More than 80 per cent of Moroccan women are victims of domestic violence
By Iqbal Tamimi
A shocking human rights report revealed that more than 82 per cent of Moroccan women are victims of domestic violence, and 52 per cent of recorded incidents of violence against unmarried women are sexual assault.
{jcomments on}
A report, submitted Friday in Rabat by the National Network of listening to women’s centres, victims of violence, that most cases of violence reported by the listening centres, part of Anarose network, are often cases of domestic violence, while 35 per cent of women are subjected to economic violence, 13 per cent are subjected to sexual violence, whereas the percentage of women victims of legal violence is 9 per cent.
The report says relationships outside the marital context in Morocco are also characterized by violence, as the percentage of battered unmarried women reached 11 per cent.
The report acknowledged the difficulty of identifying forms of sexual, physical and psychological violence against girls and women out of wedlock, stressing that the prevalence of sexual violence against women out of wedlock and in public space become a reality.
The report pointed out that sexual violence takes many forms, such as harassment, sexual assault, attempted rape, and rape. The report added that 50 per cent of the registered cases of violence against unmarried women were sexual violence.
Last April a 15 year old Moroccan teenager, Amina Filali was raped and subsequently forced to marry her rapist, despairing of justice Filali committed suicide. Rape victims in Morocco and other Arab countries such as Jordan, and Egypt are being forced to marry their rapists, in attempts to save the ‘honour’ of the victim’s family. The legal system in Morocco integrated this abhorrent cultural phenomenon in the 1950′s.
