Morocco will reform the Moudawana, the important family law that regulates matters such as marriage, divorce and custody. On Tuesday evening, the Moroccan government presented the new rules, which took a year to fine-tune.
The reforms are intended to remedy shortcomings of the old law and adapt the law to the dynamics of contemporary Moroccan society, Justice Minister Abdellatif Wahbi said at the presentation. The new law must come into effect in the new year after approval by parliament.
One of the most important changes is that this law states that a person may only marry when he or she is eighteen years old. The law will now also be enforced and violations of it will be punished, the minister assured. Although there was already a minimum age, in practice many minors still got married.
However, there is an exception for seventeen-year-olds who want to get married under certain conditions, such as free will and parental consent.
Polygamy
Although polygamy is not banned, stricter rules will also be introduced. Women can include a clause in their marriage contract that prohibits their husband from entering into a second marriage. Polygamy is only permitted in exceptional cases, such as infertility of the first wife or an illness that complicates sexual relations. A judge will have to judge in these cases.
Fathers and mothers are given the same rights regarding custody, both during marriage and after divorce. Where previously the father automatically received custody of the children after a divorce, under the new law the mother retains custody even if she remarries.
The reforms are intended to adapt the law to the dynamics of contemporary Moroccan society
It will be possible for couples of different religions to draw up a will. Another change concerns the possibility of officially registering engagements in order to protect women against men with “bad intentions”. Moroccans living abroad can now also get married without the presence of two Muslim witnesses. And while settling family matters in court sometimes took years, divorces and other family law matters now have to be settled within six months.
Protest
Reforming the family law is a spearhead of King Mohammed VI. As early as 2004, he decoupled the family law from Sharia law. For the first time, women could file for divorce and alimony. This has already met with much protest from more fundamentalist groups. A new attempt at reform was made in 2019. This was mainly aimed at domestic violence, for which stricter penalties were imposed. In addition, a strong emphasis was placed on punishing sexual harassment. Since then, women have been able to report this more easily.
Both the fundamentalists and the women’s movements reacted skeptically to the new reforms. “First see, then believe.”