Moroccan Activists Spark Controversy Over Interracial Marriages with Sub-Saharan Africans

Internet users have criticized Moroccan women for "preferring to marry a person from sub-Saharan African countries" rather than a man of Moroccan nationality. These activists have posted on Facebook photos and videos of Moroccan women marrying men from sub-Saharan African countries, denouncing a "phenomenon that is spreading in Morocco."

Women’s rights defense associations have criticized this campaign, which they consider "blatant racism against people from sub-Saharan Africa" and an "attack on the values and rights of the Moroccan woman" who, like the Moroccan man, is free to choose her life partner.

In a statement to Hespress, Fatiha Chtatou, lawyer and member of the Federation of the League of Women’s Rights, supported these campaigns launched on social networks against a specific group, the sub-Saharan Africans residing in Morocco, "are clearly racist, and their authors must cease these practices that cause moral harm."

These people from sub-Saharan African countries and legally residing in Morocco "also have the right to marry," notes the lawyer, who notes an accentuation of "racism against people from sub-Saharan Africa within Moroccan society." On the contrary, the marriage of Moroccan women to foreigners "encourages the diversity and cohesion of the rich Moroccan culture," she asserts.