UN Report: Child Marriage Affects 14% of Moroccan Girls, Hindering Education and Autonomy

According to the UNFPA report, this type of union is practiced in certain Moroccan regions where the population is essentially poor. "Child marriage compromises girls’ schooling and their ability to find work. This practice also prevents them from making autonomous decisions about their bodies and their future," the UNFPA points out.

What about local figures? According to the figures communicated by the Minister of Justice, Mohamed Ben Abdelkader, before the parliamentarians on January 21, 2020 in Rabat, 32,000 requests for the marriage of minors were submitted to the justice system in 2018 in Morocco, of which 26,000 were granted, or 81%. The remaining requests were rejected.

98% of these requests were made by unemployed people in the rural world, the minister had specified, which confirms the results of the UNFPA report, which points out that early marriage mainly concerns the poor and poorly educated population.

There is indeed a law prohibiting the marriage of children under 18 in Morocco, but Article 20 of the Family Code stipulates that "the family judge in charge of marriage can authorize the marriage of the boy and the girl before the age of matrimonial capacity provided for in Article 19 above, by a reasoned decision specifying the interest and the reasons justifying this marriage. He will have heard, beforehand, the parents of the minor or his legal representative. He will also have had a medical examination or a social investigation carried out."

The implementation of this judicial measure aims to put an end to religious marriages or marriage à la Fatiha, formerly adopted by families who marry their underage daughters by escaping the legal provisions. Except that the number of early marriages authorized by the courts is increasing. Outraged activists evoke a "glaring legal void".