Women and the Right to Collective Lands in Morocco: Exclusion and Empowerment, CSW56

This panel discussion is presented by Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM) at the 56th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), with support from WLP, the Global Fund for Women, and UN Women North Africa Office. Topics include women's battle for equal land rights, and access to land and its resources. Experience, strategies, and lessons learned by the Soulaliyates will be discussed.

Watch: Moroccan Women in Collective Lands

Background

Morocco’s collective lands belong to certain ethnic groups and are governed by each group’s customary practices. These lands were traditionally used collectively, though were later distributed to family groups, and more recently to heads of households (i.e. males). Collective lands represent the highest concentration of available land and natural resource reserves in Morocco.

In recent years, the sale of collective lands to public and private groups has accelerated. These sales contribute to the collective insecurity of hundreds of thousands of women since compensation (money or land located elsewhere) has traditionally only benefitted men, regardless of age or marital status.

In 2007, the Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM) began a process to provide practical support to the women of the collective lands, called Soulaliyates, in their struggle for equal compensation for land. After a struggle of more than four years, on October 25, 2010 the Interior Ministry issued a circular recognizing the right of these women to receive equal compensation. This decision crowns the efforts of Soulaliyates women, ADFM, and its partners in the fight against the exclusion and discrimination of these women.

Currently, ADFM ensures implementation of the circular and continues its support of Soulaliyate women, particularly through trainings and raising awareness of the procedures related to the sale of collective land. However, the ability of Soulaliyate women to receive equal compensation remains threatened by those who seek to circumvent the ruling, and by a lack of commitment to enforce it by some authorities. Additionally, Soulaliyate women are still denied equal access to the use of communal lands for farming.

This panel discussion will:

• Share with the audience the experience, strategies, and lessons learned of the Soulaliyates, ADFM, and its partners in the battle for equal land rights for the women of the collective lands
• Create exchanges between actors from different backgrounds on the issue of rural women's access to land and its resources.