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Women and Political Violence During the Years of Lead in Morocco Women and Political Violence During the Years of Lead in Morocco

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Women and Political Violence During the Years of Lead in Morocco Women and Political Violence During the Years of Lead in Morocco The Consultative Council on Human Rights National Institution for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco By Nadia Guessous Nadia Guessous is a Moroccan anthropologist living in New York City. She works on feminist thought and leftist feminists in Morocco, and has extensive experience dealing with questions of gender, women’s rights and violence against women. This document is printed with the financial support of the Embassy of Netherlands in Morocco This document is printed with the financial support of the Embassy of Netherlands in Morocco Summary Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco Summary Foreword ............................................................10 Introduction.........................................................14 Methodology and objectives .......................... .......20 Who are the female victims of political violence? ........ .30 Life prior to the experience of political violence...........38 Experiencing political violence..................................46 • Surprise and Shock...........................................46 • Detention, Violence, and Torture..........................52 • Gendered and Sexualized Violence........................54 • Rape and Sexual Assault ....................................58 • The Use of Children and Maternal Love ..................63 • Surveillance and Harassment ...............................68 Women’s activism and their positive contributions .......74 Life after political violence .....................................84 • Lives Turned Upside Down ..................................85 • Marginalization and Social Stigmatization ...............85 • Economic Hardship and Poverty ...........................87 • Debilitating Fear and Emotional Scars ....................89 • Grief and Mourning ..........................................90 • Feelings of Guilt as Mothers ................................90 • Effects of Sexual Violence .....................................93 • Divorce and Polygamy ........................................94 • Deprived of Husbands ........................................96 Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco • Feelings of Guilt as Daughters ..............................97 • Unspeakable Pain, Un-Representable Violence and Lack of Recognition ...........................................97 • Work Discrimination and Disadvantage ...................99 Some conclusions ................................................102 Foreword Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco Foreword It should be admitted that women’s role in their societies, whether in activism or in suffering is often ignored and remains unrecognized. More particularly, this may be the case in societies where the Arab and Islamic culture is predominant. As for the suffering of Moroccan women during a particular period of our modern history, which is seen, probably unilaterally, as “years of lead”, it has been dealt with for a long time, with some exceptions, as collateral damages only. In the collective psyche, the victim is undoubtedly the male gender par excellence. However, many women were detained; some of whom didn’t go back from the prison, be it regular or irregular. There is also another group of women who are not less heroic than those who were put in prison. They are the women who were subjected to various forms of ill-treatment during events of oppression or before the gates of prisons where their husbands, sons and brothers were detained. They are also the women who, in the absence of their male relatives, took charge of their families in dire straits. The Equity and Reconciliation Commission who adopted a comprehensive approach to compensations due to victims of the years of lead was aware enough to pay tribute to those women by giving them a hearing and organizing activities on gender, including the investigation leading to this analysis study. This approach included individual financial compensation, medical care, social reintegration, if need be, disclosure of truth about cases of enforced disappearance and introduction of legal and institutional reforms. Of course, this study does not tackle the subject in detail. The Advisory Council on Human Rights, who is proud of publishing Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco it and of addressing a significant legacy of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, is committed to continue encouraging and supporting any action aiming to rehabilitate the victims of the years of lead, mainly those unknown, within the scope of national reconciliation. Nevertheless, this study is of paramount importance. The readership will notice that it was written with great sensitivity and empathy, worth of the experiences which true heroines endured, who are women from Aith Hdiddou and elsewhere. I would like to extend my thanks to Ms. Nadia Guessous for her competence and dedication, to the team of women researchers who bravely collected data to conduct this study and to the team of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, our partner in the tremendous effort to mainstream the gender approach in all the activities of the Advisory Council on Human Rights. Rabat, on February 16, 2009 Ahmed Herzenni CCDH President INTRODUCTION Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco INTRODUCTION n times of war and political repression, women suffer in Iunique and multiple ways from the effects of violence. Often targeted as a means to punish male relatives and to terrorize communities, women are as likely as men to be subjected to violence, torture, illegal detention, displacement and forced labor in times of conflict and repression. In addition, the effects of violence on women’s lives are often made worse because of existing gender roles and discrimination in society, and because women are more likely to be illiterate, poor, and marginalized. Women in times of conflict and political repression are also more vulnerable to sexual violence and unwanted pregnancies, which often lead to stigmatization within their own families and communities. Further, women are more likely to have to bear the burden of taking care of children and of the elderly during times of conflict especially after the arrest or death of male providers. And women are more likely to be divorced or abandoned by their husbands or to become “unmarriageable” as a result of the stigma associated with political and sexual violence. The gendered effects of political violence and repression are too numerous to list here. Yet the suffering of women in times of political conflict often remains invisible and unacknowledged. In large measure, this is because the public arenas within which politics and conflicts unfold are usually associated Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco with men; while the suffering of women often takes place in isolation and in private. But it is also because the patriarchy of the state intersects with the patriarchies of the family and the community; and because political violence against women is reinforced by societal violence and discrimination against women. As a result, women’s experiences of political violence are less likely to be recognized. Since the 1980s, the establishment of truth commissions in countries emerging out of violent conflict and political repression has increased our awareness of the multiple effects of political violence on the lives of individuals, families and communities. The findings of these truth commissions have highlighted the fact that women’s experiences of political violence tend to be overlooked or minimized unless a systematic effort is made to incorporate a gender perspective and to inquire into women’s experiences. It is only recently that truth commissions have begun taking gender into consideration by documenting and analyzing the particularities of women’s victimization in times of conflict and repression1. In Morocco, which experienced political repression and state sponsored violence between 1956 and 1999, women suffered in large numbers2. 1 - For an excellent comparative analysis of how gender was and was not taken into consideration in the work of various truth commissions (South Africa, Guatemala, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste), see Ruth Rubio-Marin (editor), 2006. What Happened to the Women? Gender and Reparations for Human Rights Violations. The International Center for Transitional Justice. New York, NY: The Social Science Research Council. 2- hile we may never know the exact number of women who were affected by political violence in Morocco between 1956 and 1999, it is nevertheless noteworthy that women constitute 15% of the dossiers received by the IER from "direct victims" and 46% of those filed by "inderect victims" . Women and Political Violence during the Years of Lead in Morocco Whether as political activists who were punished by the state for their role in oppositional movements; as relatives (mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters but also aunts, nieces and grand-daughters) of political activists and prisoners and thus considered guilty by association; or as members of communities that were collectively punished by the state; women from all backgrounds and regions of Morocco were victims of state sponsored violence. During this period known as the years of lead, it was not uncommon for the state to target
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