Throughout Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia—three of the countries that make up the Maghreb region of North Africa—women are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses. This is due to deeply entrenched gender discrimination, lack of education, and a dearth of economic opportunities. Cultural norms and traditions, as well as high illiteracy rates also often prevent women from invoking their rights or reporting crimes committed against them.

Since 2007, Global Rights has worked to promote women’s rights in marriage in the Maghreb through the strategic use of marriage contracts. Throughout the region, marriage, divorce, and property matters impacting women’s rights are governed by personal status laws, based on Islamic precepts, which often prevents women from exercising their basic human rights. Our pioneering program to promote the use of marriage contracts—which are negotiated agreements between two consenting parties that create legally enforceable obligations—with rights-protective clauses encompasses not just the participatory drafting and dissemination of a model marriage contract and other tools to women, lawyers, and judges, but also significant regional network-building among local NGOs and lawyers and advocacy that challenges national institutions to address the rights of women within the family.

Fact Sheets

English | Français | العربية

Publications 

Researching and Documenting the Use of Marriage Contracts Among Local Authorities  2011  | English | Français | العربية

Legal Empowerment of Unwed Mothers: Experiences of Moroccan NGOs (2010)
Excerpt from IDLO's book, Legal Empowerment: Practitioners' Perspectives. (2010)

Marriage contract discussion booklet (2009) Français | العربية 

Conditions, not Conflict: Promoting Women's Human Rights in the Maghreb through Strategic Use of the Marriage Contract (2008)
English | Français | العربية

لنجعل حقوق الإنسان حقيقة: برنامج للتربية على الحقوق الإنسانية و القانونية للنساء في الجزائر Arabic (2006)
The Making Human Rights Real: A Human Rights Education Program for Women in Algeria Facilitator's Manual is currently only available as a combined Arabic and French text. For an English summary of the manuals for Algeria and Tunisia, please click here.

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*Photo by Association Amal pour la Femme et le Développement