Gender Approach in the Process of Transitional Justice in Morocco: Current situation and prospects
As part of the implementation of the recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER), particularly as regards the promotion of women’s rights, and in partnership with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Advisory Council on Human Rights (CCDH) organized a national seminar on "Gender Approach in the Process of Transitional Justice in Morocco: Current Situation and Prospects", on November 25, 2008 in Rabat.The seminar, which was an opportunity for different stakeholders involved in implementing the IER recommendations to think about and analyze the degree of taking the gender into account in the Moroccan experience and ways to improve that concern, saw the presentation of the results of the study conducted by Ms. Nadia Guessous on the Equity and Reconciliation Commission: women, gender and political violence.
The purpose of this study was to document detailed and various life stories of women who suffered at the hands of the state during the period known in Morocco as the years of lead. The qualitative study was conducted in two stages: a first stage was to compose teams, conduct interviews and set up focus groups in different regions (Figuig, Nador, al-Houceima, Khenifra, Imilchil, Laayoune, Rabat and Casablanca); and a second stage was to analyze documents generated by the field study.
According to the findings of the study, two groups of women suffered at the hands of the state during the years of lead:
- Women with a family member considered as an enemy of the state: mothers, wives, daughters, sisters... Most of these women lived in rural areas, were illiterate, had no political commitment and were not aware of the political activities of men to whom they were related by blood or marriage. They were targeted as part of the approach of collective punishment adopted by the state.
- Women involved in political movements from the Left: university students in big cities of Morocco.
The study could reflect different patterns of violence that women suffered from during the years of lead. Like men, women were kidnapped, illegally detained, interrogated, tortured even in front of their children. Pregnant women did not benefit from any protection. Women were also humiliated. The study spoke of a gender-based humiliation that included methods and practices such as forced nudity, lack of access to hygienic necessities during menstruation.
The complete study on gender and political violence is being printed and will be available on the CCDH website soon. In the same context, the testimonies collected have been subject to another publication on women who broke the wall of silence about a long-forgotten suffering. It is now available in Arabic in the publication section of the CCDH website.
Also, it is worth mentioning that in partnership with the UNIFEM, the CCDH is now developing a strategy for integrating the gender approach throughout the process of the follow-up of the IER recommendations, mainly the community reparation programs. In this regard, a project on promoting women’s rights and their role in the process of transitional justice in Morocco was launched in April 2007 to test a pilot approach to integrating gender in the process of Moroccan reconciliation.