A father who is a founder and board member of the association has been cut off from his son since June 2023, and a child psychiatrist's report contains serious information that calls for verification. The association sets out the case with respect for the courts and for everyone's rights, and makes ten recommendations to reform family justice.
The Moroccan Association for the Defence of the Rights of Fathers and Children is following with deep concern the situation of one of its founders and board members, a father who has spent years going through proceedings and procedures to preserve his relationship with his son and exercise his parental responsibilities. His personal experience is one of those that deepened the association's commitment to fatherhood, childhood and family justice.
The association stresses, however, that it follows this case not only because of who the father is: the case raises wider legal and human-rights questions about children's rights, equality in parental responsibility, women's rights, the effectiveness of family justice, the enforcement of decisions concerning children, and the mechanisms that protect children from any possible danger.
The association is also careful to distinguish facts established by documents and court decisions from allegations or information that still require investigation or judicial assessment, out of respect for the courts and for the rights of all parties, and in rejection of any defamation or prejudgement.
Since 21 March 2021
According to the information and documents in the file, the father's difficulties began on 21 March 2021, before the break with his son became total on 4 June 2023, with legal and judicial proceedings continuing ever since. The judicial history includes several complaints, police reports and procedures, among them a criminal judgment handed down on 24 January 2023 in connection with the failure to hand over the child.
Despite the many proceedings, the father's suffering has lasted for years, which raises a fundamental question about the effectiveness of legal mechanisms when a child's relationship with one of his parents is at stake. That suffering did not stay confined to the court case: medical documents report that the father suffered a nervous breakdown under the psychological strain of being deprived of his son. The association believes this must be taken with the utmost seriousness, not only to protect the father but, first and foremost, to protect the child from the possible effects of a long family conflict.
A child psychiatrist's report dated 10 May 2023
After the father took his son back on 5 May 2023 at a police station, in execution of instructions from the public prosecutor, he had the child seen by a specialist in child psychiatry. A medical report dated 10 May 2023 contains, according to its own wording, observations about the child's rejection of his mother, as well as information linked to allegations that the child was subjected to harassment and sexual abuse.
The association stresses that it does not regard this information as a final judicial ruling and that it is not its role to determine anyone's criminal responsibility. But the presence of such information in a report issued on a specific date by a child psychiatrist makes it extremely serious, and it calls for assessment and verification by the competent authorities.
The case therefore raises an essential human and rights question: when a specialist medical report about a minor contains information this serious, genuinely applying the best-interests principle requires every medical or psychological indication of possible danger to be dealt with seriously and quickly. Such information does not mean any party is guilty; it means the child's safety requires it to be subjected to the necessary expert, investigative, professional and judicial assessment.
The child is not a party to the dispute
Divorce or the end of a marriage should not turn a child into a party to the dispute between the parents: the child has rights of his own, separate from those of the father and the mother. Among them is the right to have his best interests treated as a primary consideration in every decision concerning him (Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child), and the right of a child separated from one or both parents to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, unless this is contrary to his best interests (Article 9(3)).
The question should therefore not be reduced to "the father's right to see his son", but asked more broadly: what is the child's own right to keep his relationship with his parents? That right is inseparable from his right to protection from any real danger. A rights-based approach means checking the facts, assessing the risks and determining the child's best interests on the basis of objective, specialist evidence.
A child's family bonds are built from the earliest years
A child's relationship with his parents cannot be put on hold for years and then resumed as if nothing had happened. Emotional bonds form from the earliest stages of life, through continuous presence, communication, care and a sense of safety and stability. A long separation from one parent, without swift and effective intervention, can weaken or change a relationship that is being built at a crucial stage of development.
If a child is deprived of his father for a long time, how can we then speak of "the best interests of the child" without assessing the effect of that deprivation itself on those interests? Best interests include, where it is safe, protecting the child's emotional stability and family bonds. Conversely, the family relationship cannot be protected at the expense of the child's safety if there are serious signs of danger. Speed of intervention is therefore not a mere procedural matter: it is part of protecting the child's rights.
