On the Djemaa el-Fna, a square in Marrakesh, a small girl sits on a pink plastic chair. On her lap is a tray of almond cookies. All around her the world passes by, unaware of her existence. She sits and waits for a sale.
Behind her is a band of young men gathered around a healer, concocting his potions. Scooters pass dangerously close and only a few meters away, a cobra stands upright, charmed by a swaying flute. Hours pass and later on that same evening I see her again, motionless, sitting and waiting. Finally she stands up. She picks up the chair and throws it in protest. Not far away, her mother signals her to sit back down.
Plutarch wrote that the inequality between the poor and the rich is the oldest and most fatal affliction in any society. And within that poverty and the struggles inherent, is a violence against women.
According to Morocco's Minister of Social Development and Family, Nouzha Skali, the Moroccan woman most afflicted by conjugal violence is between 18 to 24, has little education. Her husband is at least tens older. She is often raped at home, beaten, and abused and requires witness to bring the case to court. Who then will be her witness?
The Moroccan Department of Justice, according to the Moroccan Liberation daily, says 73 percent of the violence is sexual in nature. Particularly worrisome is that while Morocco enters a period of reform, the reports of violence against women has increased by 50 percent since last year.
The Democratic Association of Moroccan Women is trying to get the dormant Moroccan parliament to pass a law to protect women. But with little success. Amnesty Morocco and the Moroccan Association for Human Rights organized a sit-in in front of the Parliament on November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
