BySCEME
Amina- 16 – decides to take her own life to escape her marriage to her rapist
A young Moroccan girl recently took her own life to escape her forced marriage to a man who had previously raped her. The 16 years old girl was forced to marry her rapist by a tribunal decision that, with the approval of both families (although the father initially opposed the marriage), presented it as the sole respectable option.The girl, who was living in Larache, near Tangiers, could not accept her rapist as her husband – and possibly the future father of her children. She therefore decided to take rat poison and put an end to the miserable future that had been imposed on her.
This awful event is another testimony of what happens in the majority of Arab countries, where domestic violence and sexual abuse are still considered huge taboos, impossible to break. Instead of explicitly and publicly criminalising these acts, governments and tribunals are often choosing the easiest option: hiding behind the screen of cultural or religious traditions.
As a matter of fact, the article 475 of the Moroccan penal code not only clearly conceals rape as a form of crime, but also gives the offender the possibility to avoid imprisonment if he agrees to marry the victim.
Very few countries across the MENA region have laws on family violence, which shows that womens’ rights have still got a long battle to fight. Indeed, although different articles of the penal code have been created to protect family values and morality, they do not take basic human rights into consideration. Women should be entitled to refuse a marriage to a person that took them with force.
We, at SCEME, understand that changing these laws and traditions will not be easy; however we are determined to tell the world that domestic and sexual violence must be criminalised. SCEME has recently started the “Azwajuna (Our husbands) campaign, which aims to emphasise that women have a Right to: A Private Life; to live Free from Violence and that the integrity of their Bodies should be Respected.