Morocco: Women’s organization urges government to lift reservations to CEDAW

Association of Democratic Women of Morocco (ADFM) criticized what they call an “ambiguous position” of Morocco towards the removing of their reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The statement was launched in a press release on the occasion of the Moroccan women's day celebration, which coincides this year with the 30th anniversary of CEDAW, and in the context of the national and regional campaign "Equality without reservation."

On the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 2008, the King of Morocco sent a message announcing Morocco’s decision to lift reservations to the CEDAW. But so far, no official statement has been made concerning the operational measures taken by the Moroccan government for the implementation of this declaration.

Among other reservations on the Convention, Morocco states that equality of men and women in respect of rights and responsibilities on entry into and at dissolution of marriage is incompatible with the Islamic Shariah, which “guarantees to each of the spouses rights and responsibilities within a framework of equilibrium and complementary in order to preserve the sacred bond of matrimony.”

Morocco has been a party to CEDAW since 1993.

Read the press release here
Read Morocco’s reservations here