Morocco, a major hub for tourism and international football events, is widely considered a moderate Muslim country. But just as the crackdowns on the October 2025 protests have proven Morocco to be far from a protector of human and civil rights, as it claims in the constitution; the prevalence of child marriage showcases that the fight for women and children’s rights in the North African Kingdom is far from over. Morocco’s progressive reforms signalled the state as a tolerant and modernising nation, but the truth in practice shows otherwise.

Photo by Evgeny Matveev

A New Era’s Reform

In the wake of the global war on terror, the Moroccan government reformed the Family Code, otherwise referred to as the Moudawana. Ratified in January 2004, the Moudawana sought changes to advance women’s and children’s rights in the family. Article 19 of the Moudawana required that a marriage can only be authorised in cases where both the man and woman are 18 years old. However, the following articles (20/21) allow a family affairs judge to authorise underage marriage in cases where the union is justified and signed both by the underage party and their legal tutor. In 2004, the US and Morocco signed an FTA where the latter was characterised as a “tolerant, open” Muslim society, while the EU also referenced the Moudawana reform as proof of Morocco being a moderate Arab and Muslim country. Twenty-two years later, Moroccan girls still suffer from the fate of Child, Early, and Forced Marriages (CEFM). 

Morocco’s Human Rights in the Global System

In 2011, after the Arab Spring protests demanding better social conditions, Morocco adopted a new constitution, which claimed to protect freedoms and economic conditions. Article 19 of the new constitution claimed that men and women enjoyed their full rights “in equality” and article 22 condemned degrading and inhumane treatments against any person in public and private spaces. The Moroccan jurisdiction would protect the rights of children, notably the right to establish themselves through their access and participation in institutions of education. The EU and the US Secretary of State backed the reform, hailing Morocco’s commitment to respecting human rights and advancing gender equality. 

Morocco joined the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006 as one of the first ever 47 member states. The UNHRC’s establishment – through the General Assembly’s Resolution 60/251 – claimed to seek the protection of human rights by addressing their violations in member states. Morocco would go on to be elected as a member of the UNHRC for a second and third term (2014 and 2023), with its permanent representative to the UN Office, Omar Zniber, serving as the President of the Council in 2024. The UNHRC passed Resolution 12/46, which obliged all member states to integrate the protection of women’s rights and gender approaches into their human rights framework. 

Furthermore, in 2024 the UNHRC approved Resolution 53/23 that would end and prevent CEFM. The UN defines a child as “every human below the age of eighteen”, which Morocco also considers as the legal age of maturity in its family law. The resolution considers CEFM to be a violent and abusive practice that violates human rights. The UNHRC principles human rights as inclusive of the right to choose, including choices surrounding sexuality, marriage, and bodily autonomy, based on equal and safe relationships. The council urged member states through the resolution to guarantee the protection of women and girls from early and forced marriages. States are to do this through the adoption of mechanisms that would eliminate child and forced marriages.

Women and Children’s Failed Security

Reports have found that Moroccan judges often authorize underage marriage for underage girls based on their personal visual assessments of their bodies, deducing that they are capable of marital commitments. In some cases, patriarchal practices such as family honour, avoiding shame, protecting purity, and preventing the girls from “debauchery” prevail. In other cases, judges justify child marriages’ authorisations as a solution to poverty. And though consent is required, the legislation disregards power relations happening at the ʿadoul’s office (legal notaries). When the risk of refusing marriage is disownment, familial abuse, and/or poverty, consent becomes blurry.

Girls in Morocco also risk the extralegal religious custom known as Zawaj al Fatiha (Fatiha Marriage). The long-standing custom was given a five-year chance to legalize during the post-Moudawana transitional period, and extended to another five until 2014. Though the custom’s exclusion from jurisdiction should discourage such unions, it becomes a driving force due to the risks of the legal procedure being unauthorised. Therefore, the custom practice remains widespread even though resolution 53/23 of the UNHRC recognises it as a violation of human rights.

Before addressing the statistics of the prevalence of child marriage in Morocco, it is important to note that this data is largely gathered from officially registered marriages; they do not take into account Zawaj Al Fatiha since they fall outside legal and administrative registrations. However, this should highlight the pervasiveness of child marriage in the country as many go undocumented.

In 2013, 11.5% of registered marriages involved a minor, and 13.1% of women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18 in comparison to 15.2% in 2008. Between the years 2011 and 2018, 85% of underage marriages were approved by judges, with 13.7% of young women (aged 20-24) having been married underage. In 2019, 32,000 requests for marriages involved a minor, with 81% of them approved. Moreover, 13,000 were authorized in 2020, 19,000 in 2021, 13,652 in 2022, and 12,629 in 2023. Underage marriages in Morocco disproportionately concern girls; out of the 16,985 requests made involving minors in 2024, 98.5% involved girls. 

Photo by Usama

Unchecked Violence Against the Victims of Child Marriage

The data presented quantitatively showcases the prevalence of child marriage in Morocco. However, it is important to tell the stories of the girls that became victims of CEFM after 2004. These girls and women are not simply numbers.

Salima, married at 15, was forced into a marriage with a man who beat and tortured her, locked her in a room for weeks, and made her carry two children to term. With nowhere to turn for protection, Salima decided to run away from her abuser and found herself homeless in the streets of Morocco. At the same age, Hayat was forced by her legal tutor to marry a relative who was ten years older than her and ended up being abused by her husband until she filed for divorce. Aicha was married off at sixteen after affirming to the judge that she could take on “wifely duties”, feeling pressured to agree by her family. Nadia had a similar experience, and told her story while covering her face after she got a divorce from her abuser. Amina was taken out of school at age six and married at seventeen, saying her sisters “had it worse” having been married at fourteen.

Dounia was also forced to drop out of school at twelve to suffer Zawaj Al Fatiha with a thirty-eight year old after the court refused the registration request. Selwa met the same fate when judges refused the union and was forced to marry under the religious custom. In September of 2025, a young woman who had just turned 18, anonymously called an educational social media influencer online, to tell her story of being engaged at 13 and forced to marry at 16. Her father believes that girls are ʿar (source of shame) and advised her “husband” to beat her. The abuse led to her being hospitalized many times with broken bones, and when she reported the situation to the police, her father bribed their way out of the charge. “I have the right to nothing” she told the influencer and specified to the influencer that her mother was currently 32, meaning her mother gave birth at 14 in 2010, after the family law reform. Two generations of women suffering under a ‘reformed’ patriarchal system.  Data on child marriage in Morocco for the year 2025 has not yet been reported, but it is clear that girls are still undergoing the hardships of CEFM in the country, considering no changes have been made to alter these violations of children’s rights in Morocco, and many do not speak up due to fear of repercussions.

Demanding Justice for the Unseen Girls of Morocco

Exclusively textual reforms around Moroccan women’s and children’s bodies are in the interest of the state as it participates in the international narrative of a progressive nation. This system allows the state to simultaneously uphold its overarching patriarchal system, while advancing ties to the West, but providing no protection or security to the girls who were promised a life of dignity and safety.

As girls and women still suffer from CEFM, Activists Without Borders calls for the Moroccan state to:

  • Uphold the human rights principles it has committed to
  • Criminalise all kinds of CEFM
  • Provide opportunities for young girls to self-actualise, to be safe from coercive relations and societal pressure