児童婚許す法の抜け穴から少女たちを守れ　モロッコ

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】モロッコのアンティアトラス山脈奥地の村で生まれたナディアさん（仮名、２０）は１６歳の時、父親と言っていいほどの年齢の男性と結婚させられた。法律の抜け穴のせいで、児童婚を余儀なくされる少女は年間数千人に上っている。（写真はモロッコ・アンティアトラス山脈の村の女性たちと話をする人権団体のメンバー）
　「地獄を味わいました。でも、その悪夢は終わりました」とナディアさんは話す。
　夫には暴力を振るわれ、１年で離婚した。今は両親が住む村の実家に戻り、読み書きを学んでいる。
　「私の夢は自立すること。村の他の女の子たちにも、そうするよう励ましています」。スカーフで顔を半分隠し、恥ずかしそうにナディアさんは話した。
　モロッコの２００４年の家族法では、婚姻開始年齢は１８歳と定められているが、裁判官に特別許可を受けた家族は１８歳未満でも子どもを結婚させることができる。
　人権団体は長年、この抜け穴をふさぐよう要請してきた。しかし、公式の統計によると、２０２０年だけで約１万３０００件の特別許可が与えられている。
　しかも、この件数には、法に基づかない慣習的な結婚──イスラム教の聖典コーランの一節を２人の証人と読んだだけで結婚したものと見なされる──は含まれていない。
　人権団体「ＹＴＴＯ」はこの１０年、モロッコ山間部の村々で毎年、児童婚のリスクを訴える啓発運動を行い、討論会を開催するなどの支援を行ってきた。
　２０１４年の最新統計によると、スースマサ地方では、女性の４４％以上は読み書きができない。
　児童婚を根絶するカギは女性の教育と経済的な自立だと、ＹＴＴＯでモロッコ南部のコーディネーターを務めるカリマ・エレジュラジ氏は話す。
　エレジュラジ氏自身も、子どもの頃は一度も学校に行ったことがなく、１４歳の時に自分の年齢の４倍にもなる５６歳の男性と結婚した。

■独立するために教育を
　地域の村では、共同の煮炊き場に集まった女性たちが、生計を立てて少しでも自立するため、じゅうたんをつくったり、伝統的なパンを近隣のホテルに販売したりする案を話し合っていた。
　全員で一致した意見は、すべての少女には教育を受ける権利があるということだ。
　６年前に結婚したイザさん（仮名、２３）は、自分の娘に教育を受けさせるために闘っていると話した。
　「娘には自立してもらわないと。私のような目には遭ってほしくないのです」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/05-10:05）

Nadia was just 16 when she was married off to a violent husband old enough to be her father -- an ordeal thousands of Moroccan girls face every year due to a legal loophole.
I went through hell. But the nightmare is behind me now, she said.
Nadia, from a remote part of the North African kingdom's Anti-Atlas mountains, managed to win a divorce after a year of marriage.
Now aged 20 and living back with her parents in her village of Tamarwoute, she is learning to read and write.
My dream is to be independent, and I'm encouraging other girls in the village to do the same, she said shyly, her face half-covered with a scarf.
Like the other women with similar stories quoted in this article, her name has been changed to protect her identity.
Morocco's 2004 family code puts the legal age of marriage at 18, but it includes a clause allowing judges to give families special dispensation to marry off children under that age.
Rights groups have long called for the loophole to be closed.
But according to official figures, judges approved some 13,000 waivers in 2020 alone -- more than half of the total applications.
That figure does not include minors wedded in customary marriages, not recognised in law but sealed with a simple reading of a verse from the Koran alongside two witnesses.
Najat Ikhich of the YTTO rights group says this tragedy is widespread in remote, landlocked and marginalised areas.
For the last 10 years, the association she heads has been taking an annual convoy through Morocco's remote mountain communities, stopping to raise awareness of the dangers of underage marriage, organise debates and distribute aid.
Precarious livelihoods and long-held traditions make the group's mission particularly sensitive.
It's delicate work because it's a taboo subject, so it's vital that we earn the trust of the people we're meeting and most of all, listen to them, Ikhich said.
- Battle for independence -
In the nearby village of Tamadghouste, among hills dotted with the region's famous argan trees, barely a soul was moving.
A few young women were gathered baking bread at the communal oven.
Ikhich approached and exchanged a few words with them in Amazigh, Morocco's Berber language.
The women's suspicious looks soon gave way to a flood of complaints over living standards in a village that has neither a school nor a pharmacy.
Amina, 23, said she was trying to take control of her life, after she was taken out of school at the age of six and married at 17.
I've always wanted to study but nobody helped me. My three sisters had it even worse: they were married really young, at around 14 years old, she said.
In the Souss Massa region, more than 44 percent of women are illiterate, according to the most recent official figures from 2014.
Educating woman and making them more economically independent are key to tackling child marriage, said YTTO's southern Morocco coordinator Karima Errejraji.
She had never set foot in a school as a child, and was married at the age of 14 to a man of 56 -- four times her age.
I got out by getting involved with associations, she said. I decided to dedicate my life to helping the girls of this region.
At the communal oven in Tamadghouste, the women discuss making carpets or selling traditional bread to nearby hotels as ways of making a living and winning some autonomy.
They agreed on one thing: all girls have the right to an education.
Izza, a bright-eyed 23-year-old who was married six years ago, said she was fighting for her daughter to have an education.
She must build herself, become independent and avoid ending up in my situation, she said.