Mohammed VI pointed to social support and social protection programmes that “overlap each other, suffer from a lack of consistency and fail to effectively target eligible groups”. Morocco is marked by glaring social and territorial inequalities, against a backdrop of high unemployment among young people. In his speech, the king called for accelerating the establishment of a national system to register families for social support programmes and invited the government to “undertake a comprehensive and deep restructuring” of existing programmes. Over the past week Moroccan media have said they expect a royal pardon for dozens of demonstrators and activists who were sentenced in late June to up to 20 years in prison. Moroccan media said none of the “Hirak” protestors was pardoned.

Source: The Guardian July 30, 2018 15:56 UTC