Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Casablanca - In partnership with the Ministry of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development, the Ministry of Justice organized on Wednesday a study day to review the impact to date of the implementation of the Moroccan Family Code (Moudawana). The study revealed alarming results.
Ten years after the implementation of the new Family Code in Morocco, the results are not as positive as the government expected them to be. While the current Family Code was designed to put an end to underage marriage in Morocco by setting the legal age for marriage at 18, underage marriages have significantly increased in number.
According to the daily Aujourd’hui le Maroc, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Mustapha Ramid, declared that the number of underage marriages in Morocco has alarmingly doubled over the past 10 years. The number of child marriages“rose from 18,341 marriages in 2004 to 35,152 in 2013,” said the Minister, according to the same source.
However, the new Family Code has proven more effective in reducing the rate of polygamy in the kingdom. The lowest rate, 0.26%, was recorded between 2012 and 2013, compared to 2011, in which 0.34% was recorded. The implemented Family Code has proven equally effective in the numbers of reconciliations of married couples on the verge of divorce. Around 8,702 marriages were saved in 2013.
On the other hand, legal divorce (Tatliq in Moroccan Arabic) reached a new record high in 2013. “Legal judgments granting Tatliq reached 40,850 cases as compared to 7,213 cases in 2004," said Mr. Ramid, according to Aujourd’hui Le Maroc.
According to the Minister, men are now increasingly resorting to this type of divorce. “Requests from women amounted to 56% last year, while those of men were 44% of the total number of requests,” said the Minister. Edited by Elisabeth Myers © Morocco World News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed.