The Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) organized on Thursday, June 9, 2022 at the book fair in Rabat, a conference on the theme “Moroccan lawyers of the world and advocacy for the great causes of Morocco”.
Mrs. Aziza Maghni, attorney specialized in family law in Spain, Mr. Ahmed Arriouach, criminal lawyer in Germany, Mr. Younes Bakkali, business lawyer in Great Britain and Mr. Omar Fraj, attorney in private and criminal law in France attended this meeting, moderated by Mr. Hilal Tarkou Lahlimi, lawyer specialized in criminal justice in Spain and President of the Moroccan Lawyers’ Forum of the World.
Introducing the round table, Mr. Hilal Takou Lahlimi says, Moroccan lawyers play an active part in supporting the national causes of their home countries. While the Moroccan Sahara is the most important of these national issues, Mr Tarkou Lahlimi said, they represent a much broader concept that results in daily actions such as “working for social justice, ensuring good governance of public spending, advocating national sovereignty, strengthening professional awareness, and promoting Moroccan culture and identity.
For Ms. Aziza Maghni, the lawyer’s profession, particularly in immigration, allows her to be in contact with the Moroccan community: “especially for me, as I am specialized in family law, in order to apprehend the evolution of the Moroccan migration components”.
A profession that faces several challenges in a country like Spain. “Our reference in family law is the Bilateral Convention between Morocco and Spain, which, from a practical point of view, puts us continuously to test because in court it will always be necessary to convince the legal regulations of both countries”.
She added :”since 2018, the amendment of the law of migration requires the Spanish courts to execute the judgments, which complicates our job more, but we are aware, as bi-nationals, that the dual knowledge of the laws of the country of origin and residence is a great added value, “she explained.
For his part, Mr Ahmed Arriouach, lawyer in Frankfurt for 15 years said : “To be a Moroccan of the world is to live with two hearts”. A civic commitment that brought him together with other Moroccan lawyers in Germany to create an association in 2012 to implement this dual identity from a legal point of view.
“We have created a database to answer most of the questions Moroccans ask themselves on a daily basis, such as, for example, what the law stipulates if you want to pray at your workplace”.
Like the other panelists, Ahmed Arriouach said that the practice of law for Moroccans in the world suffers from several complications related to the laws themselves but also to the ability to communicate in the host language, especially when it comes to the first generations.
Mr. Youness Bakkali, explains for his part, that “from a geopolitical point of view, London is a world capital in terms of the practice of law with all the international human rights organizations based there, which makes it for Moroccans of the world a stage for the defense of their national cause”.
An opportunity that must be seized because “representing Morocco through a diplomatic channel in an embassy or through a consulate represents the Moroccan administration abroad”. However, he said: “to achieve this, in the same manner as other Moroccans in the world, but more so through their profession, the legal professionals with Moroccan origins need to know the ins and outs of the Sahara issue for effective lobbying. “At the point where we are, lawyers need to know that it is also their duty to promote a cause and not to wait to have to defend it in court”.
In his presentation, Mr Omar Fraj explained that “great causes are the sum of individual causes”. He added: ” as it is the case for the contribution to the economical development of the host country or the country of origin, which requires an individual contribution”.
In his law firm, a comprehensive work is carried out to help Moroccans in the world to achieve their investment projects. “We have a prospecting mission in various domains and we make sure that they are informed of the different Moroccan law regulations that apply to their investment.
In this work of assistance, he says, we also promote the assets of our country, we talk to our Moroccan or foreign clients about the Tangier Med port, Dakhla; the policy, safety and stability of Morocco and other things that we want to promote in order to encourage them to invest in the Kingdom.
“Our task as Moroccan lawyers abroad is also providing feedback. We are alerting the Moroccan legislator to the difficulties we encounter on a daily basis, the need to improve Moroccan law in a number of areas, something we can help to achieve, thanks to the expertise we have acquired in our host countries.
