ABA ROLI: Supporting Judicial Ethics training in Morocco

Mrs. Imane El Malqe, a Judge at the Cassation Court, shares a certificate with Mr. Abdelkafi Waryachi, a Prosecutor from the Cassation court.

ABA ROLI has worked with judicial organizations in Morocco since opening its office in 2005. During that time, ABA ROLI has: helped judicial professional organizations in Morocco draft ethics codes, completed an assessment of the judicial training institute, and supported training for judges on international conventions, gender reforms, and human rights. Since the constitutional reforms that began in 2011 with the Arab Spring, the Moroccan judiciary has been engaged in reform and reorganization with a renewed focus on ethics as part of an effort to strengthen judicial independence. Establishing strong ethical norms supports an independent judiciary that rules on principle and without outside interference. As part of the 2011 reforms, the newly created Supreme Judicial Council in Morocco is charged with drafting a mandatory code of ethics for judges and other judicial professions are likewise focused on ethics. Given its long history of work with the judiciary and the breadth of its work on ethics in Morocco and throughout the Middle East and North Africa region, ABA ROLI was well-positioned to support the development of ethics curriculum for judges and other justice sector actors. ABA ROLI partnered with Morocco’s judicial training institute – the Institut Superior de Magistrats (ISM) – to develop ethics curricula for key actors in the courtroom – Judges, Adouls (religious notaries) and Clerks.

With sponsorship from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), U.S. State Department, in 2017, ABA ROLI launched the judicial ethics deontology training program to provide technical assistance through curriculum development and trainings for judicial practitioners from across Morocco. Working with international and Moroccan experts on judicial ethics, ABA ROLI supported an assessment of each profession and its unique ethical challenges and curricular needs. Those same experts built on what was learned to develop ethics curriculum guided by international standards and best practices based on Moroccan law and context. ISM was a consulting partner through the process, working with experts on the assessment and reviewing and providing feedback on the curriculum. The resulting curricula was designed to be interactive and focused on ethical issues facing judges, clerks, and adouls in the courts of Morocco.

“Train the trainer” sessions were held for each group at the ISM’s training institute in Rabat, Morocco, and 50 participants were trained in three separate sessions. During the sessions, participants spoke about the need for codes of conduct within their profession, and how important ethics training is to build professional norms, and to prepare judicial actors to fulfill their ethical obligations. This sentiment was emphasized by leaders of the professional associations during the closing event.

On November 27th, 2018, a closing session was hosted by ISM and newly trained participants received certificates and copies of the published training manuals for each partner – Judges, Adouls and Clerks were presented to the ISM. This new cadre of trainers will be responsible for training incoming judges, adouls and clerks of the ISM on ethics. Representatives from across the judiciary attended the closing including the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Prosecutor General office, judicial and legal professional associations and law faculties.