Open letter from ADFM to the Minister of Interior in Morocco

Rabat - 19 December 2008

Open letter from the Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM) to the Minister of Interior in Morocco

Violation of departmental procedures in the transfer of “collectively used lands” by the Ministry of Interior

Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM) has been informed that the recent transactions involving the transfer of and compensation for collectively-used tribal lands have been conducted in complete violation of the provisions of the Ministry of the Interior’s Circular No. 51 dated May 2004, which regulate the procedures for transfer of lands.

Given the recent mobilization by the women of these tribes to claim their share of lands, we have been informed that local authorities, in agreement with representatives of tribes, have secretly given compensation to men only and have failed to publish the lists of beneficiaries as stipulated in the circular of the Ministry of Interior. An example of these practices has taken place in November of 2008 where women of the tribe of Saknia in the province of Kenitra were excluded from collectively-used lands benefits.

ADFM seeks your intervention as the Minister of Interior, asking you to send an urgent investigation into the conduct of the Trusteeship Council to enforce compliance with the procedures laid down by your own department.

Meanwhile, women will continue their fight against an outdated tradition that thwarts Morocco’s democratic and modernist project.

Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM)