Child Marriage in Morocco Sparks Debate Amid Outrage Over Pedophilia Cases

What is this society that seems to encourage, through its silence, the marriage of children, but which is outraged by cases of rape, pedophilia and sexual abuse? "It is true that these crimes were unpredictable and unsuspected, and we learned of them brutally, like a thunderclap in a clear sky. But what about the predictable, prepared, legally authorized crimes ’the marriage of underage girls’?" wonders the psychoanalyst.

Jouad Mabrouki in his reflection exposes the universe of his daughters, just out of childhood and who are broken in their innocence by an early and forced marriage. They find themselves trapped, forced to live a life that is not theirs. Generally forced to marry men older than them, they have to learn to be women when they are still just children. The psychoanalyst gives the example of a "17-year-old girl, with no experience of sexuality, pregnancy, motherhood, and yet she must undergo all these grueling trials. She finds herself, despite herself, in the bed of a brute older than her, to undergo a rape, a heartbreaking trauma that will accompany her for the rest of her life. A rape with the assistance and blessing of the parents, the family, society and justice," reports Hespress.

This is the drama that is played out in every family. All this takes place under the sign of "HALAL" and respect for the rights of the child in the Moroccan way, laments the doctor. For him, the death penalty demanded as a just punishment for pedophiles is indicated for all Moroccans who allow and encourage the marriage of children.

The psychoanalyst calls for respect for the rights of children, especially those of the little girl who has the right to grow up at her own pace and should not be propelled without any recommendation into a foreign universe, where she must learn to move forward in pain and tears, specifies the same source.