HRW criticises Morocco for rejecting Amazigh baby names
2009-09-04
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday (September 3rd) denounced Morocco for preventing citizens from inscribing children with Berber names on the civil registry. While Moroccan law requires first names to have "a Moroccan character", local governments often "interpret this requirement as meaning that the names need to be of Arab-Islamic origin, even if the Berber citizens are natives of Morocco", the HRW statement said.
More than a year ago, Magharebia reported that under Moroccan law No, 37-99, Amazigh names such as Bahac, Damya, Diyia, Mayssa, Guraya, Yuba, Ijja, Aderfy, Amzin, Idir, Massinissa, Tihia, Tinass, Taynust, Sifaw, Massin were apparently being banned from entry into the register of births, marriages and deaths.
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Lamiri Mustapha Posted 2009-09-04
This is a Moroccan-Moroccan problem. For our part, we are not looking for those who forget to visit their parents. Such is not the case for us. Dialogue is the only means to come to an agreement to solve this little problem.
oufkir Posted 2009-09-11
The best example about this is Iran where the official language of the country is Persian and the names of people are Persian, but despite this we never heard whether inside or outside Iran a call to make the language of the Holy Qur'an, the official language of the country. This has not constituted a hurdle or obstacle to the steadiness of their religion. The same thing can be said about Pakistanis, Indonesians, Chechen people, Bosnians and other Islamic nations. Banning registration of Amazigh names is not a simple issue about the issue of civil status only. It is an issue which has a cultural, identity and political dimension. It expresses a firm desire to fight Amazigh language and exclude it more than its exclusion from school, media and state institutes. Therefore, cessation to ban all Amazigh names annuls and cancels everything I consider to be an openness to Tamazight and an official reconciliation with it including the establishment of the Royal Institute for Amazigh culture. If authorities were serious and have good intentions towards Tamazight in terms of founding a high committee for ths civil status, it would have appointed Amazigh people who know the Amazigh history as well as Amazigh names to study requests about these names. This would guarantee and protect the right of every Moroccan new baby to bear a legally and officially recognized name following the choice of his parents or guardians especially when this name is Amazigh. The royal address of the king in Ajdir on October 17, 2001 which constituted a major break in the official way to deal with the Amazigh issue, built the way for rehabilitation of the Amazigh culture and language, and a reconciliation with the components of the Moroccan identity, has made the Moroccan citizen feel that the Amazigh identity is for him a source of pride. Therefore, many of them gave Amazigh names to their sons including Mayssa, Amazigh, Issouane, Yuba and so on. However, many registrars of births in some communes and Moroccan consulates refused registration of such Amazigh names claiming they aren't present on the official list of personal names addressed to them by the high committee of the civil status and the ministry of the interior. All these cases consist an overt violation of one of the fundamental human rights. This requires the amendment of law.
crystal Posted 13 days ago
I was wondering if there is a site that gives name that the Moroccan goverment will accept.
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