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Innovative ways of using post-Arab Spring constitutions to promote universal human (women's) rights: The case of Moroccan NGOs
Abstract
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI responded almost immediately to the country’s version of the Arab Spring, initiated by the 20th February Movement, and hence effectively denying them their raison d’être. In March 2011 he announced a setting up of a committee in charge of rewriting the constitution and called on citizens and NGOs to help with the process. The draft of the constitution was put to referendum a few months later and won an overwhelming support from the electorate. The constitution, as many other legal and political reforms, got much international attention and the King has been praised for being responsive to his citizens. Some of the important changes introduced were the recognition in Article 5 of Tamazight language as an official language of the Kingdom and article 19 recognizing gender equality. However, both of these stipulations, as well as many others, need organic laws to be translated into practice. Five years on, these stipulations remain an empty shell or continue to be violated by the existing laws. In this paper, I will argue that despite the fact that provisions contained in the current constitution lack implementation, various local women’s rights NGOs nonetheless welcomed the amendments enthusiastically. Based on extensive ethnographic research, involving participant observation and semi-structured interviews with NGO workers in El Hajeb and Khemisset, I will demonstrate how these organizations use the constitution to push for further legal reforms in the realm of Penal, Family, and other Codes dealing with the amelioration of the position of women in Moroccan society, family, and state; how they are able to promote the universal human rights system among people, law enforcement, and politicians without being accused of being ‘Westernized’; and how they are criticizing the Moroccan government for violating human (women’s) rights and holding it accountable at influential international human rights committees. This case study is an important contribution to the political developments of post-Arab Spring countries also offsetting the rather popular ‘after Arab Spring came Arab Winter’ idea. Continuing to focus also on the analysis of elite politics in the region forgets that Arab Spring revolutions were caused and sustained by the populace and grassroots movements. Therefore, many countries in the region may have new constitutions and new governments, but the struggle for genuine change has shifted from the capital to the province.
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
Morocco
Sub Area
Human Rights