Marrakech – In an agreement signed on Thursday in Casablanca, the European Union donated MAD 17 million to l’Institution Nationale de Solidarité avec les Femmes en Détresse (INSAF), the National Institute of Solidarity with Women, an organization that works to eradicate problems facing single mothers.
Morocco, along with the general world community, has recently highlighted the issue of single mothers due to the dramatic increase in the number of underage single mothers in the past decade. During the agreement ceremony, European Union Ambassador to Morocco Robert Joy explained that the future is of great concern to both Morocco and the European Union.
“Forty percent of single mothers under the age of 18 are violated in their work places, working in careers like housemaids,” he said. “This has a horrible impact on their future,” he added.
The EU Ambassador mentioned that Morocco fully understands its responsibility for caring for its single mothers due to the issue’s relational ties to several other social phenomena. He also explained that the endowment will contribute to providing a dignified life for Moroccan single mothers.
In a statement, Chairman of INSAF Omar Kanadi said that, “The agreement on International Human Rights Day will enable our association to conduct several empirical studies concerning single women so that we have invaluable statistics about recent changes in this category.”
INSAF will mainly focus on the difficulties single mothers experience with finding work, having previously highlighted many of their other problems. Kanadi explained that, “Single mothers still suffer from discrimination in Moroccan law and society.”
INSAF made several goals including the removal of Article 490 from the Penal Code. The article criminalizes extramarital relations and has had a negative impact on single women and their children, while men who engage in extra-marital relations often are not charged for the same “crime.”
INSAF has also called for a systematization of DNA testing to protect women by establishing paternity so that they are not forced to bear sole responsibility for raising children born out of wedlock.
