The Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Mr. Nasser Bourita, participated, on Thursday, September 24, 2020, in a virtual Ministerial Conference on the Responsibility to Protect, organized from New York, on the sidelines of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly. This event took place in the presence of the UN Secretary General and the Foreign Ministers of several other countries.
In his statement, Minister Bourita underlined that Morocco, in accordance with the High Guidelines of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, has always stood out as a promoter of tolerance and coexistence between nations, messages of peace and respect of religions and cultural diversity within multilateral forums.
He specified that this will require breaking down the silos between the different areas of multilateral cooperation in order to implement fully the roadmap set out in the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, in particular Goal 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions’’.
Mr. Bourita pointed out that in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, “We have a particular responsibility to join our efforts to implement the ambitious program adopted in 2005, on the basis of multilateral cooperation focused on results and evidence-based data”.
Mr. Bourita concluded his speech by indicating that if there is one lesson to be learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is that States cannot assume this responsibility by acting separately, without any coordination and that the only way to overcome this challenge is multilateral cooperation on the basis of the principles of equality of States and respect for their national sovereignty as enshrined in international law.
It should be noted that the principle of Responsibility to Protect was adopted by the United Nations at the 2005 World Summit, as a cardinal point for the protection of populations against mass atrocities.
The Ministerial Conference is part of a process initiated since 2005 aimed at promoting the principles of international humanitarian law in the fight against genocide and mass atrocities.
