The Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (Cese) launched a new alert on child marriages in Morocco and deplores incomplete statistics and inadequate laws. In 2023, more than 8,600 child marriage authorizations will have been granted by the authorities.
On the eve of the revision of the Family Code, the Mudawana of 2004, the Cese notes that in its current version, even if the law in force sets the minimum age of marriage at 18 years, ” it, unfortunately, does not make it possible to eradicate this practice” and “does not respect the supreme interest of the rights of the child ”.
Ahmed Reda Chami, president of Cese, addressed vulnerable families whose minor daughters go to school.
In 2023, the authorizations issued for marriages of minors were 8,667, a lower figure than that recorded in 2022, when there were around 12,940. But, underlines Cese, the statistics do not take into account marriages ” unofficial”.
“In Morocco, 32% of married minors have one or more children, knowing that any pregnancy occurring before the age of 18 is considered “ high risk ” . Added to this is the increase in health risks for adolescent girls and their children due to the lack of birth spacing,” denounces the Cese, according to which minors are also highly exposed to family and marital, physical and sexual violence. and verbal.
According to data from the Moroccan Ministry of Health, it appears that if women under 25 are, like older women, very exposed to psychological violence, particularly verbal violence (94%), they are even more exposed to physical violence: 27% compared to 21% of women aged 25-34 and 18% of women aged 34-49. Violence against them is perpetrated by the husband (43%), in-laws (36%) or by another person not belonging to the family (28%). A significant percentage of women, i.e. 77.5% of those under 25, experience violence within their own home.
