Human rights activists reject discrimination between Moroccans based on the vaccine pass

Human rights activists deplored discriminating between vaccinated and unvaccinated people in the country, amid the mandate of a vaccine pass in Morocco to access public and private spaces and for travel starting October 21.

Morocco followed in the footsteps of many countries around the world, who have already implemented the vaccine pass in an effort to raise vaccination rates and curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Human rights activists said the vaccine pass mandate represents a violation of international conventions that guarantee the freedom rights of individuals, noting the Health Minister’s comments differentiating between “the vaccinated majority” and “the unvaccinated minority.”

Khadija Riyadi, a human rights activist, told Hespress that “the statements of the Health Minister fall within forcing Moroccans to get vaccinated,” she said, adding, “ It is a policy that is rejected by a large group of citizens because it represents a contradiction of voluntary vaccination guaranteed by the constitution and international covenants,” she added.

“The Health Minister’s statements lead to confusion about the vaccination process, it made a distinction between Moroccans” the rights activist said, noting that unvaccinated students have been complaining about discrimination in their schools.

Recently, the Ministries of Interior and Health ordered several private schools to adopt remote studies for unvaccinated students, and keep in-person classes for the vaccinated aged 12 and above, starting October 22, according to Hespress sources.

The human rights activist explained that “each person has the freedom to do whatever they want to with their body and themselves, which is guaranteed by the constitution and the law,” she said, adding “the Minister himself indicated that the majority should get vaccinated, and therefore, there is no need to force the rest of citizens to receive anti-COVID-19 shots because the country has achieved the required mass immune system.”

For his part, Driss Sedraoui, president of the Moroccan League for citizenship and Human Rights (LMCDH) told Hespress in a statement that “the Minister is trying to confuse Moroccans by linking the protest of citizens to only unvaccinated ones, while the movement involved also dozens of vaccinated people.”

“Many vaccinated people, along with legal experts, civil society associations, and human rights organizations reject the vaccine pass mandate because of violating the constitution and international conventions that guarantee the freedom of individuals,” he added.

The same spokesperson said, “the Health Minister’s statements contained many confusions regarding the vaccine pass mandate, especially when he said that vaccination rates reached 100% of his ministry’s employees, while health officials came out denouncing the decision and even protesting against imposing the vaccine pass in the Ministry.”

Most recently, Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (Oxfam) in Morocco warned against the impact of Morocco’s recently imposed vaccine pass, saying it could obstruct fundamental freedoms.

The organization said citizens have the right to move freely in public spaces, calling for “the proper application of the law and its best applications that make human rights and dignity inalienable under any pretext.”