Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Violence against Moroccan women - mostly husbands.



95.8% of violence against women in Morocco is caused by the victim's close relatives, mostly by husbands, according to figures released by the State Secretariat in charge of the Family, Childhood and the Disabled.

The figures concern violence cases reported from December 2005 to October 2006.

Najah Ghardis, a State Secretariat official, said that 27,795 cases of violence were reported during this period.

These include physical abuse (30,8%), sexual abuse (9,2 %) and economic violence (0,8%).

She also noted that 94% of violence victims live in big cities mainly in Casablanca, Agadir, Marrakech et Fès.

These figures were revealed at a meeting on "Violence against Women: Realities and Perspectives".

The meeting, attended by representatives from the police, lawyers, and women rights advocates, discussed Morocco's efforts to curb this phenomena, with a special emphasis on gender-friendly education.

To this regard, the Government has adopted a battery of measures, including the setting up of Crisis Centers for Beaten Women in all courts, the criminalizing of sexual harassment and the adoption of a new Family Code on October 10th, 2003.

Tags:

No comments: