In an article by Dounia Z. Mseffer, the struggle for the dignity of children deprived of biological identity in Morocco reaches a historic turning point. During the 9th edition of the National Orphan Forum, organised by the Moroccan Association for the Orphan (AMO), the association launched the “Casablanca Call”, a landmark advocacy document calling for a profound reform of filiation law in Morocco. Faced with legislation that has become anachronistic, the President of AMO, Rafyâ Yassine Benchekroun, offers an uncompromising assessment: “Today, science makes it possible to establish biological reality with a high degree of reliability. The main obstacle is legislative. Judges can only apply the legal framework available to them. Yet the current Family Code does not allow for the full recognition of paternal filiation for children born outside marriage, even when a biological link is established.”

 

Institutional and systemic violence

This coverage highlights an unsustainable Moroccan paradox. On the one hand, the Kingdom possesses the most advanced scientific technologies, such as genetic testing (DNA). On the other hand, the Family Code remains locked in a legal denial that condemns thousands of children born outside marriage or abandoned to a form of “identity precarity.” This constraint is not a simple administrative anomaly; it constitutes psychological and social violence. By refusing filiation, the State effectively validates a situation that continues to weaken individuals well beyond childhood, hindering access to employment, administrative regularisation for young adults, and ultimately their full integration into society.

 

Yet, the best interest of the child is a principle enshrined in the Moroccan Constitution and in the Kingdom’s international commitments. In practice, however, reality on the ground directly contradicts these commitments. How can a legal system justify protecting the evasion of paternal responsibility at the expense of a newborn’s most basic rights? It is urgent to move from a logic of charity or ad hoc assistance to one of sovereign state responsibility. The anticipated creation of the National Agency for Child Protection, driven by royal initiative, is a step forward, but it must not be limited to coordination, regulation, oversight, or report production. It must address the root causes of children’s vulnerability.

 

Breaking the social taboo: from stigmatisation to collective responsibility

AMO’s ambition to achieve “A Morocco without abandoned children by 2030” requires a profound revision of both legal texts and social consciousness. The integration of DNA testing as a legal means of establishing filiation is the essential first step to put an end to the possibility for some fathers to evade their responsibilities.

 

However, legal reform will remain ineffective without a radical transformation of social attitudes. In Morocco, legal conservatism is reinforced by a punitive social moralism, in which children born outside marriage bear the burden of stigma. To dismantle these taboos, AMO’s appeal to religious actors—ulema and preachers—is crucial. The protection of the child and respect for their dignity are not at odds with our religious values; on the contrary, they constitute their authentic expression.

 

The greatness of a modern Morocco will not be measured by the conservatism of its administrative traditions, but by its ability to guarantee, for every child without exception, the right to identity, belonging, and a life lived in full dignity. The Casablanca Call is not merely an associative demand; it is a mirror held up to Moroccan society, urging it to undertake both a struggle for justice and a struggle of conscience in order to transform, beyond legal texts, how society perceives these children, once and for all.

 

Source : Égalité Mag