Latest news with #Moutchou
Maroc
5 days ago
- Business
- Maroc
UK Support for Moroccan Autonomy Plan, 'Major Diplomatic Turning Point'
The United Kingdom's support for the Moroccan autonomy plan in the Sahara constitutes "a major diplomatic turning point," noted Naïma Moutchou, Vice President of the French National Assembly, on her official X account. "The United Kingdom joins France and the United States in supporting Morocco's autonomy plan for the Sahara. This is a major diplomatic shift: facts are prevailing, support is expanding, and a consensual political solution is taking shape,' she stated. "As Vice President of the Friendship Group – and Co-Chair of the Study Group on the Sahara (in the National Assembly), I welcome the progress being made towards a sustainable and realistic solution,' added Moutchou, who also serves as spokesperson and National Secretary of the Horizons party. This position was set out in a joint communiqué signed in Rabat by UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, David Lammy, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita. The UK also underlined that it intends to act in line with this position bilaterally, regionally, and internationally. (MAP: 04 June 2025)
Morocco World
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Morocco World
Originally from Morocco, French Assembly VP Naima Moutchou Faces Racism
Doha – French Deputy Naima Moutchou, Vice President of the National Assembly and prominent member of the Horizons party, has filed a complaint after receiving a racially charged letter at the parliament on April 14. The letter, scrawled on a page torn from a Paris Match magazine featuring her portrait, contained a series of explicitly racist insults targeting her Moroccan heritage and questioning her legitimacy as a French politician. 'You have an Arab face – you have no place in this country that collects all the world's waste – you take the bread from the French. Get out quickly!' read part of the handwritten message. It then continued with more inflammatory rhetoric: 'We feel nauseous when we see your floured face. You destroy our country, Arabs slaughter our children. We've had enough, we are angry about these barbaric crimes that you are part of!' Moutchou, who represents the Val-d'Oise region, immediately shared the content on social media platform X, accompanying it with a powerful response. 'It's violent, it's racist, it's shameful. I have a knot in my stomach and cold anger,' she wrote. She added a poignant tribute to her family heritage: 'And then a thought for my parents, for their sacrifices and their worn hands, their dignity, their silence.' The deputy stood firm in her identity, declaring, 'I am French and I am of Moroccan origin. I will never apologize for being who I am or for defending what I believe is right.' The incident sparked immediate condemnation across France's political landscape. National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet led the response, stating 'The words of the worst. Racism has no place in our Republic. No form of hate has a place. We must condemn without reservation, fight relentlessly.' Left-wing parliamentary group leader Mathilde Panot described the message as 'infectious,' while offering her 'unwavering support.' Conservative regional president Valérie Pécresse denounced the 'abject racist attacks,' and Right-wing deputy Jean-Didier Berger demanded 'zero tolerance,' insisting that 'the author of these threats must be severely punished.' Speaking to Le Parisien, Moutchou contextualized the incident within a broader social framework: 'Racism is not a mere word, but a serious offense. And it's time for the Republic to treat it as such,' she asserted. 'These words don't come by accident. They exist in a climate where hatred is accepted, where public debate tolerates what it should have rejected unconditionally. Racism is not a mere mishap, but a political symptom. If it returns with such force, it's because we have collectively retreated.' This is not Moutchou's first encounter with racist harassment. In June 2023, she filed a similar complaint after receiving an anonymous email containing racist imagery, including pictures of a monkey, a noose, and an offensive gesture alongside her portrait. The latest incident comes amid rising concerns about violence against elected officials in France, with Interior Ministry figures showing a 32% increase in verbal and physical attacks between 2021 and 2022, jumping from 1,720 to 2,265 reported incidents. Political scientist Luc Rouban, research director at CNRS and member of Sciences Po's Political Research Center, sees this as part of a broader trend. 'We're moving toward a brutalization of political life,' he explained to France 3 Paris Île-de-France. 