Female Morocco group to oversee anti-violence against women law

The Moroccan House of Councillors, the Istiqlalian Women’s Organisation and the Istiqlalian Group of Unity and Egalitarianism joined together this week to oversee the draft bill on the fight against violence against women.

The groups discussed ways of enriching the law’s text and fill in the gaps before its final adoption in order to guarantee better protection for women against all forms of violence and to punish the perpetrators.

“The fight against this phenomenon, which still remains in place, requires more efforts to comply with international standards in this area,” speaker Hakim Benchamach explained.

In Morocco, we are facing a historic opportunity that will allow the Kingdom to play a leading role on this front.

According to the representative of the Ministry of Family, Solidarity, Equality and Social Development, Amina Slimani Houari, the Ministry is committed in supporting the work of the promotion of the situation of women and their protection against all forms of violence.

Read: Hundreds stage protest against sexual assault in Morocco

Houari indicated that the draft law on the fight against violence against women “is not the only one, it is reinforced by other laws relating to the fight against other forms of discrimination”, citing in particular the finance law which requires the adoption of an approach and indicators on the effectiveness and impact on women.

While the Human Rights Advisory Council (CNDH) “welcomes Morocco’s efforts to reform women’s rights legislation”, it called on the new draft law to consider “violence on the basis of sex as a form of discrimination and should strengthen the provisions relating to the prevention of domestic violence”.

The second version of the draft law 103.13 on combating violence against women was adopted last March and received a number of criticisms from several associations including the Coalition Spring of Dignity and the Moroccan Association for Women’s Rights (AMDF) which expressed their dissatisfaction with the “decline in the second version of the draft law, in terms of the framework of the provisions’ meanings particularly those relating to different forms of violence against women”.

This project, which has been the subject of several amendments by the parliamentary groups, discussed earlier this week aims to “ensure the minimum threshold of conditions and criteria for the legal protection of women victims of violence”, according to the report prepared by the Committee on Justice, Legislation and Human Rights in the House of Representatives.

Over the last few months, violence against women has increased with a number of cases of rape, harassment and killings gripping the country. Women have taken part in a number of protests to pressure the government to draft tougher laws against perpetrators and create a safer space for females in public.