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In a move towards greater gender equality, a new law making violence against women a criminal offense has just come into force in Morocco. The legislation bans forced marriages and sexual harassment in public places, and also imposes penalties and fines on offenders. The law was first adopted by the North African nation’s parliament in March, before coming into effect last week.
Bassima Hakkaoui, the country’s minister for women’s issues, says the law is “one of the most important texts strengthening the national legal arsenal in the area of equality of the sexes,” the Washington Post reports. The legislation is known as the Hakkaoui law after the minister, who has waged a five-year campaign to see it come to fruition.
In 2009, a government survey of women aged 18 to 65 found that 63% of those questioned had been victims of violence. While the new law has been welcomed, campaigner Samira Raiss told the BBC it was just the beginning. “We will not stop here,” she said. “This law is an asset but it has shortcomings that we have to work on. In case of marital violence it is difficult to provide proof and we don’t even have shelters for victims.” Bouthaina Karouri, a member of the parliamentary committee that drafted the law, responded that “no law is perfect,” adding that the legislation can be amended in the future.
It is just the latest in the nation’s moves to promote equality, with Morocco’s Family Code removing the legal obligation for having a male guardian and upping the minimum age limit for marriage to 18 in 2004. It also made it easier for women to file for divorce and obtain custody of their children. Meanwhile, the 2007 Nationality Code allows children to take the nationality of their mother at birth. The country has also reformed its electoral code in an effort to increase female representation in the political sphere.
Morocco is not the first country in the region to pass such laws in recent times either – Saudi Arabia green-lit a new law to criminalize sexual harassment in May, while Tunisia’s parliament passed a bill that outlawed multiple violations against women, including sexual harassment and discrimination, last year.
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