North Africa

Algeria: Ongoing massacres of women: Call on authorities to ensure protection of women in Hassi Messaoud!

For several WEEKS now, women have been subjected to murderous attacks in the South of Algeria; this has provoked international protests and calls for the intervention of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs. It is crucial that these initial protests are relayed and supported by a large number of organisations across the world.

Legal Empowerment of Unwed Mothers: Experiences of Moroccan NGOs

This paper by Stephanie Willman Bordat and Saida Kouzzi is part of the IDLO book series Lessons Learned: Narrative Accounts of Legal Reform in Developing and Transition Countries. The term “unwed mother” is used here to refer to women who have children outside the framework of legal marriage. They and their children – defined by law as “illegitimate” – are among the most legally and socially marginalized people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, not just in Morocco.

2004 Moroccan Family Law (Moudawana)

This unofficial English translation of the 2004 Moroccan Family Law (Moudawana) was prepared by a team of English and Arabic speaking lawyers at the Global Rights head office in Washington D.C. and their field office in Rabat, and a professional Arabic-English Moroccan translator.

Bound and Gagged by the Algerian Family Code

Marieme Hélie-Lucas, writing in 1989, talks about an alarming change in the situation of women in Algeria. A ‘Family Code’ law was introduced which removed many of women’s basic human rights. She also speaks about contraception, the problem of abandoned children and the consequences for women of the insistence on virginity at marriage.

Algerian women, citizenship and the 'Family Code'

This article traces Algerian women's struggle for full citizenship after the national liberation struggle ended in 1962. The Algerian Family Code, which became law in 1984, defines women as minors under the law and as existing only in so far as they are daughters, mothers or wives.

Les femmes Algeriennes manifestent : 20 ans Barakat !

Pour la première fois, des artistes femmes venues d'Algérie et d'ailleurs chantent ensemble pour dénoncer le code de la famille promulgué en Algérie en 1984 et qui légalise l’infériorisation des femmes.

Algeria: 20 Years is Enough

In 2003, the '20 ans Barakat' campaign was initiated by the association of the same name. The aim of the Campaign was to inform and raise awareness among the people in general and women in particular about the Algerian Family Code (personal status laws).

Algerian Women Protest: 20 years is enough!

The documentary film, OUECH DEK YAL KADi (What came over you, Judge?), tells the story of women in Algeria raising their voices against the Algerian Family Code enacted on June 9, 1984.

Mise à jour: Algerie: Samia Smets acquittée

Samia S., accusée d’avoir souillé le Coran et condamnée au mois de septembre dernier à 10 ans de prison ferme, a été acquittée hier par le juge près la chambre pénale de la cour de Biskra.

UPDATE: Algeria: Samia Smets acquitted

Samia S., accused of having damaged a Quran and sentenced last September to 10 years imprisonment, was acquitted on 28 October 2008 by the judge of the criminal division of the Court of Biskra.