Morocco Grapples with Persistent Child Marriage Despite Legal Age of 18

"In 2017, 26,000 cases of early marriages were recorded, and the number decreased in 2020 to 12,000 and, in 2021, it went up to 19,000." Communicated by the Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi on January 4 during an intervention in Parliament, these figures show the extent of the phenomenon. To put an end to it, he called for its eradication and criminalization. "The appropriate age for marriage is 18 and over," he recalled, calling for an end to the authorization given by the judge for the marriage of minors.

According to Professor Khaled Lahsika, a researcher in family and gender sociology at the University Research Institute of the Mohammed V University of Rabat, the term "child marriage" is the appropriate term to designate the phenomenon. In a statement to the Anadolu news agency, he believes that child marriage is "a violation of children in their natural rights, which perhaps all societies reject within the framework of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child".

The researcher believes that "the main reason for the extent of this phenomenon is the legislator... Indeed, child marriage is prohibited in Moroccan law (Family Code), but due to the exception and discretionary power, the exception has become a rule." The law allows the marriage of men and women at the age of 18 and requires obtaining the authorization of the judge to marry women aged 15 to 18, while men cannot marry before the age of 18. Consequently, Khaled Lahsika calls for the cancellation of this exception (Article 20 of the Family Code), because "leaving the discretionary power in decision-making leaves the fate of thousands of children in the hands of others who can decide on their behalf".