Report on violence against women in Maghreb
Regional, Culture, 12/4/1998

A Maghreban network gathering women's associations, researchers and intellectuals from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia presented its 1996-97 annual report in Rabat on Thursday.

The report, "le collectif Maghreb Egalit 95," shows that violence against women in the Maghreb is multi-faceted and structural. Violence against women in the Maghreb is the consequence of a discriminating statute that violates more or less blatantly the basic human rights, the report says, adding that the main purpose of the network is to break the silence surrounding the violence phenomenon and the violation of women's rights.

The network also seeks to attract public attention to the attempts against women's rights and dignity and to call the political powers to shoulder their responsibility to shield women against exactions and violence.

A national campaign to fight violence against women is being staged in Morocco in collaboration with the United Nations and Moroccan ngos from November 24 to December 10. The aim of the campaign is to break the silence on the juridical, social and sexual violence against women.

From 1995 to 1998, some 29,000 violence cases have been reported in Morocco. The figure does not reflect the real number of cases of violence against women as several women keep silent on their sufferings.

Executive manager of "le collectif Maghreb Egalit 95," Moroccan Rabea Naciri, said the report lists concrete cases of violence against women in the three maghreban countries. She called for denouncing this violence which "is insidiously tolerated" and appealed to the civil society, the media and ngos to play their role in defending women.

For Algerian Wassila Tamzali, the report is an outcry against the acceptance of violence as a social feature. Violence must not be tolerated in "a culturalist frame" because "there is no violence culture," she said.

The report also voiced opposition to any attempt to assimilate Islamic culture to violence and pointed out that there is no link between Islam and violence.

The report which stated that violence must not be perceived as "a fatality" pleaded for a strict respect of the physical and moral integrity of Maghreban women.

The report, the first of a series to be compiled by the network, was published with the financial and logistic assistance of the German Friedreich Ebert Foundation.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco moves to fight violence against women   (11/25/1998)
  Muslim theologians and women organizations debate women's rights and duties in Islam   (11/2/1998)
  Arab Child Day: They are the future and they are mistreated   (10/12/1998)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search