Prof. Dr. Ahmed Belhouss, Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine, Morocco; Dr. Michael Klintschar, Hanover Medical School; Zakaria Arousi, Moroccan Public Prosecutor’s Office (from left to right) Morocco
On 28 November 2018, expert discussions involving the Moroccan Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Moroccan Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine (SMML) were held on the subject of “Incorporating and developing a professional code for forensic scientists”.
The event was part of a three-year project, which the IRZ is leading between 2017 and 2019 together with the Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, supported by the German Foreign Office as part of the Transformation Partnerships with North Africa/the Middle East.
The aim of this project is to support independent legal and forensic medicine in Morocco by providing continued training and education for forensic scientists and to improve the cooperation between the justice system and legal and forensic medicine by providing continued training for judges and public prosecutors in legal and forensic medicine.
These expert talks were a one-day consolidation event, to which selected Moroccan forensic scientists and public prosecutors were invited.
The main subject of the discussions was the current draft legislation on a professional code for forensic scientists in Morocco, which is due to be approved next year.
During the discussions, the focus was on the following topics in particular:
Responsibilities, rights and duties in forensic medicine,
the registration of forensic scientists,
provisions for autopsies and the production of reports,
liability and criminal sanctions and
regulations for general practitioners working in legal and forensic medicine.
New approaches to further education in legal and forensic medicine, which are also aimed at general practitioners, were also discussed. Specifically, the discussions centred on the establishment of new centres of legal and forensic medicine, where trained general practitioners can carry out simple forensic procedures.
The following experts were appointed by the IRZ to take part:
Prof. Dr. Michael Klintschar, Director of the Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine at the Hanover medical school,
Prof. Dr. Ahmed Belhouss, Director of the Institute of Legal and Forensic Medicine, Morocco, and
Zakaria Arousi, Head of criminal sanctions and judicial affairs at the Moroccan Public Prosecutor’s Office.
During the expert talks, there was an animated exchange of experience with lively discussions. The Moroccan partners expressed that they would be interested in holding further expert talks of this kind. A meeting on implementing the planned legislation for a professional code is envisaged.
Participants and speakers at the seminar in Rabat Morocco
On 11 and 12 December 2018, the IRZ, together with the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR), organised a first seminar on “Governance – Communication and Planning Strategies” in the Moroccan capital Rabat. The event was held as part of the project on “Cooperation with the Kingdom of Morocco on Prison Management”, which is being coordinated by the IRZ between 2017 and 2019 and supported by the German Foreign Office.
Two experts from the Berlin prison system supported the IRZ in carrying out the seminar:
Senior government official Ingo-Uwe Schümann, an adviser in Department III for IT control and digitalisation of the Berlin prison system, and
Martin Guder, social education worker and head of prison section at the Tegel prison.
In their welcome addresses the representative of the DGAPR, Reolonane Koutane, and Antje Gade, Head of the Legal and Consulate Department at the German Embassy in Rabat, praised the cooperation between Germany and Morocco, represented here by the IRZ and the DGAPR. Both countries can benefit from their mutual experience, in particular with regard to the deradicalisation of prisoners, a topic of increasing importance in Germany.
The main topics of the seminar were:
The development of planning capacities involving external players,
internal and external communication strategies as well as
digital networking in the context of a decentralisation of administrative structures.
The German experts saw many similarities between the development in Morocco and the development in the German prison system during the last decades. By retaining their function as an authority the penal institutions have gained more responsibility and autonomy. The decentralisation of administrative structures in Morocco is not that strongly developed as yet, but the constitution of 2011 stipulates its promotion.
The DGAPR’s tasks
The DGAPR has been running all areas of the prison system independently since 2008. Apart from the central administration in Rabat, the authority has regional offices which supervise the individual prisons. The regional and central administrations as well as the heads of prison and their officers exchange information at meetings which take place at different intervals. However, the networking between the individual penal institutions and with the central administration is still insufficiently developed.
The two German experts explained in their lectures how the Berlin Senate Administration monitors the compliance with the legal framework conditions by the prison within its supervisory function. The control instruments comprise:
General action guidelines,
strategy planning,
annual programme planning of individual measures,
target agreements concluded individually with each penal institution,
the development and measuring of KPIs.
They added, however, that within the legal framework the penal institutions had a certain discretionary power guaranteed by the constitution. Direct communication was ensured also in Germany by means of regular meetings between the heads of administration and of the prisons.
Based on the findings of this seminar, a communication and planning strategy will be developed in the form of action guidelines for the DGAPR by a working group during the seminars scheduled in 2019.
On 13 and 14 November 2018, the IRZ, together with the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR), organised a second seminar on “Social and psychological support for prisoners” in Rabat, Morocco. The event was held as part of a project on “Cooperation with the Kingdom of Morocco on Prison Management”, which is being coordinated by the IRZ between 2017 and 2019 and supported by the German Foreign Office.
As part of the welcoming ceremony, the representative of the DGAPR, Reolonane Koutane, praised the cooperation between Germany and Morocco, represented by the IRZ and the DGAPR. He said that the project had led to important starting points for improving work in prison management.
One objective of the project is to develop mediation institutions for prisoners, in particular with a view to their social, psychological and family care. Civil society institutions should be given a bigger role to play here. During the seminar, the necessary conditions and potential approaches to implementation were identified.
On the German side, two employees from the Berlin prison system were involved in the seminar as IRZ experts:
Dr. Angelika Burghardt-Kühne, a psychologist at the Heidering penal institution, and
Vera Schiepe, Group Leader at the Heidering penal institution.
Since the protection of society and reintegration of prisoners also play a central role in German prisons, both experts reported on the role of psychologists in these areas. They reported that, in Germany, all prison staff are required by law to work together to achieve these goals. Their firm responsibilities are determined by internal regulations, whilst the organisation structure of the relevant penal institutions results in cooperation between all prison staff. Diagnoses made by psychologists in prisons play a central role when it comes to the type of sentence. Their recommendations are presented at a law enforcement conference where resolutions are passed to make them legally binding. In the event of any conflicts, moderation by social workers is a necessary part of conflict management. Their role also includes intervening in urgent crises.
The lectures by Dr. Angelika Burghardt-Kühne and Vera Schiepe were met with a great deal of interest by the participants. The subsequent lively discussions were mainly about the different roles played by psychiatrists and social workers. Rules of conduct in extreme situations and the status and binding nature of the enforcement plan were also discussed.
The seminar was part of the project component, which aims to improve the psychological and social care of prisoners, particularly in view of networking for prisoners and improved connections with their social environment and society. This is a matter of improved care and support, as well as psychological observation and treatment for prisoners and involving their family environment and civil society.
About the role of the DGAPR
The main goals of the DGAPR are the protection of society and the humane treatment of prisoners. The work of psychologists in Moroccan prisons plays a central role here, since it helps prisoners with their integration in prison life and also with their reintegration into society after they leave prison. The training sessions carried out until now by the DGAPR in this area have already brought results, with prison officers increasingly fulfilling their roles as people for prisoners to refer to and contact.
A decentralised policy should also help to achieve better integration of prisoners with mental health problems. The family environment plays a central role in the support of prisoners and improving their situation. The use of tools such as biometric techniques combined with training programmes for prisoners support the DGAPR’s strategy for reducing the relapse rate.
