As a preliminary remark, Morocco is part of the African Union but has not signed nor ratified the Maputo protocol. Morocco is a party to the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Morocco ratified the CEDAW on 21 June 1993 but has declarations regarding Article 2, Paragraph 4 of Article 15 and reservations toward Article 29 of the CEDAW as they contravened some aspects of the Moroccan personal status code and the Islamic sharia.
Applicable local laws
Local applicable laws regarding domestic violence are as follows:
- The Moroccan constitution, which prohibits, among others, (i) discrimination, (ii) harming moral or physical integrity of any person under any circumstances whatsoever and by any party whatsoever, private or public, and (iii) cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or treatment that offends human dignity.
- The Moudawana (Moroccan personal statute and family code), as reformed in 2004.
- Some provisions of the Moroccan Penal Code and the Penal Procedure Code, in particular as amended by Law No. 103-13 regarding the fight against violence towards women as promulgated by Dahir No. 1-18-19 of 5 Jumada II 1439 (22 February 2018) ("Law No. 103-13"). Such law reinforces the provisions applicable to violence against women and has the merit of recognizing certain forms of abuse that many women suffer from their husbands and families.
The Moroccan constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, just as it prohibits physical or moral attacks. However, the Moroccan Penal Code does not yet ensure the effective protection for women against violence and discrimination specifically directed against them. As previously mentioned, the passing of Law No. 103-13 on combatting violence against women criminalizes other aspects of violence against women such as forced marriages and sexual harassment. It also doubles the penalty for those who threaten another person with death or other injury if the perpetrator is a spouse/former spouse, fiancé/former fiancé, ascendant and or legal guardian. The recently adopted law has also introduced the setting up of violence management units, which has greatly facilitated the lodging of criminal complaints.
The potential causes of action provided for by Law No. 103-13 are as follows:
- physical violence (i.e., for pregnant women as well)
- failure to assist a person in danger
- breach of professional secrecy
- eviction from the matrimonial home
- sexual harassment
- aggression
- exploitation
- mistreatment or violence committed against women or minors
- prohibition of the convicted person from contacting the victim or approaching the victim's location or communicating with the victim
- kidnapping or false imprisonment
- insult against a woman on the basis of her sex
- libel against a woman on the basis of her gender
- dissipation or assignment of property in bad faith, with the intention of harming the other spouse or the children or of circumventing the provisions of the Family Code concerning alimony, housing, rights arising from the breakdown of the marital relationship or the distribution of property