Moroccan Women Demand Government Fulfill Promises
In July of 2005, the Royal Court of Morocco delivered a speech promising that the Moroccan Nationality Code would be amended in order for women to pass on their nationality to their children. A year and a half later not enough progress has been made on the new legislation, frustrating many women’s rights groups in the country.
Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), a women’s rights organization in Morocco, recently began applying pressure to the Moroccan government to speed up the amendment process and fulfill the promises made earlier. ADFM would like to see the nationality code fall more in line with the Moudawana laws – a set of family laws granting equality between women and men.
Last week, ADFM wrote a letter to the Minister of Justice and held a press conference stating their demands on this issue. In solidarity with other women’s rights groups in the country, ADFM is asking that the government grant women the right to transmit their nationality to their children without condition.
Specifically, ADFM is calling for:
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Clear modification of article 6 of the nationality code so that all children born to a Moroccan father OR a Moroccan mother are considered Moroccan.
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Retroactive implementation of this law so that children born before the modification of this article can also benefit from it.
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Modification of article 10 in order to facilitate obtaining naturalization for the foreign wife as well as for the foreign husband.
Read the Letter to the Minister of Justice (French | Arabic)
Download the Memorandum from ADFM itemizing the demands for women’s full nationality rights (French | Arabic)
Entry Filed under: Activities, Countries, Events, Morocco