Morocco: A Lenient Sentence · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Zineb Chtit at the trial (courtesy Oujdacity)
In September, we learned about Zineb Chtit, the young Moroccan girl who was severely beaten while working as a maid.  Last week, it was announced that Zineb's attacker Nawal Houmin, the wife of the couple who had hired her, was to be punished for the crime with a sentence of three years imprisonment and a $13,000 fine.  Many human rights groups have spoken out about the sentence, calling it too lenient.
Says blogger Crazy Moor:
But several Moroccan rights groups say they would appeal on behalf of the country’s estimated 60 thousand to 80 thousand child labourers.
The chair of the Association, “Don’t Touch My Children”, Najia Adib, says the sentence does not regret the scale of the atrocities committed, because the little girl was locked up in a cellar.
The case occurred in the eastern Moroccan city of Oujda.  Popular website Oujdacity.net, which calls itself the “premiere portal for eastern Morocco,” remarked on the incident, saying [ar]:
Solidarité Maroc remarked somewhat sarcastically [fr]:
Malgré les dénonciations concernant les deux époux, seule l'épouse a été inculpée, alors que le juge a été innocenté. Encore une illustration de la justice, au Maroc.
Blogger Moustapha Mouden of the collective blog SidiSlimane [ar], remarking on a 2M program on child labor, says of the issue:
But there is also the issue of awareness this serious problem, that laws have proved insufficient to deal with.
The blogger also remarks on the issue of awareness, something that the laws cannot change:
يجب التركيز على مسألة الوعي، والتحسيس بمختلف عواقب تشغيل الفتيات… وهو ما يتطلب كذلك إعمال النصوص القانوينة الخاصة بالموضوع، وإشعار السلطات المعنية بضرورة القيام بواجبها، ومن ذلك اتفاقية حقوق الطفل التي صادق عليها المغرب، ومدونة الشغل التي تجرم تشغيل من هو/هي في أقل من 15 سنة، وكذلك قانون إجبارية تدريس الأطفال
Special thanks to Hisham for assistance with this post.