Ben Barka’s] fate and to lift impunity for those involved in his assassination and the concealment of his body».
The letter directly addresses Macron, stating, «You have failed to release all information held by your security, military, and intelligence services on this matter, citing French state secrets. France thus remains complicit in this crime to this day».
AMDH’s appeal echoes calls from Ben Barka’s family to uncover his fate. On October 28, his son, Bachir Ben Barka, released an open letter urging both the French and Moroccan governments to reveal the circumstances of his father’s disappearance through the release of classified information and cooperation on international requests.
This demand follows a similar appeal in 2018, after Macron’s acknowledgment of French complicity in the death of Maurice Audin, who was tortured and killed under France’s Algerian colonial regime.
AMDH urges France to address colonial-era abuses
The AMDH also highlights the impact of colonialism on Morocco and stresses the right to reparations, citing «the Moroccan people's right to preserve their national memory and receive compensation for human rights abuses—political, civil, economic, social, and cultural—suffered during the colonial period».
The association specifically references the exploitation of resources and civil and political abuses against Moroccan resistance figures, asserting that reparations would «restore dignity to the victims of [France’s] racist and colonial policies and compensate the Moroccan people for their depleted resources».
The NGO invokes Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, along with the 2001 Durban Conference’s conclusions against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and intolerance, held under UNESCO’s auspices.
Moreover, the AMDH calls for the revision of all partnership and free trade agreements that infringe on Moroccan rights and resources, and an end to encouragement for Morocco to act as a policing agent against migrants and asylum seekers en route to Europe.
