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The Marrakech-Menara local branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has sounded the alarm over the sexual exploitation of minors and sex tourism. On Thursday, the NGO published a letter addressed to the public prosecutor at the Marrakech Court of Appeal, the wali of the Marrakech-Safi region, the Director General of National Security, the regional commander of the Royal Gendarmerie in Marrakech, as well as the ministers of Tourism, Handicrafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy, and of Solidarity, Social Integration and the Family.
Consulted by Yabiladi, the letter cites the arrest, on May 11 in Marrakech, of a restaurant manager as part of an investigation into the gang rape of a minor allegedly committed by six Indian nationals. «The young girl filed a complaint with the Royal Gendarmerie, stating that she had been lured to the restaurant in question before being taken to a villa on the outskirts of the city», the AMDH said.
In this context, the NGO called for «the identities of all those involved to be made public and for legal responsibilities to be established, without discrimination or impunity». It also urged the authorities to provide «comprehensive protection» for the victim and to step up «oversight» of tourist and entertainment venues.
According to the same source, «the seriousness of the acts committed in this case once again raises the issue of the growing sexual exploitation of minors, as well as the activity of networks involved in exploiting, incitement to prostitution and sex tourism, particularly in certain tourist and leisure venues, guesthouses, riads, rental villas, nightclubs and discotheques».
The letter also refers to a previous pedophilia case involving a Kuwaiti national, who left the country before any prosecution was initiated. He was later sentenced in absentia to five years in prison. The NGO further recalled Morocco’s constitutional, criminal and international obligations in this field.
