Background and Objectives

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, will conduct an official visit to the Kingdom of Morocco from 6 to 19 December 2022, at the invitation of the Government of Morocco. His visit aims at assessing the efforts to combat poverty and to protect the human rights of people in poverty in Morocco.

The Special Rapporteur invites all interested individuals and organizations, including civil society organizations, activists, and academics, to provide input on the priority issues listed below to assist him in preparing for the visit.

The Special Rapporteur

The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. UN independent experts regularly undertake country visits to report on human rights issues. Visits, which typically last for two weeks, include meetings between the Special Rapporteur and individuals affected by poverty, public officials, members of parliamentary and judicial bodies, official institutions, civil society organizations, and academics. At the conclusion of country visits, the Special Rapporteur presents a detailed statement of his initial findings. He subsequently submits a final report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report informs other processes, including the review of the country in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council and by human rights treaty bodies.

The Special Rapporteur, Olivier De Schutter, is a Professor of Law at UCLouvain and at SciencesPo (Paris), with extensive experience as an independent UN human rights expert. Between 2008-2014, he served as Special Rapporteur on the right to food. He was a Member of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights between 2015-2020, a position he held until he took up his functions as Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on 1 May 2020.

Key questions and types of input/comments sought

Respondents are requested to limit their comments to a maximum of 2,000 words. Additional supporting materials, such as reports, academic studies, and other background materials may be annexed to the submission.

While all submissions are welcome, and the questions below are by no means exhaustive, the Special Rapporteur would be grateful for comments that address topics such as:

• The nature of poverty and inequality in Morocco, including how poverty is or should be defined and measured, its prevalence, and its distribution (including between men and women, and between rural and urban regions).
• The impact of poverty on civil and political rights, as well as on economic, social and cultural rights such as the rights to health, housing, food, water, education, and social security.
• The potential of and challenges facing the existing social protection system and labour laws to address poverty, inequality, and social exclusion, especially with a view to protecting informal workers, women, children, ethnic minorities, rural populations, refugees and migrant workers, unregistered/unrecognized citizens, and other groups particularly affected by poverty.
• The social and economic impacts of climate change on groups and individuals experiencing poverty.
• The role of fiscal spending, public finance management, and tax policy in relation to poverty.
• Examples of how participation of people in poverty is encouraged, in the design and implementation of public policies or in investment projects led by private companies.
• Promising social innovations and/or alternative business or development models, including in the social and solidarity economy, that can help to reduce poverty.
• Workers’ rights in special economic zones or in global supply chains.
• Regions and cities that should be visited by the Special Rapporteur.
• Individuals and organisations the Special Rapporteur should meet with during his country visit.

Submissions can be sent to srextremepoverty@ohchr.org by 4 November 2022. Kindly send your submission as an attachment to an email, in Word format. While we will process also submissions in Arabic, submissions in English, French, or Spanish are encouraged, as capacity for translation is limited and this would significantly facilitate review by the Special Rapporteur and his staff.

The Special Rapporteur’s visit will lead to a detailed end of mission statement on 19 December 2022, and a final report presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2023.

Treatment of inputs/comments received

We will publish all submissions unless the submitting individual and/or organisation requests that their submission be kept confidential. Please indicate in your submission whether we may publish all or part of it on the website of the Special Rapporteur.

The Special Rapporteur greatly appreciates the effort that goes into making such contributions and looks forward to reading all submissions.

Media inquiries

Regular updates on the visit to Morocco will be posted on the website of the Special Rapporteur and via his Twitter account. A press release with additional information about the visit will be issued on 29 November 2022.

On 19 December 2022, the Special Rapporteur will hold a press conference in Rabat where he will present a statement with his initial findings. Before and during the visit, the Special Rapporteur’s engagement with media will be limited to commenting on the scope of the visit, meetings held, and issues discussed during these meetings. Only at the press conference and thereafter will the Special Rapporteur be in a position to comment on his findings and conclusions.

Media inquiries, including requests to join the Special Rapporteur’s press list, may be directed to An Cuypers (an.cuypers@un.org) and Kate Holmes (kate.holmes@srpoverty.org)

Twitter:@DeSchutterO and @srpoverty

For more information, please write to srextremepoverty@ohchr.org or info@srpoverty.org