Rabat - On April 29 the Economic, Social and Environmental Council discussed a new report about the conditions facing Moroccan women, drafting controversial recommendations that are likely to stir up debate in Morocco.

Rabat – On April 29 the Economic, Social and Environmental Council discussed a new report about the conditions facing Moroccan women, drafting controversial recommendations that are likely to stir up debate in Morocco.

The council, presided by Nizar Baraka, former Minister of Economy, called for the decriminalization of sex outside marriage and raised the issue of equality in inheritance.

Moroccan daily newspaper Akhbar Alyoum reported in its May 1 issue that the report included recommendations, such as a call for the abolition of Chapters 490 and 491 of the Criminal Code, which the report claims “discourage women from reporting rape cases.”

Under Article 490 of the Moroccan penal code, couples can be imprisoned for having sexual relations outside marriage. The article states that “unmarried couples will be arrested only if the perpetrators confessed or if they were caught in the act of having intercourse.”

Article 491 of Morocco’s penal code calls for a prison term of one to two years for adultery.

The Council also called for an “objective evaluation, through a quite national debate involving the parties concerned, of the various provisions and forms of application of the family code in controversial issues, in particular provisions relating to women’s right to inheritance, and enlisting the couples’ properties in a marriage contract.”