The president of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), Amina Bouayach, called for taking into account, in the fight against violence against women, socio-cultural dimensions, alongside the legal process.
Amina Bouayach, who spoke at a conference organized on Tuesday by the Chamber of Advisors on the results and perspectives of public policies in the fight against all forms of discrimination and violence against women, said that “the fight against this phenomenon goes far beyond the simple legal aspect, and requires taking into account social and cultural dimensions”.
The last decade has been punctuated by the adoption of national strategies and specific laws intended to combat violence against women, including a series of measures intended to preserve the physical and psychological security of women, she indicated, arguing, however, that these measures, despite their importance, have not been able to curb this phenomenon.
She considered that the data relating to the fight against violence against women and girls are far from reflecting the full extent of the phenomenon, due, among other things, to the fear of survivors of violence to lodge a complaint, the fear of revenge from the perpetrators of this violence, the slowness of judicial treatment, the complexity of the evidence, in addition to the socio-cultural barriers favorable to non-denunciation and to the dropping of proceedings against the perpetrators of violence.
Returning to the steps taken by Morocco in terms of collective awareness of the phenomenon of violence against women, in particular through the establishment of legislative and institutional mechanisms for monitoring, adaptation, protection, prevention and punishment, Bouayach referred to the amendments made to the Penal Code, the law to combat violence against women, the law on trafficking in human beings, and the promulgation of the Family Code (Moudawana) which was a revolution in its time.
This conference is organized as part of the United Nations campaign to combat gender-based violence (25 November-10 December) and in response to the call launched in this direction to national parliaments by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. (IPU).
On the sidelines of this meeting, an exhibition of photographs and documents, produced by the IPU around the phenomenon of violence against women, was inaugurated, in addition to the distribution of orange scarves to parliamentarians and guests, this color being the symbol of a better future, free from violence against women and girls.
This event, which saw the participation of actors from civil society and human rights, intends to shed light on the permanent and renewed commitment of the parliamentary institution to the defense of women’s causes and to the efforts of consolidation of the achievements of the Kingdom in this area, materialized by the High Royal Solicitude, the constitutional consecration of the rights of women and their promotion and by the strengthening of the legal and institutional framework, able to ensure the effectiveness of these rights.
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