One of the lectures that drew my attention in particular, besides the lectures on the Power of Art, History and Innovative Education, is the lecture given by Mr. Skadegaard Thorsen on Human rights and Development, more specifically on Corporate Social Responsibility.

While following Mr. Sune Skadegaard's presentation, I could not stop thinking of what takes place in my country; to all the farm laborers who spend their days in the fields in very severe conditions, to workers crowded into canneries and textile factories, to girls whom we force to work hard all day for a few dirhams. But I also thought of the Moroccan employers who respect their employees’ rights and the impact that this strategy has on the quality of their work.

What really pleased me in the presentation on the ninth day was the innovative aspect of the project named Global CSR. Contrary to many projects which are characterized by a "thematic specialization", this project addresses various themes of human rights and Justice which are at the heart of the debates on reform, a reform that turns out to be crucial in Morocco and all over the Arab world. For me, working on these various themes in a complementary way means first, at least in theory, the improvement and development of the human element, which then will undoubtedly lead to social and economic development.

Given that I work in the field of cooperation and human rights, I have had the opportunity to observe closely a number of development projects in Morocco. The projects in which I take part are generally focused on a single theme; either human rights, corruption, or environment with different sub-themes. However, the Global CSR project, based on the “UN Global Compact” strategic policy initiative handles the question of businesses’ social responsibility while approaching various other fundamental issues of development such as children’s rights and environmental protection as well as the fight against corruption.

In my opinion, the reform has to be based on projects that can bring comprehensive solutions to establish justice and development. Certainly, we could not claim to realize all human rights at once. However, when it is about fundamental principles that cannot be neglected in any societal project, and if there is a true will to realize justice for all, one should work on problems from different angles at the same time. For example, it would only be a waste of time to claim to participate in the protection of the environment when children are exploited by plastics factories. It is not in the garbage dumps that children will learn how to protect the environment! It would also be a waste of time to work on freedom of expression if corruption is still widespread in our societies. Human development is a series of parallel and interdependent measures which, although adaptable, are not dissociable. The Global CSR project, it seems to me, joins in the same logic because it is based on a set of complementary solutions for the companies that chose to align their operations and strategies with universal principles of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.

During the last decade, Morocco made considerable progress in the field of human rights and development. We can cite for example the creation of the Equity and Reconciliation Authority (IER) in 2004 to review past violations of human rights in the country, the revision in 2004 of the Family Code which improved, among others, women’s rights, and the launching of the National Initiative of Human Development (INDH) in 2005, a large-scale initiative to fight against poverty and exclusion. However, there has not yet been, to my knowledge, any remarkable initiative regarding human rights in the field of business or social responsibility, with the exception of the Labor code reform. A great deal of work still remains to be done in this sense. Furthermore, with the problem of unemployment which rages in the country, the employees prefer to agree to work in pitiful conditions instead of being unemployed. Having said that, and despite this problem, I think that civil society can play an important role in affecting change by sensitizing employers and employees about the principles of human rights and justice; in other words, to make companies socially responsible.

I believe that at the moment in Morocco (and in some other Arab countries), there is a real will on the part of the citizens and the King to build a democratic and free nation. Therefore, it would be very interesting to seize this opportunity and this time of change to tackle the question of human rights in the world of business. Knowing that one of the biggest issues of the Arab world and most developing countries is corruption, the Global CSR project deals with this problem among others and tries, together with its partners, to find solutions on how to fight this plague. It is exactly what we also need in Morocco.

Having identified the advantages of this project on social responsibility, I am currently thinking about ways to implement it in my country taking into account Moroccan realities. My idea, inspired by Mr. Skadegaard, is to try to create a Moroccan organization that would tackle basic human rights in businesses.

In my opinion, there can be no economic or social development without respect of human dignity. Companies and Government institutions as well as individuals should all work together towards a true respect of human rights for all.