In children's cases, time is not ordinary time
A child grows every day, and what does not happen at one stage of childhood cannot necessarily be made up years later. At the same time, a situation that may put a child at risk cannot wait for years of proceedings. Speed is needed in both directions: if the child needs protection, he must be protected quickly; if he is deprived of a healthy family relationship for no reason related to his interests, the situation must be remedied quickly.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has stressed the importance of dealing quickly with disputes over contact between children and their separated parents, and of enforcing the related decisions swiftly and effectively. Family justice is not measured only by the judgments it hands down, but also by its ability to protect the child and enforce decisions while protection can still make a real difference.
Children's rights, fathers' rights and women's rights are not in conflict
Defending fathers' rights never means defending the father at the child's expense. Likewise, defending women's rights should not erase fathers' rights, just as protecting fathers' rights must not come at the expense of the mother or the child. The child holds rights of his own; father and mother are partners in the responsibility for him.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) contains provisions on parental responsibility: Article 5(b) addresses the common responsibility of men and women in the upbringing and development of their children, and Article 16 addresses equal rights and responsibilities as parents, the interests of the children being paramount. The association reads these texts in light of Morocco's international commitments and the related provisions and reservations. But the principle remains: the end of a marriage does not end parental responsibility.
The aim is not for the father to win against the mother
The aim is not to turn this case into a battle between a man and a woman, nor to discredit the mother or diminish her rights, nor to demand absolute authority over the child for the father. It is to build a system in which the child's best interests are the point of balance between everyone's rights and responsibilities: if there are real, established risks to the child, he must be protected; if serious signs call for an investigation, they must be investigated; if there is no objective reason to prevent contact, the child's right to keep his bond with both parents must be protected. Hence the importance of specialised courts, psychological and social expertise, family mediation and a multidisciplinary approach.
From a personal case to a question of reform
Drawing on this case and the others it follows, the association believes that reform of the Family Code should not merely redistribute rights between father and mother, but start from a larger question: how do we build a legal system that genuinely protects the child when the parents' marriage ends? It calls for greater consistency between national legislation and Morocco's international commitments on human rights and children's rights, and for faster, more effective judicial and administrative mechanisms in disputes affecting a child's family life.
Human rights are indivisible. Women's rights must be safeguarded. The rights of fathers and mothers to carry out their responsibilities towards their children must be respected within the law. But above all of this come the rights of the child. A child belongs neither to the father nor to the mother: a child is a person with rights of his own.
How many children might find themselves in a similar situation tomorrow? How many fathers or mothers will spend years in court to restore a normal relationship with their child? How many children will lose years of childhood waiting for a decision, its enforcement or a settlement? These questions lead the association to consider that the matter should not stop at the limits of one personal case, but open a reflection on deeper legislative, judicial and institutional reform.
For the earlier stages of this case: the association's statements of summer 2025.
The association's recommendations
- Make the child's best interests a practical, central criterion in all judicial and administrative decisions concerning children.
- Strengthen shared parental responsibility after separation.
- Protect the child's right to regular contact with both parents whenever there is no real obstacle related to his safety or best interests.
- Ensure the swift and effective enforcement of judgments and decisions concerning children.
- Create specialised emergency procedures for long breaks between a child and one of his parents.
- Adopt a multidisciplinary approach involving, where needed, psychologists, social workers, child psychiatrists and childhood specialists.
- Hear the child, according to his age and maturity, where appropriate, while making sure he is not turned into a tool in the dispute between his parents.
- Deal seriously and promptly with medical and psychological reports concerning children, especially when they contain signs of possible violence, harassment or abuse, carrying out the necessary investigations and expert assessments in accordance with the law.
- Strengthen family mediation and conciliation before disagreements become long-term breaks, except in situations that require immediate protection of the child.
- Review and amend the legal provisions that need to evolve, to better protect the child, balance parental responsibility and make the enforcement of judgments more effective.
The association's message
The association will continue to follow this case within the law, with respect for the judicial institutions and for the rights of all parties, in a responsible, rights-based way, free of defamation, incitement or prejudgement. Its aim is not to set fathers against mothers, but to work for fairer families, better-protected children and faster, more effective family justice.
Divorce may end a marriage; it should not end fatherhood or motherhood. Disagreement between parents should not become a break with the child. Court decisions about children must not remain mere documents, but be real tools for protecting their rights. And childhood cannot be postponed until the proceedings are over.
The child first. His safety first. His best interests above the dispute. And rights that can be protected and enforced, in time.
The Moroccan Association for the Defence of the Rights of Fathers and Children.