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In brief

Amazigh excluded from Moroccan ID cards despite being official language

Government claims “technical issues”

 
Moroccan House of Representatives' building.
Moroccan House of Representatives' building. Author: Parlement.ma
The Amazigh language will not appear on Morocco’s new ID cards despite the fact that the language has been official since 2011. The House of Representatives of the North African country has passed a bill which excludes Amazigh from the document “due to technical issues.”

This has been, at least, the reason given by the minister of Interior and several MPs from the Justice and Development Party (PJD) and Istiqlal, according to media reports.

Moroccan ID cards will therefore continue to be printed exclusively in Arabic and French, as they have been until now.

Discrimination against the Amazigh language

The Amazigh World Congress has denounced the decision as a sign of “state racism” against the Amazigh people.

Amazigh was recognized in the Constitution of Morocco as an official language in 2011. Amazigh organizations denounce that its implementation is slow. It was only in 2019 that the Moroccan Parliament passed a law specifying the terms in which the language would be official.

The law provided for the introduction of Amazigh in the ID cards, however, with a 10-year moratorium, until 2029.