Title II. Fundamental Freedoms and Rights
Article 19
The man and the woman enjoy, in equality, the rights and freedoms of civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental character, enounced in this Title and in the other provisions of the Constitution, as well as in the international conventions and pacts duly ratified by Morocco and this, with respect for the provisions of the Constitution, of the constants [constantes] of the Kingdom and of its laws.
The State works for the realization of parity between men and women.
An Authority for parity and the struggle against all forms of discrimination is created, to this effect.
Article 20
The right to life is the first right of any human being. The law protects this right.
Article 21
All have the right to the security of their person and of their kin [proches], and to the protection of their assets.
The public powers assure the security of the populations and of the national territory within respect for the fundamental freedoms and rights guaranteed to all.
Article 22
The physical or moral integrity of anyone may not be infringed, in whatever circumstance that may be, and by any party that may be, public or private.
No one may inflict on others, under whatever pretext there may be, cruel, inhuman, [or] degrading treatments or infringements of human dignity.
The practice of torture, under any of its forms and by anyone, is a crime punishable by the law.
Article 23
No one may be arrested, detained, prosecuted or condemned outside of the cases and the forms provided by the law.
Arbitrary or secret detention and forced disappearance are crimes of the greatest gravity. They expose their authors to the most severe sanctions.
Any detained person has the right to be informed immediately, in a fashion which is comprehensible to him, of the reasons [motifs] of his detention and of his rights, including that of remaining silent. He must benefit, as well, from juridical assistance and of the possibility of communication with his relations, in accordance with the law.
The presumption of innocence and the right to an equitable process are guaranteed.
Any detained person enjoys the fundamental rights and humane conditions of detention. He must benefit from programs of instruction and of reintegration [reinsertion].
All incitement to racism, to hatred and to violence is prohibited.
Genocide and all other crimes against humanity, the crimes of war and all the grave and systematic violations of the Rights of Man are punished by the law.
Article 24
Any person has the right to the protection of their private life.
The domicile is inviolable. Searches may only intervene in the conditions and the forms provided by the law.
Private communications, under whatever form that may be, are secret. Only justice can authorize, under the conditions and following the forms provided by the law, the access to their content, their total or partial divulgation or their summons [invocation] at the demand [charge] of whosoever.
The freedom to circulate and to establish oneself on the national territory, to leave it and to return, in accordance with the law[,] is guaranteed to all.
Article 25
The freedoms of thought, of opinion and of expression under all their forms[,] are guaranteed.
The freedoms of creation, of publication and of presentation [exposition] in literary and artistic maters and of scientific and technical research[,] are guaranteed.
Article 26
The public powers lend, by appropriate measures, their support to the development of cultural and artistic creation, and of scientific and technical research, as well as to the promotion of sports. They favor the development and the organization of these sectors in independent manner and on democratic and specific professional bases.
Article 27
The citizens [feminine] and citizens [masculine] have the right of access to information held by the public administration, the elected institutions and the organs [organismes] invested with missions of public service.
The right to information may only be limited by the law, with the objective [but] of assuring the protection of all which concerns national defense, the internal and external security of the State, and the private life of persons, of preventing infringement to the fundamental freedoms and rights enounced in this Constitution and of protecting the sources and the domains determined with specificity by the law.
Article 28
The freedom of the press is guaranteed and may not be limited by any form of prior censure.
All have the right to express and to disseminate freely and within the sole limits expressly provided by the law, information, ideas and opinions.
The public powers encourage the organization of the sector of the press in an independent manner and on democratic bases, as well as the determination of the juridical and ethical rules concerning it.
The law establishes the rules of organization and of control of the means of public communication. It guarantees access to these means respecting the linguistic, cultural and political pluralism of the Moroccan society.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 165 of this Constitution, the High Authority of Broadcasting [Haute autorite de la communication audiovisuelle] sees to respect for this pluralism.
Article 29
The freedoms of reunion, of assembly, of peaceful demonstration, of association and of syndical and political membership [appartenance], are guaranteed. The law establishes the conditions of the exercise of these freedoms.
The right to strike is guaranteed. An organic law establishes the conditions and the modalities of its exercise.
Article 30
All the citizens [feminine] and the citizens [masculine] of majority, enjoying their civil and political rights[,] are electors and eligible. The law provides [prevoit] the provisions of [a] nature encouraging the equal access of women and men to the elective functions.
The vote is a personal right and a national duty.
