Article 88-1:

“In the event of a conviction for harassment, assault, sexual exploitation, ill-treatment or violence committed against women or minors, whatever the nature of the act or its perpetrator, the court may decide as follows:

• Prohibiting the convicted person from contacting the victim or approaching the victim’s location or communicating with the victim by any means, for a period not exceeding five years from the date of expiry of the sentence to which he has been sentenced or from the date of delivery of the judicial decision when the custodial sentence has been suspended or when he has been sentenced only to a fine or an alternative penalty. Conciliation between the spouses puts an end to the ban on contacting the victim;

• The submission of the sentenced person, during the period provided for in paragraph (1) above or during the enforcement of the custodial sentence, to appropriate psychological treatment. The judicial decision of conviction may order provisional enforcement of this measure notwithstanding any appeal. The court may definitively prohibit, by means of a reasoned decision, the convicted person from contacting the victim or from approaching the place where the victim is located or from communicating with the victim. »

Article 88-3: “In the event of prosecution for the offences referred to in article 88-1 above, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the investigating judge, or the court, where appropriate, or at the request of the victim, may prohibit the person being prosecuted from contacting the victim or approaching the victim’s location or communicating with him or her by any means whatsoever. This measure shall remain in force until the court rules on the case. »

Article 323-1: “Any violation of the prohibition measure or of the right to contact, approach or communicate with the victim by any means whatsoever, or the refusal to submit to appropriate psychological treatment pursuant to articles 88-1 and 88-3 above, shall be punishable by imprisonment for six months to two years and a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams, or by either of these penalties. »

Article 447-3: “The penalty shall be imprisonment for one to five years and a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 dirhams, if the acts referred to in articles 447-1 and 447-2 have been committed in a state of recidivism and if the offence is committed by a spouse, divorced spouse, fiancé, ascendant, descendant, kafil, guardian or person having authority over the victim or having his or her charge or against a woman because of her sex or against a minor.

Article 82-5-2: “In addition to the measures provided for in articles 82-4 and 82-5 above, the following protective measures shall be taken immediately in cases of violence committed against women:-taking the child in custody with the person having custody to the accommodation designated for him/her by the court;-warning, in the case of threats to use violence, the person uttering the said threats not to act, with an undertaking not to commit aggression;-Warn the aggressor that he is prohibited from disposing of the common property of the spouses;-Place the victim in hospital centers for treatment;-Order the placement of the battered woman who needs and desires it in reception or social welfare institutions. »

To ensure effective protection, the law, in addition to providing for the establishment of cells in courts of first instance and local, regional, and national commissions, enables the public authorities to take all necessary measures to prevent violence against women. To this end, the public authorities shall ensure the development and implementation of policies and programs aimed at raising awareness of the risks of violence against women and improving the image of women in society and shall work to raise awareness of their rights.

Article 436-1:

“If the abduction or kidnapping is committed by a spouse, divorced spouse, fiancé, ascendant, descendant, brother, kafil, guardian or person having authority over the victim or having charge of the victim, or if the victim has been subjected to any other violence of any kind, the penalty shall be deprivation of liberty:

1-Ten to twenty years’ imprisonment, in the case provided for in the first paragraph of Article 436 of this Code.

2-Twenty to thirty years’ imprisonment, in the case provided for in the second paragraph of Article 436 of this Code.

Article 503-1-1:

“Anyone who persists in harassing others shall be guilty of sexual harassment and shall be punished by imprisonment for one month to six months and a fine of 2,000 to 10,000 dirhams, or by one of these penalties, in the following cases

1) In public or other spaces, by actions, words, gestures of a sexual nature or for sexual purposes.

2) By written, telephone or electronic messages, recordings, or images of a sexual nature or for sexual purposes. The penalty is doubled if the perpetrator is a work colleague or a person in charge of maintaining order and security in public or other spaces. »

Article 503-1-2:  Sexual harassment is now punishable under article 503-1 by imprisonment of 1 to 3 years instead of 1 to 2 years. “The penalty shall be imprisonment for three to five years and a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 dirhams, if the sexual harassment is committed by an ascendant, a relative with whom the victim is prevented from marrying, a guardian, a person having authority over the victim or having his or her charge or a kafil, or if the victim is a minor. »

Article 503-2-1: “Without prejudice to more severe criminal provisions, anyone who forces a person into marriage by means of violence or threats shall be punished by imprisonment for six months to one year and a fine of 10,000 to 30,000 dirhams, or by one of these two penalties only. The penalty shall be doubled if the coercion to marry, by means of violence or threats, is committed against a woman because of her sex or against a minor woman who is disabled or known for her weak mental capacity. The lawsuit may not be instituted on a complaint by the injured party. Withdrawal of the complaint terminates the proceedings and the effects of the judicial decision that has acquired the force of res judicata, if it has been pronounced. »

Article 447-1:

“Anyone who knowingly and by any means, including computer systems, intercepts, records, broadcasts or distributes words or information issued in a private or confidential context without the consent of their authors shall be punished by imprisonment for six months to three years and a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams. Anyone who knowingly and by any means captures, records, disseminates, or distributes a photograph of a person in a private place without his or her consent shall be liable to the same penalty.

