Interesting article just out :
“Morocco adopts draft bill on transfer of citizenship (19/01/2007)
The Moroccan government adopted the new citizenship draft bill Thursday (January 18th), which stipulates that Moroccan children will acquire citizenship from their mothers regardless of the father’s nationality. Communication Minister Nabil Benabdallah says the bill is an important step towards the emancipation of the Moroccan woman, after the reform in the family code (mudawana). Thus, the child will acquire Moroccan citizenship even if the father is a foreigner, but only if he is a Muslim and married according to the rules of the mudawana. (MAP, Yabiladi)”
For a Western man to marry a Moroccan woman, I was almost sure that he had to convert anyway - have the laws changed? As for the reverse situation, I know several Western women who refused to marry their Moroccan partners - specifically because of the rights they’d give up to child custody if they did so.
UPDATE : Mindy just found a very interesting story on Maghrebia.com - Morocco’s Nationality Code Amended
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January 21st, 2007 at 5:47 am
From what I understand, this has been in effect for two years already - at least that’s what Moroccan friends and one woman married to a Moroccan told me (I don’t want kids, so it’s a moot point for me).
Western men DO have to convert to marry a Moroccan woman, of course. I don’t believe anything has changed.
As for the first point, a friend of mine (American) who has several children from a Moroccan was able, two years ago, to apply for citizenship for her children (which she was not able to do before that); that’s why I’m surprised that this article calls the bill new. I had thought it was already just a part of the Moudawana.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:51 am
http://www.hrea.org/moudawana.html#31
This English translation of the Moudawana states that filiation is established through either parent, whether the parentage relationship is legitimate or illegitimate.
And that’s from 2004.
January 21st, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Hm, that’s odd. I’ve looked over the 2004 Moudawana, of course - got one of the first translations from the above mentioned organization, actually - but I have to confess, I just skimmed over the kid parts.
January 21st, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Wait a minute, that Moudwana link just talks about filiation in general - I can’t find a reference to children of mixed marriages.
Here’s what another article had to say about this new law:
“It also complements the reform made to the Family Law (Mudawana), the personal-status law established in 1957, which stipulates that Moroccan citizenship can only be transmitted to children born of a Moroccan father, those of single mothers or of a stateless father.”
Now I’m confused.
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 am
I’m confused as well, but if filiation is even made a point (regarding children of a Moroccan mother being citizens), then it must be because of intermarriage with foreigners, no?
I use the Moudawana as a class discussion topic sometimes, and the students have always told me (since I started in 2005, that is) that children of a Moroccan mother/foreign father are still Moroccan. Hamza’s dad (lawyer) told me the same, so I don’t know what the change is with this new law.
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:38 pm
this is a new law
if only the mother were moroccan, children didn’t got citizenship
sorry foir the bad english
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:33 pm
I think the difference is between religion and citizenship. Before (and now) the child was muslim, but only if the father was Moroccan was he entitled to citizenship.
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=2290
This article (sorry for the lack of HTML) says that it was granted in July 2005, which is consistent with what Hamza’s father told me.
TelQuel had a different article, but my French isn’t good enough to get all of the facts straight:
http://www.telquel-online.com/226/couverture_226_1.shtml
Gaouri, Islamically, what you’re saying doesn’t make sense - a child is only Muslim if his father is Muslim (or if he converts later in life) period. Just like a Jew is only a Jew if his mother was a Jew.
That said, every source I find has different info and a different date. Typical Morocco, I suppose.
January 24th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
http://tinyurl.com/2z4fre
There’s another article that talks more about this. I didn’t realize it was like this before.