Morocco: Child custody rights in the case where both parents are Moroccan citizens, but the father lives in Morocco and the mother lives abroad with the children without the father's consent (January 2004)

During a 26 January 2004 telephone interview, a representative in Rabat of the Legal Centre for Training, Information and Legal Adjustment (Centre juridique de formation, d'information et d'ajustement juridique, NEJMA) of the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women (Association démocratique des femmes du Maroc, ADFM), a Moroccan non-governmental organization for women's rights, provided the following information.

The question of who has child custody rights arises only when a marriage is dissolved. Otherwise, both parents have the right of custody as long as they remain married to each other. If they are involved in divorce proceedings and find it difficult to live together, the law prescribes [translation] "family placement" for the wife with close relatives or with a family deemed [translation] "honourable." During this period, the judge determines whether it is in the best interest of the children to live with their father or with their mother in [translation] "family placement." Until the divorce is finalized and custody of the children is granted to the mother by a judge, she cannot legally keep the children outside the conjugal home or [translation] "family placement home" without her husband's consent.

However, if the marriage has been dissolved, custody of the children is normally awarded to the mother. Nevertheless, if she takes up residence in a place where it becomes difficult for the father to oversee his children's living conditions and assume his responsibilities toward them, the mother loses her right of custody.

However, when boys reach the age of 12 and girls reach the age of 15, they can choose with whom they wish to live (their mother, their father, or a close relative).

In her commentary on the on-going reform of the Moroccan Family Code, Nadia Naïr, an employee of the Abdelmalek Essaadi University (Morocco) who is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the Tétouan Centre (Morocco) and a women's rights activist, wrote the following:

[translation]

the legislation introduces a new provision that allows a woman to retain custody of her child, under specific conditions, even after she remarries or moves away from where her husband lives. In the current code, these two situations (remarriage and change of residence) are reasons for which a woman can lose custody, if the father of the child demands it (20 Nov. 2003).

The new code was adopted by the members of parliament on 16 January 2004 (Libération 19 Jan. 2004; Le Monde 17 Jan. 2004), but must still be approved by the Chamber of Counselors before coming into force (ibid.).

Articles 97 through 111 of the Moroccan Family Code (Moudawana), attached in French, deal with child custody. Also, please see MAR42370.FE of 26 January 2004 for information on the ways in which a marriage can be dissolved and on the protection available to female victims of violence in Morocco.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Association démocratique des femmes du Maroc (ADFM), Rabat. 26 January 2004. Centre juridique de formation, d'information et d'ajustement juridique (NEJMA). Telephone interview with a representative.

Libération [Casablanca]. 19 January 2004. Leila Hallaoui. "Moudawana : les députés approuvent le code de la famille à l'unanimité." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2004]

Le Monde [Paris]. 17 January 2004. Tewfik Hakem. "Les députés marocains ont adopté à l'unanimité l'égalité juridique entre hommes et femmes." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2004]

Naïr, Nadia. 20 November 2003. "La réforme du code civil au Maroc : progrès pour les femmes." [Accessed 23 Jan. 2004]

Attachment

Morocco. January 2004. "La Moudawana : dahir du 28 novembre 1957, dahirs des 22 novembre et 18 décembre 1957 et des 25 janvier, 20 février et 4 avril 1958." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2004], pp. 1-3.

Additional Sources Consulted

Dialog

IRB Databases

Resource Centre country file. Morocco

Internet sites, including:

Amnesty International

BBC Africa

European Country of Origin Information Network (Ecoi.net)

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

Rights of the Muslim Women in Morocco