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Rabat – Morocco’s General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) has introduced support units for women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence.
The units, which will be within DGSN administrations, seek to provide psychological support and guidance for the victims of violence.
DGSN announced the measure on Thursday, September 26, at the Royal Police Institute in Kenitra, a city north of Rabat.
The Moroccan security body emphasized that the measure is part of the implementation of Law 103-13 against gender discrimination.
The initiative, according to Maghreb Arab Press (MAP), seeks to “leverage the success of the reception units created in 2007 at the level of judicial police services to receive women victims of violence.”
DGSN introduced its new support units during a Canadian-sponsored “study day” on the intersectoral coordination of care for women and victims of violence.
“The study was marked by the presentation on the new provisions of law 103-13 as well as on the setting up of cells for the support of women and girls victims of violence,” MAP reported.
Morocco enacted Law 103-13 in September 2018 to criminalize sexual harassment, assault in public spaces, and cybercrime.
Feminists and activists have long argued that the law contains loopholes.
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The US State Department’s annual report on Morocco’s Human Rights Practices for 2018, published in March, said that the law does not “specifically define domestic violence against women and minors, but the general prohibitions of the criminal code address such violence.”
With increasing reports of rape and violent incidents against women, the Moroccan government has urged women to come forward and report such crimes.
In July, the Moroccan minister for family, solidarity, equality, and social development, Bassima Hakkawi, unveiled a government-sponsored study that found 93.4% of sexual violence victims have not reported their plight to authorities.
The data for the study came from January to March of 2019.
As many as 54.4% of women had experienced gendered violence at the time of the survey.
The survey stipulated that women aged 25-29 are more often the subjects of violence.
The same survey showed that 12.4% of Moroccan women faced sexual assaults in public spaces in the past twelve months.
