Rabat – Moroccan activist and champion of single mothers’ rights, Aïcha Ech-Chenna, was made on Monday “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur” a prestigious French distinction for 52 years of services to the cause of single mothers.
The reward, that adds to numerous ones won by Ech-Chenna worldwide, is a tribute to “a brave, tenacious and bold woman” for her “constant, resolved, known and recognized” fight to “find a job to (single) women while securing that they will keep their children custody”, said French ambassador in Morocco, Charles Fries, who added that the recipient is also rewarded for her contribution to enriching relations between Morocco and France.
Ech-Chenna said the distinction is another international recognition to “the daily work” of her association “feminine solidarity” and to the humane values for which it has been militating for 50 years now.
It is time we joined our efforts to settle the real problems facing Moroccan women, she called before underscoring the total support of HM King Mohammed VI to the association and the care that the Sovereign grants to most vulnerable social groups.
Other co-recipients of the Easter 2013 class of the French legion d’honneur include the French ambassador in Morocco, the medicine Nobel winner François Barré-Sinoussi, former French soccer star Lillian Thuram and other French and foreign figures.
Ecchenna had been awarded in November 2009 in Minneapolis (USA) the USD 1 million Opus prize which is granted annually to recognize unsung heroes anywhere in the world, solving today’s most persistent social problems.
She is also the laureate of the 1995 French Republic human rights prize.
