A/HRC/32/43/Add.1 preamble, effectively forbidding all forms of discrimination based on all prohibited grounds. 5. The Constitution affirms the primacy of international law over national law. Morocco is a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Optional Protocol (since 2014) and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (since 2013). Morocco is also a State party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (since 1993) and its Optional Protocols. Finally, the country has also ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (in 1970) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (in 2009). 6. In its midterm report on the implementation of recommendations issued during the second cycle of the universal periodic review, the Government referred to ongoing discussions regarding the country’s accession to the Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Morocco has also expressly stated its openness to cooperation with the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, including special procedures. The country has received 12 special procedure mandate holders and has extended invitations to many others. Morocco has served several times as facilitator in various review processes of the universal periodic review between the years 2006 and 2011. It supported the establishment of several special procedure mandates.2 7. At the regional level, Morocco has progressively acceded to the Council of Europe conventions on the protection of human rights that are open to non-member States, including the Convention on Contact concerning Children of 2003 and the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of 2007. Morocco also acceded to the European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights of 1996, the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data and its Additional Protocol. The State also actively contributed to the consolidation of the Arab plan to foster the culture of human rights (2010). 8. At the national level, Morocco has established a number of human rights monitoring and investigative bodies, such as the National Human Rights Council and the Office of the Ombudsperson, which both have constitutional mandates. The National Human Rights Council is the national human rights institution supported through the general budget of the State, with regional offices in each of the 12 regions of the country that closely monitor the human rights situation down to the local level. It is organized into several working groups, including one on the development of international relations, partnerships and cooperation, which is in charge of policies and strategies to develop cooperation with other countries. This particular working group is also responsible for developing and strengthening partnerships at the national and international levels, including with the United Nations system and other international human rights organizations. 9. The National Human Rights Council has formalized relationships with bilateral and multilateral partners with the aim of engaging in mutual capacity-building and the sharing of good practices, as is the case with the national human rights institutions of Jordan, Egypt and Libya, and the Arab Institute for Human Rights. It also maintains partnerships with the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the 2 4 See A/68/83, para. 12.

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