Rabat – The draft bill 12.01, concerning the fundamental guarantees granted to soldiers under the Royal Armed Forces (FAR), adopted on Tuesday by the Council of Ministers, is another milestone in the consolidation of democratic gains in Morocco, and is part of the implementation of the Constitution, which establishes in its article 71, the fundamental guarantees granted to civil and military servants, in terms of rights and freedoms.
Drawn up in September 2011, after the adoption of the new constitution, the bill, soon to be adopted by parliament, aims to establish a unified, consistent and well-ordered text, which clarifies the rights and obligations of the military, all categories (senior officers, officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted men).
The new text aims to establish and gather disparate provisions in the general regulations of military discipline. It is a standardized and comprehensive legal reference to define, clarify and strengthen the fundamental guarantees granted to the military, whether it has to do with legal guarantees and material and social rights they enjoy, or those related to their administrative career with the aim of strengthening the legal protection they enjoy.
The project also takes into account the specific nature of the work of the military and their obligations, including the need to be impartial, discipline and self-sacrifice, and the obligation to be at work to defend the country and its territorial integrity.
Similarly, it takes into consideration humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention on Human Rights, members of the FAR being called upon, as part of their duties, to participate in U.N. missions of peacekeeping and preservation of humanitarian rights.
According to this text, the FAR soldiers enjoy all the rights and freedoms that the Constitution guarantees to citizens.
They also benefit from state protection against threats, lawsuits, violence, assault, slander, defamation or outrage they may be subjected to, during and after the exercise of their functions.
Under this bill, members are entitled during their careers to a progressive continuous training, designed to meet the needs of the FAR specialized personnel and to ensure the qualifications required for progression through the military ranks.
The FAR members also receive pay, allowances, bonuses and benefits established by the legislation in force, as well as annual, extraordinary and absence permissions with pay.
The text also sets specific obligations to the military, including the incompatibility of exercising the right to strike, the creation of political parties and trade unions and membership in political parties, trade unions or other parties with political, religious or trade union nature.
The active duty military can, however, join any association, having obtained prior authorization. The bill also guarantees to any officer, in accordance with Article 25 of the Constitution (2nd paragraph), the freedom to publish whatever the medium, in literary and artistic and scientific and technical research, in limits and conditions provided by law.
It also defines the procedures for recruiting, promotion in rank and appointment in the office or employment within the FAR, which are performed in accordance with the principle of equal opportunities and particularly under the conditions provided by the specific statutes to each category of the military (active officers, noncommissioned officers graduating from schools and training centers, active non-commissioned officers from the ranks, military contractors of the FAR, and enlisted men).
