Morocco Sees Surge in Underage Marriage Requests, Officials Urge Judicial Caution

In 2019, the courts recorded 27,623 requests for authorization of underage marriages, according to the report of the Presidency of the Public Ministry published this year. These figures "do not truly reflect reality, due to cases of underage marriages that have gone unnoticed and not officially taken into account, such as customary marriages," observes Daki, calling on his colleagues to be responsible.

"If, as magistrates, we are not responsible for the alarming figures of requests for authorizations of underage marriages, a phenomenon linked to several socio-cultural and economic causes," including school dropout, "we are, on the other hand, responsible for the number of authorizations granted, which calls us all to account, and imposes on us not to empty this exceptional legislative authorization of its content," he warned, on Monday, April 12, 2021 in Marrakech, during a workshop organized by his department on the phenomenon.

This picture "calls on all stakeholders working in the field of child rights protection to intensify their efforts to put an end to this social phenomenon," he stressed, urging judicial actors to take into account the best interests of the child.

Eradicating school dropout could be one of the best ways for an effective fight against underage marriage, the magistrate concluded.