Morocco elected to Executive Committee of Community of Democracies

Morocco has been elected to the Executive Committee of the Community of Democracies for 2022-2024, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement released Thursday.

This election confirms the Kingdom’s democratic choices and its constant and irreversible commitment to promoting and protecting freedoms, strengthening democratic institutions and broadening political participation, the statement said.

This election goes in line with Morocco’s active and responsible role and its substantial and multi-faceted contributions to the Community of Democracies’ (CoD), in a constructive and cooperative spirit, since its accession to the organization in 2006.

Through this election, CoD’s 27 member countries testify to the Kingdom’s voluntary commitment, under the leadership of the King, in favor of strengthening democracy.

This commitment is reflected, at the national level, by a process of reforms and innovative initiatives aimed at consolidating democracy and modernizing society in accordance with the universal values of equality, pluralism and moderation.

Morocco, after having been a member of the CoD’s Board of Directors, will now sit on the Executive Committee alongside Canada, Poland, South Korea, Romania and the United States, the foreign ministry said.

Morocco, one of CoD’s oldest members and its only MENA country, will remain committed to promoting democracy and supporting adherence to common democratic values, human rights, and the rule of law, as set out in the Warsaw Declaration, the statement added.

CoD Secretary General Thomas E. Garrett had paid a visit to Rabat in July 2021 to take part in a youth training session on democracy’s role in countering violent extremism.

In his opening remarks at the training session, Garrett had said “data shows that countries with strong records of respect for democracy and human rights are far less likely to experience violent extremism, terrorism, civil wars and conflicts. On the other hand, authoritarian and failed states are more likely to experience intra- and interstate conflict, generate refugees, hinder women’s equality, and generate violent extremists.”

Born as a common initiative of the late U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Polish Foreign Minister Bronisław Geremek, the Community of Democracies was founded at the Ministerial Conference held in Warsaw, Poland, where high-level delegations from 106 countries signed the Warsaw Declaration Toward a Community of Democracies.

Signatories pledged to uphold the democratic values expressed in the Warsaw Declaration and to support them through a variety of initiatives.

Since its establishment in 2000, the Community of Democracies gradually developed from a conference initiative into a global intergovernmental coalition of democratic states and a multi-stakeholder platform for dialogue and discussion.