CRC: Initial Report of Morocco, 1995

CRC/C/28/Add.1

Initial reports of States parties due in 1995 Addendum KINGDOM OF MOROCCO

A. Name and nationality (art. 7)

The right to a name from birth is based on both our country’s history and sociological situation; there can be no doubt today of its legitimacy. Thus, every child is given a first name within a week from birth. The surname, that of the father, is attributed to him by right (Code on Personal Status, art. 83).

Regulations pertaining to the civil registry stipulate registration of the birth within 30 days. The civil registry system was extended by the dahir of 8 March 1950 but has not yet reached the entire population. However, a bill is pending that would make registration compulsory for all Moroccans, as well as foreigners, born in Morocco (art. 2 of the bill).

As things stand, every child may establish his status by a birth certificate issued by the registrar. If the parents do not register the birth, the administration issues a certificate attesting to the birth on the basis of public knowledge. In this way, all children whether registered or not, may establish their identity, including their name, by means of administrative documents.

Nationality is governed by the Code of 6 September 1958 and is acquired by filiation. On this basis, every child born of a Moroccan father or a Moroccan mother and an unknown father is Moroccan (art. 6). Nationality is also attributed, through birth in Morocco, to a child born of a Moroccan mother and a Stateless father or unknown parents. In the latter case, however, a child born in Morocco of unknown parents will be considered never to have been Moroccan if, while he is still a minor, his filiation is established with respect to a foreigner who can transmit nationality (art. 7). The provisions of the Nationality Code are aimed at avoiding a child becoming Stateless, in accordance with the recommendations of article 7, paragraph 2, of the Convention.

B. Preservation of identity (art. 8)

The preservation of a child’s identity is ensured by the Criminal Code, which punishes failure to declare a child to the civil registry office if such a declaration is mandatory (art. 468). Anyone who, after finding a foundling, fails to declare it to the authorities is also punished (art. 469).

Persons who “knowingly, and in circumstances which are likely to make it impossible to identify the child, remove, conceal, cause to disappear or replace a child with another or present the child as having been born to a woman who has not given birth” (art. 470) also incur correctional penalties.