33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

MOROCCO 6 to protect the reputation of all members of the family. Moroccans view married life as the only normal way for adults to live, and the idea of living alone is abhorrent. Polygamy is allowed under Islam, although it is rarely practiced. In such cases, the wives may live together in one house, or depending on the family's economic status, each wife may reside in her own dwelling with her offspring. 19 GBV Morocco scores very high on the Gender Inequality Index (113) 20 and Global Gender Gap Index (137) 21 . It means that in Morocco, onequality between women and men is very high. Women who suffered violence of any type are not full protected by de Government. The constitution prohibits discrimination and any king of discriminative violence, but it refers to the general population and does not focus on women as victims. Sexual harassment, physical domestic violence, and some aspects of gender-based discrimination are contemplated by the law. There are more severe penalties for the crime of rape due to amendments to the penal code, although rape is not condemned because of its harm to the victim; rather it is considered a moral crime. In 2015 the Ministry of Justice criminalized forced marriage and sexual harassment. NGO’s de fending women ’s rights criticized the fact that they were excluded from its elaboration and that discriminatory laws were maintained. As an example, articles 418 and 420 of the draft law provide mitigating circumstances for cases of “honour killing”. Article 475, according to which rapists could evade prosecution by marrying their underage victim was repelled. 22 Although Morocco is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as well as, since July 2015, its optional protocol, the country only recognises its obligation to eliminate discrimination against women as long as this does not contradict Sharia Law. The Moroccan government, however, withdrew its reservations to article 9 concerning women’s right to nationality and to pass on their nationality to their children as well as article 16 regarding marriage and family life in April 2011. 23 Counselling services and shelters for women victims of violence are generally set up by civil society organisations but they lack resources, and as a result, they are not numerous. This situation is even worse in rural areas. 24 19 http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/The-United-Kingdom-of-Morocco.htm 20 Gender Inequality Index: A composite measure reflecting inequality in achievement between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market. Source: Human Development Report, UNDP (2016) (http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/2016_human_development_report.pdf ) 21 The Global Gender Gap Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health criteria. Source: World Economic Forum, the Global Gender Gap Report 2016. 22 http://euromedrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/EMHRN-Factsheet-VAW-Morocco-EN- 2015.pdf 23 ibid 24 ibid