Moroccan Teen Dies by Suicide After Family Forces Marriage, Ends Education

Following the decision of her grandfather to force her to get married, a brilliant high school student, still a minor, who was pursuing her studies in the second year of the baccalaureate, committed suicide by ingesting rat poison, reports the daily Assabah. This young girl had obtained excellent grades in the first year of the baccalaureate, and dreamed of obtaining her baccalaureate with honors, in order to pursue her higher studies in a great school. A broken dream.

Alerted, the local authorities of the province and the elements of the royal gendarmerie of the Zaggota brigade who went to the scene of the tragedy, where the usual checks were made. After which, the civil protection elements transported the body of the deceased to the morgue of the provincial hospital of Sidi Kacem. An autopsy of the body is planned to determine the exact causes of death. In parallel, an investigation is underway to shed light on this tragedy.

In Morocco, the marriage of minors is a scourge that is deeply rooted. There were 20,738 judicial authorizations for the marriage of minors granted in 2019, 19,266 requests for the marriage of minors filed in the various courts in 2020. In 2022, the number of requests for authorization of marriage of minors filed was around 20,097, of which 6,445 were rejected, and 13,652 requests were accepted.