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Transparency Maroc has joined the many voices of NGOs and students organizations speaking out against sexual harassment and blackmailing in Moroccan universities.
Following the Moroccan Council for Human Rights (CNDH), Transparency Maroc released a statement saying it is actively following the devlopment of the sexual scandals that have engulfed shaken some Morocco universities.
Defined sexual extortion as a form of misusing power for private ends, the NGO’s statement strongly denounced “these repulsive practices that undermine dignity.” It added that such behaviors “contribute to considerable harm to the mental and physical safety of female students.”
Though a form of “detestable types of corruption,” sextortion has long been rampant not only on campuses, but also in other “industries where gender is used as a negotiating tool” to prey on the vulnerable, the NGO said.
The statement welcomed the “rapid initiation of legal proceedings and the administrative decisions taken by the Department of Higher Education and certain universities and colleges to counter and prevent these acts.”
An “inclusion of sextortion as a form of corruption and abuse of power” in the draft Penal Code can strengthen actions taken by the justice system, according to the NGO. It urged the government to allocate more resources to helping public and private sector administrations and institutions deal with this phenomenon.
The government should conduct studies that would explain the reasons and provide ways to prevent them, Transparency Maroc said.
Read also: Sexual Harassment Has Been Rife on Morocco’s ENCG Campuses for Years
While expressing its utter outrage at the banalization of sexual harrassment in universities and other spheres with power relations, the NGO called for the respect of “basic norms ensuring a fair trial, including the presumption of innocence and the investigation’s secrecy.”