'Political violence is less regulated, it overflows. It's a problem of social norms. When addressing elected officials, people mix the person and the political representative, considered illegitimate and overprotected. They forget these officials are invested with a mission of general interest.' The event is also part of a larger pattern now surfacing in the Western European country, with the Interior Ministry's statistical service reporting an 11% rise in hate crimes during 2024, documenting 9,350 incidents and 7,000 infractions. The spike in both racially motivated assaults and threats against public officials has spurred renewed demands for enhanced safeguards and educational initiatives to combat what Rouban describes as 'an weakening of the school institution, which is no longer really capable of transmitting republican values.' Read also: Miss France Contender Faces Racist Backlash Over Maghreb Origins Tags: French National AssemblyNaima Moutchouracism in France
Morocco World
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Morocco World
Morocco Slams Algeria's ‘Selective' Stance on Western Sahara at UN Council
Doha – Morocco's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN launched a scathing critique against Algeria's position on MINURSO's mandate during a UN Security Council debate, denouncing what she called 'flagrant and selective double standards' in the Algerian approach to human rights monitoring. 'It reflects a masterclass in selective political manipulation,' Majda Moutchou charged, responding to the Algerian ambassador's intervention regarding human rights monitoring in MINURSO's mandate. She accused Algeria of 'suddenly discovering a new passion for human rights and international law.' 'The mandate has been clearly defined by the Security Council, and any attempt by the Algerian delegation to distort its role is either misinformed or deliberately misleading,' Moutchou asserted, emphasizing MINURSO's clear mandate to supervise the ceasefire. Moutchou dismantled the Algerian position by pointing out that seven out of eleven UN peacekeeping operations lack human rights monitoring mandates. 'We wonder why the Algerian delegation, demonstrating obvious double standards, focuses solely on MINURSO while turning a blind eye to other peacekeeping operations,' she declared. The Moroccan diplomat revealed that the Security Council had 'categorically rejected' proposals to include a human rights monitoring mechanism in MINURSO's mandate in October 2024. 'This rejection wasn't accidental: it reaffirmed that the human rights situation in the Moroccan Sahara doesn't require such a mechanism,' she stated. Turning the tables on Algeria, Moutchou demanded answers about 'a far more pressing issue: the Tindouf camps on Algerian territory, where the population lives under daily oppression, deprived of fundamental rights and subjected to severe movement restrictions and flagrant violations of international law.' 'The UN must pay attention to all these aspirations, without exception or selectivity, including on the territory of states that advocate self-determination for others while systematically denying it to oppressed peoples on their own territory,' she charged. The diplomat exposed what she termed a 'troubling contradiction' in Algeria's stance on self-determination, arguing that Algeria wielded it 'as a political weapon against Morocco's territorial integrity' while ignoring 'legitimate aspirations of other peoples still living under foreign occupation and oppression.' 'The Sahara has always been an integral part of Morocco,' Moutchou concluded, describing this as a reflection of 'centuries of historical, cultural and geographical links' rather than a recent claim. The heated exchange occurred during a public debate on strengthening UN peacekeeping operations' adaptability, where Morocco's representative systematically countered Algeria's attempts to modify MINURSO's established mandate. This diplomatic clash comes as Morocco continues to gather international support for its position. In a meeting yesterday with UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura in Rabat, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita reiterated Morocco's commitment to a political solution based exclusively on the Autonomy Plan, while respecting the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Meanwhile, the American Enterprise Institute has criticized MINURSO's ongoing mission, with scholar Michael Rubin pointing out in a recent commentary that 'Thirty-four years and billions of dollars later, MINURSO has not even conducted a census.' Rubin further charged that the separatist Polisario Front 'holds wives and children as hostages to prevent refugee resettlement' in the Tindouf camps. Read also: Mali Slams Algeria for 'Persistent' Interference in its Internal Affairs Tags: AlgeriaMoroccoUN councilWestern sahara