Foreigners under [Moroccan] jurisdiction [ressortissants etrangers] enjoy the fundamental freedoms recognized to Moroccan citizens [feminine] and citizens [masculine], in accordance with the law.
Those among them who reside in Morocco can participate in local elections by virtue of the law, of the application of international conventions or of practices of reciprocity.
The conditions of extradition and of granting of the right of asylum are defined by the law.
Article 31
The State, the public establishments and the territorial collectivities work for the mobilization of all the means available [disponibles] to facilitate the equal access of the citizens [feminine] and the citizens [masculine] to conditions that permit their enjoyment of the right:
- to healthcare;
to social protection, to medical coverage and to the mutual or organized joint and several liability of the State; to a modern, accessible education of quality; to education concerning attachment to the Moroccan identity and to the immutable national constants; to professional instruction and to physical and artistic education; to decent housing; to work and to the support of the public powers in matters of searching for employment or of self-employment; to access to the public functions according to the merits; to the access to water and to a healthy environment; to lasting [durable] development.
Article 32
The family, founded on the legal ties of marriage, is the basic unit [cellule] of society.
The State works to guarantee, by the law, the protection of the family under the juridical, social and economic plans, in a manner to guarantee its unity, its stability and its preservation.
It assures one equal juridical protection and one equal social and moral consideration to all children, [being the] abstraction made from their familial situation.
Fundamental instruction [enseignement] is a right of the child and an obligation of the family and of the State.
A Consultative Council of the Family and of Childhood [Conseil consultatif de la famille et de l’enfance] is created.
Article 33
It is incumbent on the public powers to take all the appropriate measures with a view to:
- stimulate and make general the participation of youth in the social, economic, cultural and political development of the country;
to aid the young to establish themselves in [an] active and associative life and to give assistance to them in the difficulty of scholarly, social or professional adaptation; to facilitate the access of the young to culture, to science, to technology, to art, to sports and to leisure, all in creation of propitious conditions for the full deployment of their creative and innovative potential in all these domains.
A Consultative Council of Youth and of Associative Action [Conseil consultatif de la jeunesse et de l’action associative], is created to this effect.
Article 34
The public powers enact [elaborent] and implement the policies designed [destinies] for persons and for categories of specific needs. To this effect, it sees notably:
- to respond to [traiter] and provide for the vulnerability of certain categories of women and of mothers, of children, and of elderly persons;
to rehabilitate and integrate into social and civil life the physically sensory-motor [sensorimoteurs] and mentally handicapped and to facilitate their enjoyment of the rights and freedoms recognized to all.
Article 35
The right to property is guaranteed.
The law can limit the extent of it and the exercise of it if the exigencies of economic and social development of the country necessitate it. Expropriation may only proceed in the cases and the forms provided by the law.
The State guarantees the freedom to contract and free competition. It works for the realization of a lasting human development, likewise to permit the consolidation of social justice and the preservation of the national natural resources and of the rights of the future generations.
The State looks to guarantee the equality of opportunities for all and [to] one specific protection for the socially disfavored categories.
Article 36
The infractions relative to conflicts of interest, to insider crimes [delits d’initie] and all infractions of financial order are sanctioned by the law.
The public powers are held to prevent and to reprimand, in accordance with the law, all forms of delinquency arising from the activity of the administrations and of the pubic organs [organismes], from the use of funds which they control [disposent], as well as from transfers [passation] and from the management of public markets.
Influence trafficking and [trafficking] in privileges, the abuse of a dominant position and of monopoly, and all the other practices contrary to the principles of free and fair competition in economic relations, are sanctioned by the law.
A National Instance of Probity, of Prevention and for the struggle against Corruption [Instance nationale de la probite, de la prevention et de la lutte contre la corruption], is created.
Article 37
All the citizens [feminine] and the citizens [masculine] must respect the Constitution and conform to the law. They must exercise the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution in a spirit of responsibility and of engaged citizenship, where the exercise of the rights is made in correlation to the accomplishment of the duties.
Article 38
All the citizens [feminine] and the citizens [masculine] contribute to the defense of the Country and of its territorial integrity against any aggression or threat [menace].
Article 39
All support, in proportion to their contributive faculties, the public expenditures [charges] which only the law may, in the forms provided by this Constitution, create and assess [repartir].
Article 40
All support with solidarity and proportionally to their means, the expenses that the development of the country requires, and those resulting from calamities and from natural catastrophes.
