Involuntary
Disappaarances
of the United Nation6 Commission on Human Rights.
The Saharan population’s
identity
documents were absolutely
identical
to thoee
With regard to individuals’
responsibility
for di66enting
of other Moroccans.
opinions,
the representative
explained
that in Morocco
there were only three
the monarchic
major principle6
that were not open to challenge of any kind:
system, the fact that Islam
was the State religion,
and territorial
integrity;
if an individual
deliberately
challenged those principles
he placed himself
beyond the pale of his own society and had to assume responsibility
for his
declarations
or acts.
241. With reference to that issue, member6 of the Committee wished to know
what legal provisions
existed,
in addition to article
35 of the Constitution,
in respect of the introduction
and administration
of a state of emergency, and
to what extent such provisions,
as well as article
35 of the Constitution
itself,
were deemed to be compatible with article
4, paragraph 2, of the
Covenantr under what circumstances the state of siege could be proclaimedr
whether in an emergency the King could assume both legislative
and executive
powers by decree and, if 60, what procedures would apply; whether there was
any way in which the judiciary
or legislature
could counterbalance
the King's
decision; and whether there were any provisions
of law governing the duration
of a state of emergency.
242. In reply, the representative
noted that Morocco had no legal provisions
governing states of exception beyond article
35 of the Constitution,
which
provided that “when the integrity
of the national territory
is threatened or
events occur which are likely
to imperil the functioning
of constitutional
institutions,
the King may, after consulting the President of the Chamber of
Representatives
and addressing a message to the nation, issue a dahir
proclaiming a state of exception".
A state of siege was proclaimed with the
consent of the Legislative
Assembly.
Initially,
it could not last longer' than
30 days and, if circumstances and the situation
in the country so required,
it
The administrative
could then be extended only by an act of Parliament.
authorities
were not authorised to take provisional
measures restricting
individual
freedoms. Civil power6 could not be transferred
to the military
authorities
and no special COUrtS could be set up. No internal
conflict
calling
for the imposition of a state of emergency or state of siege had
arisen in Morocco.
243. In connection with that issue, members of the Committee asked whether an
alien husband of a Moroccan woman was eligible
for Moroccan citizenship
on the
same basis as a foreign womanmarried to a Moroccan husband: what was the
basis for the different
treatment under Moroccan law of men and women in
respect of their capacity to transmit Moroccan nationality
automatically
to
children born outside the country: what distinctions
existed’between
men and
women under the inheritance
lawsj and in which respect were the right6 of
aliens rectricted
as compared with those of citizens.
244. In addition,
members of the Committee wished to know under what
conditions women could join trade unions; whether a woman could obtain a
passport without the authorization
of her husband or, if she was not married,
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