07.19.07
Street Children – Morocco
Background: Population estimated in 2001 at 29.1 million, of which 44% are rural and 39.5% are aged 18 and under. Many factors have prompted large scale urban migration from rural areas – in 1998/99, only 5% of rural dwellers had access to clean drinking water compared to 78% of urban residents, and both poverty and illiteracy rates in rural areas were double those in the cities. Demographic statistics also show a strong gender imbalance, with 61% of females illiterate compared to 33% of males. The official religion is Islam, and although the official language is Arabic, French is also widely spoken, along with Berbere and Spanish.
Definition and statistics: The terminology ‘street children’ is used to refer to children who live on the streets who are deprived of family support and protection. Most children on the streets are between the ages of 10 and 14 years old, and their distribution between different cities is quite varied. For example, a survey conducted in 1999 by the Ministry of Families, Women and Children in partnership with local authorities suggested that there were around 600 street children in Marrakech, compared to over 5,000 in Casablanca.
Factors pushing children onto the streets:
- Rapid urbanization due to a high rural exodus has swelled city populations, but the urban infrastructure and services have not been prepared to cope with such an influx, leaving many without any support.
- The structure of the Moroccan family has changed due to increasing poverty. Parents are unable to fulfill their traditional role as providers, and children increasingly become the main sources of revenue in large families. With his traditional authority weakened, the father turns to violence as an expression of his status and physical punishment becomes more common.
- Families also disintegrate and break up due to the divorce or disappearance of the father (leaving the mother and children alone); re-marriage of one of the parents; alcoholism and drug abuse; and maternal prostitution. Single mothers remain the outcasts of society, and are unable to garner support from eroding communitarian solidarity.
- Lack of access to schooling either through geographical reasons (distance excludes many in rural areas from attending) or for reasons of expense and the costs incurred by textbooks, uniforms etc, in combination with a general drop in the quality of education offered, have all led to greater incidence of drop-outs. Those who do obtain degrees find that these qualifications are of little use in securing a job in the labour market, and education is not viewed anymore as a form of social promotion.
- The weak socio-economic status of families also pushes children to work from a very young age, and it is often the children themselves who take the initiative in searching for a job. School does not offer a future in their eyes, while a job provides immediate income to support the family. Unfortunately, many of the small jobs they take are exploitative in terms of their working conditions, salaries and hours. For example, young girls often find work as domestic maids, and although a child is not allowed to work legally before the age of 15, poor implementation and enforcement of this law has pushed many children much younger into the profession.
