Morocco’s Penal Code Reform Stalls Over Individual Freedoms and Abortion Rights

For more than four years, the leaders of the governing majority have been unable to take a clear position on the draft law relating to the reform of the penal code. And the light at the end of the tunnel is clearly not in sight, when we know that the PJD is clinging to the text drawn up by the former Minister of Justice, Mustapha Ramid. But his successor, Mohamed Benabdelkader, is determined not to endorse a project in which he did not participate and which, moreover, has not been discussed within the current government.

The PJD maintains the articles relating to the criminalization of illegal enrichment and the use of abortion, conditional on specific cases. In contrast, the USFP, as well as certain parties, demand that the laws relating to individual freedoms be settled first. A government source points out that it has become unacceptable for the freedom of adults in private spaces to be restricted and that these outdated articles continue to harm Morocco in global relations.

These are precisely the articles that have not been amended in the draft law prepared by the former Minister of Justice and Freedoms, Mustapha Ramid. The current holder of this portfolio refuses to admit that there is a blockage on the article relating to the criminalization of illegal enrichment.

Benabdelkader refuses a debate that would end up pitting those who fight against corruption against those who are designated as opponents. According to the minister, the government is already working on drafting several laws relating to the fight against corruption. The hesitation to publicly defend the cancellation of the article penalizing consensual relations between adults stems from a desire to preserve relations within the governing majority.