HIBAPRESS – Sports
The establishment of the National Agency for Child Protection, following the approval of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors this week, of draft law No. 24.29, can only be read as a qualitative institutional turning point in the process of establishing the foundations of the "social state", and a step that reflects a clear political will from Aziz Akhannouch's government to place child protection at the heart of public policies, after years of structural imbalances, resulting from the dispersion of the interveners and the overlap of jurisdictions.
This social project is not limited to creating a new administrative structure, but rather establishes a profound transformation in the approach to managing child issues, through the transition from the logic of separate interventions to a unified institutional model, based on coordination, efficiency and effectiveness, and which makes the dignity and rights of the child a guiding criterion for all policies related to this sensitive field.
The establishment of the National Agency for Child Protection comes as an objective response to legal and administrative imbalances accumulated by the sector for years, as the absence of a unified national reference has limited the efficiency of programs and weakened the social impact of interventions. Today, however, the new legal framework consolidates a comprehensive vision that frames the intervention of various actors and unifies the logic of working at the national level.
This trend is inseparable from the high royal directives that made child protection a collective responsibility, as stated in the royal message of 2018 on the occasion of the launch of the initiative "African Cities Without Children in the Streets", which emphasized the need to strengthen social protection systems and guarantee a decent future for children, especially in situations of vulnerability.
It is noteworthy that this reform was based on an accurate diagnosis of the reality of the child protection system, which revealed structural imbalances represented by the deterioration of the quality of care, the weakness of social integration, and the absence of adequate health and psychological services within a number of care institutions, which imposed the adoption of a new approach based on specialization and institutional organization instead of circumstantial solutions.
In this context, the classification of child protection centers and social care institutions according to the categories of children and their needs is of particular importance, as it provides the possibility of dealing with each case according to its specificities, whether it concerns children in difficult situations, or in conflict with the law, or neglected children, or children with disabilities, which enhances the efficiency of intervention and limits the logic of generalization.
Also, what the new legal framework grants from integrated rights and services to children within these centers, from decent shelter, health and psychological care, education and vocational training, in addition to strengthening governance and monitoring mechanisms through a multi-representative board of directors, indicates an actual transition towards an approach that makes the best interest of the child a real compass for public policies, not just a slogan.
In conclusion, this is not an isolated technical procedure, but rather a political and societal choice that confirms that building a Morocco of social justice necessarily passes through protecting its children, ensuring their dignity, and securing the conditions for their full integration into society, which makes the establishment of the National Agency for Child Protection a strategic step in the path of social reform led by the government.
