Three major public-sector unions launched a general strike Wednesday (March 3rd) after two months of negotiations with the government reached an impasse. "We're not fans of strike action," Democratic Labour Federation general secretary Abderrahman Azzouzi said, "but after a two-month halt in the negotiation process, we had to do something."

Morocco has strongly criticised a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, and the response to the document in Moroccan civil society has been divided. Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia were among 15 North African and Middle Eastern countries, and over 90 countries worldwide, discussed in the 612-page World Report 2010, HRW's 20th annual review of human rights around the globe.

The international human rights body has called on Moroccan authorities to cease a ban on foreign travel against selected Sahrawi activist, saying it hampers the freedom of movement. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said since August 2009, the government has revived an arbitrary and repressive measure, which it had used frequently more than a decade ago to bar Sahrawis’ from traveling abroad.

Members of Morocco's Parliament must declare their assets by May 2010, as the government implements a law passed in 2008 to govern the conduct of elected officials.

Recently-appointed Minister for Public Sector Modernisation Mohammed Saâd Alami has embraced his new position by vowing to curtail corruption in Morocco. Combating corruption "requires much thought from all players, be they the government, official institutions or charitable associations," he announced at a meeting on Tuesday (January 12th), when he convened an inter-ministerial committee to oversee government actions against corrupt practices.

An Amazigh-language TV channel first proposed three years ago finally hit Moroccan airwaves on January 6th, satisfying a long-awaited demand by a significant percentage of the country’s citizens.

Morocco is working to improve services for Down's syndrome and other handicapped children, many of whom have no access to local primary schools. Halima, 45, lives in Sidi Kacem with her husband and four children, including an 8-year-old boy with Down's syndrome. For years, Halima hoped her son would be able to attend school in spite of his disability, but no schools in the region cater to children with special needs.

The Moroccan government is taking fresh steps to support beleaguered local businesses, which are a key part of the national economy. Two new programmes by the National Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (ANPME) are intended to boost competitiveness in the struggling sector.

Many Moroccan women's rights groups and political parties, eager to change the country's blanket ban on abortion, are lobbying Parliament for changes to the law in cases of incest or rape.

Morocco has the resources to press ahead with farm sector reform, even if many foreign investors are unwilling to commit for now, industry officials said. Foreign investment in the north African country had fallen by a third in September compared to a year earlier, according to government figures, as the global banking crisis made investors loath to venture into new markets,

An Abu Dhabi-based private sector investment firm has signed a contract to lease up to 700,000 hectares of farmland in Morocco, a company executive has said. Food prices have risen sharply over the past year, prompting governments and private sector firms in the Middle East to look into ways of securing supplies, as most of the food in the region is imported.

Morocco's National Initiative for Human Development (INDH) has done a solid job of developing a charity network, but still needs more participation by women, children and local councils, according to a recent report by the initiative's oversight body.

On the 8 October, seven prominent Sahrawi human rights advocates were arrested at Mohamed V airport in Casablanca, Morocco. They were driven away by Moroccan security forces immediately after disembarking from a flight returning from Algeria where they had been visiting the Sahrawi refugee camps between 26 September and 8 October.

Four Moroccan teachers' unions paralysed public schools nationwide on Thursday (October 29th) by striking to protest problems that include shortages of instructors and overcrowded classrooms. The unions are also protesting poor infrastructure and changes in the promotions process.

Moroccan courts on Friday (October 30th) convicted two journalists of desecrating the national flag and failing to show proper respect for a member of the royal family. Editor Taoufik Bouachrine and caricaturist Khalid Gueddar were put on trial after the daily Akhbar al-Youm published a cartoon of Prince Moulay Ismail's wedding in its September 27th edition.

Fifty-seven IFEX members and other rights organisations joined the Arab Network for Human Rights (ANHRI) to condemn the recent targeting of Moroccan journalists who have been hit with lawsuits, high fines and jail sentences, threatening media diversity. Orchestrated by the monarchy, newspapers have been shut down as the government ramps up its repression of independent journalism, report IFEX members.

Morocco is developing a new strategic framework to fight poverty, which will place top priority on addressing the vulnerabilities that lead families into destitution. "There was a need to bring all governmental and non-governmental initiatives together to fight poverty, given the necessity of coordinating all activities, both in terms of financial and human resources," said Minister of Social Development Nouzha Skelli, as her office unveiled the plan on October 22nd in Rabat.

A recent round of talks has failed to achieve agreement between Morocco's unions and the government on several of organised labour's key demands. Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi began his annual "Social Dialogue" with leading Moroccan unions on Monday (October 26th) in Rabat.

On 8 October, seven Sahrawi advocates from Western Sahara were arrested by Moroccan police at the Mohamed V Airport in Casablanca, Morocco and remain in an undisclosed location. The advocates were returning from a trip to Algeria where they visited Sahrawi refugee camps in the southwest of the country.

Some 200 young Moroccans from sixteen regions around Morocco attended the first Civil Society Forum from September 8th-12th in Rabat. The forum was organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with co-operation from the youth ministry, under the theme "Mobilise, plead, change".