Marrakech, 21/11/2019 (MAP)
The draft law on personal data protection was presented, Thursday in Marrakech, during an extraordinary session of the Children's Parliament held on the sidelines of the 16th edition of the National Congress on the Rights of the Child.
Presented to the child parliamentarians by Mr. Omar Seghrouchni, President of the CNDP (Commission Nationale de contrôle de la protection des Données à caractère Personnel), thanks to an authorization and a partnership with the ONDE (Observatoire National des Droits de l'Enfant), this draft law revises Law n°09-08, which was promulgated and came into force in 2009, in order to keep up with the accelerated changes that have occurred in the past years.
For Mr. Seghrouchni, the presentation of this draft law to Moroccan child parliamentarians has a highly symbolic value, given that personal data protection in the age of digital proliferation is an issue that also concerns the rising generations.
Addressing an audience of well-informed child parliamentarians, Mr. Seghrouchni also explained the background, novelties and objectives of the revision of Law no. 09-08, and outlined the main features of this law on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data.
He also covered the rights of data subjects, the obligations of data controllers, the regulation of relations with social media, as well as other topics such as the “cloud”, “tools to protect citizens against errors of reasoning, fake news, manipulation and malpractice”, and “respect of privacy in the digital and non-digital world”.
Afterwards, the child parliamentarians were given the floor to discuss the draft law and its importance, to ask Mr. Seghrouchni for explanations and clarifications on certain issues, and to submit proposals and recommendations.
Convinced of the need to revise Law no. 09-08 in order to bring Morocco's legislative framework up to international standards, the child parliamentarians voted by majority in favor of the draft law during a simulation.
On the same occasion, the CNDP distributed to parliamentary children leaflets and comic books entitled "Prudence sur Internet" (in Arabic and French), which raise awareness about the threats to children and their personal data on the Internet.
Established under Law no. 09-08 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data, the CNDP is responsible for ensuring that the personal data processing is lawful and legal, and that it does not infringe on privacy or fundamental human rights and freedoms.
The 16th edition of the National Congress on the Rights of the Child, organized under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and the effective presidency of Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meryem, began its proceedings on Wednesday, in Marrakech.
Initiated by the ONDE, this event, which runs until November 23th, is an opportunity to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to assess the situation of children since Morocco's ratification of the CRC, and to mobilize the Kingdom's forces to put children at the center of the new development model.
