Last spring, a 16 year old Moroccan girl named Amina Filali killed herself after being forced to marry the man who raped her. In the Kingdom of Morocco, as in many Arab countries, rapists can often escape jail if they agree to marry their victim. Amina killed herself after her husband-rapist beat her.Amina’s parents later claimed that upon notifying the court of their daughter’s rape, the prosecutor himself suggested the young girl marry her attacker. Amina’s suicide drew widespread attention, sparking protests and twitter uproar in the country. Women’s organizations and child advocacy NGOs staged rallies demanding the government revise and modernize its rape laws.
Last week, more than 10 months after Amina drank rat poison the Moroccan government said it would officially review Penal Code 475 which permits rapists to marry their underage victims.
While this development is of course good news, it speaks to a troubling global trend. All over the world women and girls are being sacrificed for rights which should already be considered sacrosanct.
It took the attempted assassination of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai for the Pakistani government to take an aggressive stance against anti-women fundamentalists. It was only after the rape and murder of a young woman in India that the government vowed legal reforms.
Because of the brutality inflicted upon them, these female victims become meteoric Twitter/Facebook/media stars, tragic symbols around which the global community can rally.
A greater priority, however, must be placed upon preventing these incidents. The international community (led, perhaps by UNICEF and UN Women) should systematically review and publicize each country’s family codes and conjugal rape laws. Going forward, media outlets should have better foresight and discuss these issues before any blood is spilled.
We shouldn’t wait to take action against oppressive systems until we have a convenient symbol of struggle. #RIPAmina should never have been a trending twitter subject in the first place.
This is not a cultural or religious issue, it is a human rights issue.
|forbes.com
