New Report: Global Rights' 13-year Journey Advancing Women's Rights in Morocco

For 13 years, Global Rights worked with local women's organizations to advance women's rights in Morocco. Through various seminars, workshops and training sessions, we directly reached about 65,000 Moroccan women. 

A demonstration in support of Amina Filali, a 16-year-old Moroccan girl who committed suicide after she was forced to marry the man who raped her.

During one initiative in 2009, we and our partners met with 2,000 women from 33 different cities, towns, and villages during a three-week trip to spread awareness of Violence Against Women (VAW) legislation that we and our partners drafted. We then lobbied the Moroccan government and the United Nations for the legislation to be adopted into Moroccan law.

We began our work in Morocco in 2000 intent on raising women’s awareness about their rights and providing them the tools and knowledge to defend these rights. The overarching goal was to create a broad and influential women’s rights movement; it was up to the country’s emerging women’s groups to chart the movement’s course. After more than 12 years of activism, the situation of Moroccan women changed dramatically. Throughout the country, many individual women and women’s groups learned skills about grassroots mobilization, articulating the case for women’s rights, and working patiently and strategically with government at both local and national levels to improve their status and position in society. The report documents how Global Rights worked with the women of Morocco to effect this dramatic change. It is also a tribute to the power of civil society and to the indomitable will of those who take risks and work tirelessly every day to assert their rights.