HENAN HARIT

Morocco- Women’s organizations in Morocco carrying out activities to raise awareness of the public about violence against women aims to break the silence of society. They also support victims of violence and work to provide women’s shelters for them. Although there are women’s shelters in the country, their number is insufficient due to the increasing number of victims of violence. The Federal League for Women´s Rights (Fédération des Ligues des Droits des Femmes- FLDDF) is one of the women’s organizations having women’s shelters and it has had this experience since 2006.

Call on government and ministries

Khadija Takreen, a member of the FLDDF, emphasizes the importance of women’s shelters and says that these shelters are important for women who are subjected to violence. Stating that although these centers have a great role in protecting victims, she says the number of these shelters is insufficient due to the increase of violence against women. “The government and relevant ministries should focus on opening such centers to prevent violence,” she says, “Local committees are responsible for nursing homes. They receive applications and listen to women but they don’t take responsibilities because they aren’t resettlement centers while women’s shelters take on all the responsibilities so their number should be increased.”

Women shelters should be opened in every city

Bouchra Abdou, the President of the Tahadi Association for Equality and Citizenship (ATEC), states that there are many obstacles to achieving the goal of preventing violence against women. She also underlines that the shelters sometimes cannot respond to the demands of women who have been subjected to violence. “There are no women’s shelters in all cities. For instance, there is no women’s shelter in Dar Al Bayda, where approximately five million people live in. Women’s shelters should be opened in every city to support victims of violence.”

Aawatif Hayar, Minister of Family and Solidarity, said in one of her speeches that the ministry would work at the beginning of 2022 to develop the system of shelters and care centers for the victims of gender-based violence.