Rabat – Saad Eddine El Othmani, the former head of Morocco, and politician with the Islamist party Justice and Development Party (PJD) attacked advocates calling for the banning of underage marriage, accusing them of ideological fervor and lacking faith in the judicial system.
Speaking at a seminar organized by the Student Renewal Organization in Fez in a video posted on Friday, El Othmani lashed at those advocating for the prohibition, saying that “those advocating prohibition want to expose family scandals instead of protecting them, and they want to appear more modern than modernists.”
He further questioned the rationale behind such calls saying: “How will this problem be solved if the door to marriage for minors is closed?”
The former Prime Minister took aim at the statistical basis of the argument, alleging that “prohibition advocates try to exaggerate by citing incorrect numbers and using phrases such as those found in the memorandum of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces,” suggesting an agenda-driven manipulation of data.
El Othmani, drawing from his experience as a psychologist, recounted cases of minors fleeing their homes due to familial rejection of their marriages, arguing that banning underage marriage will leave these problems unsolved.
El Othmani refused to adopt the term “marrying minors,” arguing it is inadequate, and it implies that the unions are being forced. “Marriage occurs with the consent of the minor girl and without any coercion, while sometimes it is refused by her family,” he said.
Showing findings from a report issued by the Public Prosecution, he refuted claims that marrying minors leads to dropping out of school, maintaining that it is actually the dropping out of school that eventually leads to underage marriage.
He accused advocates of exaggerating a social phenomenon that represents only 5% of total marriages, suggesting a skewed focus on a relatively small issue.
The data El Otmani presented contradicts international reports that cite that the rate of child marriage among young girls in Morocco reached 14% between 2015 and 2021.
El Otmani’s remarks were made one day before the Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch received the family code proposal from the committee to present it to King Mohammed VI.
While the exact contents of the proposal remain unknown, multiple human rights advocacy groups and political parties have called on the government to close the legal loophole that had allowed underage marriage to persist in the country.
In February 2024, the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE), an independent state consultancy, urged the government to take action against underage marriage
The report highlights the concerning impact of child marriage on the economic and social well-being of girls and calls for a comprehensive strategy to address the persistent problem.
Child marriage both jeopardizes the future prospects for girls and has broader adverse effects on the economic and social development of the country, the report explains.
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