A full episode of "Focus", presented by Amal Houari, with Mohammed Maj, deputy secretary general of the association: why fathers keep quiet, what the memorandum contains, and the role of the social worker. Summary of the programme.
Thanks to Lodj TV and to journalist Amal Houari for shining a light on the situation of fathers deprived of the bond with their children. An episode of "Focus" (broadcast in April 2025) hosted Mohammed Maj, deputy secretary general of the association, who came from Fez for nearly fifty minutes of discussion about fathers who suffer abuse after divorce "but do not accept to speak out".
What the programme says
Summary based on the transcript of the programme (in Moroccan Arabic; timestamps refer to the recording above).
Why fathers keep quiet (1:48 and 6:47)
The presenter opens with the "courage" needed to raise the subject: many fathers do not even admit they are in a position of weakness and do not claim their most basic rights. The association's biggest problem, the guest confirms, is that very few fathers agree to testify for fear of being "hit in their manhood"; the board members therefore had to take the initiative and tell their own stories to encourage others. The High Commission for Planning had observed the same reluctance when studying violence against men.
From Facebook pages to an association (2:31)
The idea was born online, on Facebook pages where divorced fathers shared their experiences, until His Majesty the King announced the Moudawana reform: the group saw it as the opportunity to create an association carrying this cause, alongside another association devoted since 2017 to violence against men. Being prevented from seeing one's children "is a form of violence". The guest renews his thanks to the Royal Commission, which received and listened to the association.
Three pillars in the memorandum (9:04)
The memorandum rests on three pillars: shared custody, shared maintenance and shared guardianship, drawing on the international conventions signed by Morocco, which enshrine equality between men and women. The association's logic: if joint guardianship is demanded, it agrees — but in return it asks for shared custody and shared maintenance, because taking guardianship away from the father while leaving full custody to the mother leaves him with nothing.
Shared maintenance… to protect the insolvent father (11:12 and 38:27)
Why shared maintenance? The association saw fathers arrive — traders, people who had lost their income during Covid and the economic crisis — sentenced to prison for family abandonment because they could no longer pay. "When we ask for shared maintenance, the only aim is to protect the insolvent father: if he cannot pay, why put him in prison? What does that solve? He will come out an ex-convict, and people will avoid him when he looks for work." The Quran is clear: each provides according to his means. The association does not absolve the father who cheats, but speaks of the insolvent father.
Shared custody, the Moroccan way (23:02)
It is not necessarily the American model (one week with the mother, one week with the father): "in our current situation, we say: if only we could see our children for half of the holidays, or one day or half a day in the week, or at their school". Some fathers are even banned from the school, although the Moudawana enshrines educational support by the father. The guest even wishes for "an article that sanctions the father who does not come to see his children".
The role of the social worker and turning children against a parent (24:51 and 31:24)
The social worker has an essential role: preventive before the divorce, with reconciliation as the first aim — "and if we did not succeed as a couple, let us succeed as divorced parents"; and afterwards, in cases of incitement. Example: more than ten fathers, in July and August, obtained the help of the public force to enforce their visiting rights, but the child arrives in tears, "the script learned by heart". At the Fez court, the King's prosecutor ordered the social worker to accompany the child in sessions: it turned out he wanted to see his father but feared the house and the emotional blackmail.
No hostility between associations (15:44)
The association met women's associations that welcomed the idea, and considered a joint memorandum and a joint congress "to show society that there is no hostility between men and women". The guest criticises the unbalanced media coverage of the Moudawana reform and calls for neutrality: "the law must protect vulnerable groups, whether women or men". He notes that most of the journalists who supported the cause were Moroccan women.
Conclusion: children are not weapons (45:41)
The guest proposes a contract concluded at the start of the marriage that settles custody, maintenance and guardianship in advance in case of divorce. And concludes that "the wicked face in the family can be the mother as well as the father": involving the child in the battle of the divorce and using him as a weapon against the other parent produces traumas that grow with him — "and in the end, values are what count".