Moroccan Teen’s Suicide Highlights Controversy Over Child Marriage Laws

It was in the village of Oulad Sidi Ali, in the province of Jerada, that a 17-year-old minor chose to end her life right after being asked in marriage and refusing the latter.

This young girl was out of school and this drama occurs at a time when we currently see the multiplication of debates around the marriages of minors going in the direction of a reform of the family code (Moudawana). We can assume that this refusal to marry a man while she is out of school was not to the liking of her family. The ins and outs of this case are still unknown.

Several cases of suicide of young Moroccan women have made headlines in recent months. In April 2018, a 19-year-old woman committed suicide after her forced marriage to a man she did not love. Another young woman killed herself in Marrakech after learning that her rapists had been released by the justice system.

More recently, a 16-year-old girl living in Spain denounced her parents who forced her to marry during her vacation in Morocco.