Moroccan House of Representatives Takes Part in Kigali in Meeting of the Women Parliamentarians Network

Rep. Latifa Lablih, a member of the Moroccan representation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF), took part in the meeting of the Women Parliamentarians Network on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, with the presence of women representatives from the various representations of the APF’s Member States.

At the start of the meeting, the Chairperson of the Network, Canadian Representative Maryse Gaudreault, gave a brief overview of the Network's most prominent activities for April-July 2022, especially the ones relating to questions of violence against women. The activities included creating a working group in charge of elaborating a framework policy and adopting a methodology to limit the cases of harassment in the Francophone parliaments.

The meeting also featured the presentation of a report on the choice of academic career by girls and a discussion of two draft resolutions relating to the economic empowerment of women and the impact of climate change on women and girls. The participants also review the implementation of the international commitments in gender equality and women's rights.

In her intervention during the meeting, Rep. Latifa Lablih shed light on the various legislative, legal, and awareness-raising initiatives of the Kingdom of Morocco. According to her, the initiatives included Law 103-13 on fighting violence against women, adopted by the Parliament in 2018. The Law enabled the Kingdom of Morocco to have a legal arsenal and comprehensive framework to fight all kinds of violence against women. Rep. Lablih also noted that the Government had launched several projects to ameliorate and amend laws relating to the situation of women to lift the latter towards a better position. Besides, the Representative commended the Network's initiative of adopting a reference document that includes all legislation and initiatives relating to the harassment phenomenon.

It should be noted that the House of Representatives hosted the first meeting of the APF's Women Parliamentarians Network on March 30-31, 2004, in Marrakech, out of the conviction of the importance of advancing the conditions of women and consolidating their participation in political, economic, social and cultural life at the national and international levels.