Article 447-2:

“Anyone who, by any means, including computer systems, disseminates or distributes a montage consisting of words or photographs of a person, without that person’s consent, or disseminates or distributes false allegations or misleading facts, with a view to violating the privacy of individuals or defaming them, shall be punished by imprisonment for one to three years and a fine of 2,000 to 20,000 dirhams.

Article 61 of the Criminal Code on security measures is amended to provide for the prohibition of the convicted person from contact with the victim and the submission of the convicted person to appropriate psychological treatment.

The penalty of imprisonment for a term of one to five years applicable to any person who aids or assists someone in committing suicide is doubled “when the offence is committed against a minor or a woman because of her sex or committed by a spouse against his or her spouse or when the perpetrator is an ascendant, descendant, brother, kafil, divorced spouse, fiancé, guardian or person having authority over the victim or having his or her dependents. »

Article 323-2:

“Any violation of the protective measures referred to in article 82-5-2 of the law relating to criminal procedure shall be punishable by imprisonment for one to three months and a fine of 5,000 to 20,000 dirhams, or by one of these two penalties only. Article 429-1-The penalty provided for in articles 425, 426, 427 and 429 of this Code shall be doubled where the perpetrator is a spouse who committed the offence against his or her spouse, a divorced spouse, a fiancé, an ascendant, a descendant, a brother, a kafil, a tutor or a person having authority over the victim or having his or her dependents, as well as in the event of a repeat offence or if the victim is a minor, disabled or known for his or her weak mental capacities. »

Article 444-1:

“Any insult uttered against a woman on account of her sex shall be punishable by a fine of between 12,000 and 60,000 dirhams. »

Article 444-2: “Defamation uttered against a woman because of her sex is punishable by a fine of between 12,000 and 120,000 dirhams. »

Article 88-2:

“At least every three months, the attending physician shall draw up a report on the progress of the condition of the person sentenced to treatment, which he or she shall submit to the judge responsible for the enforcement of sentences, to ensure that his or her behavior improves and to avoid committing the same acts for which he or she has been sentenced. Where the attending physician is of the opinion that the measure should be terminated before the set date, he or she shall inform the sentence enforcement judge by means of a separate report justifying this opinion.1 The victim shall be notified of the result of the attending physician’s report by a decision of the sentence enforcement judge.

Article 480 of the Penal Code extends the provisions relating to abandonment of the family to expulsion from the marital home. However, the time allowed for the person to perform the work is increased from 15 to 30 days.

Article 480-1:

“Expulsion from the marital home or refusal to return the expelled spouse to the marital home, as provided for in article 53 of the Family Code, shall be punishable by imprisonment for one to three months and a fine of 2,000 to 5,000 dirhams. The penalty is doubled in the event of recidivism. »

Article 481-1:

“In the cases provided for in articles 479, 480 and 480-1 of the present code, withdrawal of the complaint puts an end to proceedings and to the effects of the judicial decision that has acquired the force of law, if it has been pronounced. »

Article 404 of the Criminal Code stipulates as an aggravating circumstance in cases of physical violence that the blows are inflicted “on a woman because of her sex or on a pregnant woman, when her pregnancy is apparent or known to the perpetrator or in a situation of disability or known for her weak mental capacity”.

Article 431 is about non-assistance to a person in danger increases the penalties from three months to five years and a fine of 200 to 1,000 dirhams to three to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 2,000 to 10,000 dirhams. Moreover, from now on, “the penalty shall be doubled where the perpetrator is a spouse, fiancé, divorced spouse, ascendant, descendant, brother, kafil, guardian or person having authority over or charge of the victim or where the victim is a minor or a person in a situation of disability or because of his or her weak mental capacity, as well as in the event of recidivism. »

Article 446 concerns about the violation of professional secrecy by doctors, surgeons or health officers, as well as pharmacists, midwives or any other persons who, by state or profession or by permanent or temporary functions, are custodians of the secrets entrusted to them, is amended to make the faculty of giving their testimony an obligation: “Cited in court for matters relating to the offences referred to above, the said persons are required to give their testimony, which they may, where appropriate, give in writing. «

Accordion

It is regrettable to note that all the measures provided for in the reform are conditional on the lodging of a complaint. Making a complaint is a step that is difficult to accept by the victim, who will often think of sparing the father of his children, without this same person being able to benefit from adequate protection measures. In addition, many women who have gone to report domestic violence are simply told to go back to their abusers. Once they have filed a complaint, if adequate support is not in place, victims can withdraw their complaint.

It should be noted that women in situations of violence face an element of urgency. The wife seeking to return to the marital home is on the street, sometimes with one or more children, which represents such a danger that she often ends up complying with the demands of the violent husband and accepting a dangerous daily life for herself and her children.

In the field, the courts require the production of a medical certificate for violence that may be long-standing, without being prescribed or psychological violence that is difficult to detect, without several treatment sessions being provided, and without the victim often having the means to meet the resulting costs.

It was necessary to question the acceptance by the courts of the concept of marital rape, given that sexual harassment between spouses was expressly excluded, which was not the case for sexual violence between spouses.

What about the training of professionals who take in victims of violence and of judges? The same is true of the coordination between the files received by the Social Affairs Court and the Criminal Court so that public action is taken whenever a case of domestic violence is identified, or of danger to children, a mechanism that exists in practice but is not applied…

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