Self-Determination and Women’s Rights in Muslim Societies

2. Promoting a Violence against Women Law in Morocco: Legislative Advocacy by Grassroots-level NGOS

37 s a i d a Ko u z z i w i t H s t e p H a n i e w i l l M a n b o r d at Promoting a Violence against Women Law in Morocco l e g i s l at i v e a d v o c a c y b y g r a s s r o o t s - l e v e l n g o s This chapter describes an ongoing, grassroots-level legislative advocacy campaign to promote a violence against women law in Morocco. Both the approach and the country raise interesting and timely questions about the processes of legal reform and the strategies of local nongovernmental organizations (ngos) to address violence against women. While this chapter focuses on an initiative in Morocco, the political and law-making framework and social norms surrounding violence against women are similar to those in other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (mena) region. Democracy building, parliamentary strengthening, and women’s human rights in the region have all recently been the focus of much attention by the international community, foreign governments, donors, and ngos. The 2004 Family Code reforms in Morocco were initially hailed as a victory for women’s rights, particularly in the international arena. However, reports analyzing implementation of the law in the seven years since its promulgation describe obstacles both among the population and from the authorities 2 p o l i t i c s o f c H a n g e 38 charged with enforcing the law. High illiteracy rates, discrepancies in its application across the country, and remaining gaps and discrimination prevent the Family Code from really protecting women.1 Implementation problems with the law also reveal the disadvantages of a top-down reform process. The chapter illustrates how local ngos in Morocco are now working from the ground up to promote a violence against women law. The multifaceted set of project activities carried out in this campaign includes a series of community consultations with women at the grassroots level, mobilization and awareness raising among women and local authorities and other stakeholders in the community , and legislative advocacy to national decision makers. Based on the firsthand experiences of the authors and representatives of participating ngos, this chapter focuses on the process of developing and advocating for a violence against women law and the main practical challenges encountered when working with the different stakeholders targeted in the campaign. Certain lessons learned call into question frequently held stereotypes and misconceptions about grassroots-level mobilization among people with limited education and about women in the mena region. They also reveal obstacles to law reform from members of the traditional elite, who are typically considered the decision makers responsible for leading the country forward. The authors hope that this experience in Morocco—which would be among the first countries in the mena region to pass a violence against women law—will be useful for advocates across the region who are working to eradicate violence against women through law reform efforts. In particular, the challenges involved in the process of lobbying for such a law and the lessons learned about the interactions between diverse stakeholders may help to identify issues that must be addressed and to develop effective strategies for lobbying for such legislation in the mena region. Violence against Women in Morocco: An Overview Few would dispute the fact that violence against women constitutes a serious problem in Morocco, as it does worldwide. Official statistics from the Ministry of Justice indicate that 41,000 cases of violence against women were brought before Moroccan courts in 2007. The Casablanca Court of Appeals received a v i o l e n c e a g a i n s t w o M e n l aw i n M o r o c c o 39 the largest number of such cases—28,375, including seven premeditated murders and more than 15,597 acts of violence that resulted in more than twenty days of disability for the victim.2 In its 2009 report, the Ministry of Social Development , the Family, and Solidarity notes that roughly 30,000 cases of violence against women had been reported that year, 79.80 percent of these involving conjugal violence.3 Similarly, the first report of the Casablanca-based ngo Women’s Eyes, in...