Morocco’s Human Rights Council Holds Conference on Violence Against Children

Rabat – Morocco’s National Council for Human Rights (CNDH) is organizing a conference on sexual violence against children on April 11 in Rabat.

The event aims to shed light on the phenomenon of sexual violence against children and develop practical measures to aline Morocco’s national policies with international frameworks, a statement from CNDH explains.

Through the conference, CNDH will organize several discussion surrounding themes pertaining to sexual violence against children.

Discussions will touch on several themes including: “Moroccan society’s representation of sexual violence against children,” “the psychological impact of sexual violence on children,” “legal protection and judicial action,” and “civil society and the protection of children from sexual violence,” the statement details.

The meeting will be chaired by the President of the National Council for Human Rights, Amna Bouayach, and will bring together researchers, academics, and representatives from NGOs.

CNDH’s conference comes in the wake of the much-reported tragic rape case of an 11-year-old child in Tiflet that shocked that has shocked and galvanized activists and ordinary citizens across Morocco over the past few days.

On March 20, a court in Rabat sentenced three adult males found guilty of repeatedly raping and impregnating an 11-year-old victim a light sentence of only two years. Now only aged 13, the victim is a mother to a one-year-old boy.

The light sentence triggered a nationwide uproar among outraged activists and ordinary citizens alike, with many taking to social media to call for a wide range of protests to denounce the court’s “shocking” and “unacceptable” verdict.

Morocco’s Justice Minister, Abdellatif Ouahbi, also said that he was “shocked” to learn about the verdict the court had handed to the criminals in this case. The minister added that the case is not closed and commended the public prosecutor’s decision to appeal the verdict before a higher court.

As child rape is punishable by 10 to 18 years in prison under Morocco’s penal code, critics of the court’s light sentence lambasted the judge who made the decision for ignoring the provisions of the penal code. Some outraged commenters even accused the court of perpetuating the cycle of the “banalization” of rape cases in the Moroccan justice system.