Morocco is slow to enforce laws on women’s rights in regards
to rape and premarital sex. Girls go in to report rape crimes and their
families are not willing to shelter them do too them needing to protect the
honor of their families. Some girls are afraid to admit that they have had
premarital sex so Marrakesh was afraid when she went to the police to tell her
account of rape. She gave two different stories and names. She is afraid mostly
because it is illegal to have sex outside of marriage regardless if rape is
involved or not. Last year there was a
young girl by the name of Amina Filali she was 16 when she committed suicide
after a judge and parents forced her to marry her alleged rapist. There has
been a shift of Islamic principle that are now giving women more rights regarding
divorce and polygamy and the age of marriage was raised from 15 to 18. Even though
there is a shift from Islamic traditions conservative judges are granting
permission for minors to marry in 90 percent of the cases they have appeared in
court before them. Al Amane shelter took in Amal but she is a minor so they had
to send her to another shelter. To avoid the same tragedy that happened in the
Filali suicide case it is important for morocco to change article 475 in its
penal code. This code allows for charges being dropped in cases of statutory rape
if two parties get married. With this code rapists are allowed to become
married to these child brides. In these cases it is way more important to
protect honor than to protect the girl’s safety. Now it is somewhat impossible
to marry a girl under the age of 16. There has to also be a change to the
family code for any changes to take place. In “475: Treve de Silence” Moroccans
of all ages and from different parts of Moroccan society all agreed that a girl
who has lost her virginity has lost her value. There are men that women should
stay at home and perform traditional roles. IF a girl was outside and was not
supposed to be then she deserved to be raped it seemed as if this was peoples attitudes.
Men are not guilty for anything.
In this case this is a way in which Tradition outway laws
that are set in place to protect minors. If religion was not a matter these girls
would get the help that they deserve to protect their lives. Regardless of
culture when should a line be drawn when a girl is being taking advnagte of by
a man and has to marry him when a crime is not her fault? Like with most traditional
Islamic countires that are patriarchial in nature this is something that is
going to be slow to change. Tradition will have to be changed along with law
for girls to be protected from rape and marriage before they are of legal age.
Chanel Martin
4/12/13
4:30pm
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