The Study for Judicial Education for Family Law Professionals in Morocco produced an empirical study of judicial decision-making in Morocco to assess the impact of family law reform, offering new data on the extent to which reforms in family laws are being implemented. The researchers also produced a paper on gender and judicial education, and compiled a comprehensive set of resources for developing pedagogical approaches to judicial education. These resources are publically available our Website. Finally, the researchers held a workshop in Oujda Morocco, May 2017 that brought together Canadian and Moroccan experts in judicial education and gender equity to discuss the issues and possibilities of judicial education in Morocco.

iii) The research problem

This project aimed to develop collaborative research that would build capacity for both Canadian and Moroccan partners towards transforming social and economic policies on gender issues in Morocco. Specifically, it was aimed at considering the impact of Morocco’s 2004 family law reform. Recently research in Morocco suggests that despite significant reforms to laws that impact women, these reforms have not achieved their full potential (Eisenberg, 2011). Our research specifically focuses on the extent to which judges, and the judicial process, are a critical gatekeeping stage for the success or failure of legal changes that are part of efforts at social and culture reform. Morocco’s watershed 2004 reforms to are a marriage, divorce, inheritance, and child custody laws, the successful implementation of these changes requires not only that judges understand at a technical level how legal rights and obligations have changed, but also accept that the implementation of new laws challenging conventional gender hierarchies is part of their role.

Our preliminary research suggested that judges (in Morocco and elsewhere) are often invested in conventional hierarchies in significant ways. They often draw some of their own elite status and power as judges from the workings of these hierarchies. And so, drawing on conservative and religious frameworks, they may demonstrate a instead a willingness to block legal reforms in their practical implementation. This kind of judicial behavious not only denies women their legal rights, it structures women’s economic and social well-being on a day to day basis, and it prevents the society wide scale of change that the legal reforms were part of.

As a number of studies indicate (in Morocco and elsewhere), changes to legal provisions , even dramatic changes, can have surprisingly little impact on the lives of women. A Moroccan survey of women seeking justice through the courts found that although the number of women using the courts increased after the new law was implemented, 2 out of 3 women experience great hardship in obtaining their rights. Thus the new law does not seem to have helped women remain in abusive relationships, a major purpose of the changes. As a result of the failure to consistently apply the reformed laws, the law continues to underserve women. Indeed, a recent government report on the prevalence of gender-based violence among married or divorced women shows that 17% of Moroccan women experience violence in marriage due to the failure of the courts to correctly apply the Family Code. Local women’s organizations, who worked long and hard to secure the 2004 reforms, continue to have reasons to denounce the double standard in the legal system of the country, and the lack of gender equity or recognition of women’s social and cultural positioning within family law.

Our project was focused on one part of the process of law-backed social reform: judicial decision-making. We were particularly interested in the way judges were or were not implementing the new options for resolution and protection in Family Law that the 2004 Code provided. The project has three objectives aligned with IDRC(CP) objectives – collaboration, influence on policy and practice, and improving learning capacity:

to investigate ways in which Moroccan judges make decisions in cases involving family law;
to create a data base of scholarly research and writing on pedagogical approaches and challenges in judicial education; and
to facilitate collaboration between Canadian and Moroccan experts interested in judicial education and women’s rights.

iv) Progress towards milestones[1]

Please see discussion of concerns and delays around Country Clearance in viii) Problems and Challenges, below. As a result of these Country Clearance related problems, there was an Amendment of the Agreement issued by IDRC September 2016 and the Schedule of Milestones was amended at that time.

Milestones below row 3 are from the AMENDED agreement.

Milestone	Due Date	Submitted by	Centre Payment Amount	Progress
1. Commencement	Official Commencement Date (see Section 5)	n/a .	n/a	1^st January 2015
2. Initial payment	Upon signature of this Agreement by the Recipient	n/a	3,937 CAD
3. Copy of Sub-contractor's country approval by the Government of Morocco as per Section 6.	6 months after Commencement Date	Recipient (see Section 6)	n/a
4. First technical progress report, covering the first 27 months of Work.	27 Months after commencement date	Recipient	9231 CAD	Submitted on time March 31 2017
5. Third payment by the Centre, following acceptance of first technical progress report and satisfactory financial report.	One month after receipt of satisfactory reports.	n/a	43,637 CAD
6. Final technical report (two print copies and, where possible, an electronic copy).3	On or before Work Completion Date AS AMENDED [October 31 2017)			Present document, submitted December 18 2017
7. Final financial report covering all funds expended on the Project, in the same form and including the details of the Budget as set forth in Part 4 –see Sect ion A16)	On or no more than 30 days after the Work Completion Date (October 31 2017	Recipient (see Section 2)	n/a
8. Final payment by the Centre, following acceptance of the final technical report (including, among other things, the research results dissemination plan) and satisfactory final financial report.	30 days after receipt of satisfactory final reports		Up to 2,990 CAD4

v) Synthesis of research results and development outcomes

Our investigation documented the pattern of the application of judicial reforms in two regions in Morocco, the pedagogical approach to judicial education internationally, and considered the utility of these approaches to the Moroccan context.

Our study of the application of judicial reforms in Morocco illustrated both the gains that have been offered by reforms to gender based laws as well as the remaining challenges. Thirteen years since its implementation, the Family Code has raised real hopes for justice and fairness, but also revealed a diversity of views and practices regarding its application. Although the Code was mainly intended to respond to concerns about the treatment of women under the previous system, it continues to include difficulties provisions with negative implications for Moroccan women. Questions about the availability of polygamy, the marriage of minors, legal responses to gender based violence in families, and the marriage of muslim women to non-muslim men remain a source of contention, both in terms of judicial responses and a gap between the requirements of the Code and the habits and beliefs of significant numbers of Moroccans.

The means by which the law’s provisions and protections are disseminated are a critical part of reform. This is particularly so because of uneven sociological acceptance of new rights, and Morocco’s high rate of illiteracy particularly amongst women.

Lower level Moroccan Courts face overwhelming by the numbers of cases before them and the mentality of family judges does not easily evolve. Judges may also feel that regardless of personal views, they should exercise caution in pushing for compliance with laws that are seen as in conflict with “religious” belief or requirement.

However, these realities should not obscure recent progress. The negative aspects currently prevailing in judgments concerning marriage, divorce, alimony and child custody (as detailed in the Study) should not diminish the efforts many magistrates across Morocco to implement not only the provisions of the Family Code, but also of its reform philosophy and the spirit of its text.

Our critical review of the pedagogical approaches to and content of judicial education illustrates the global spread of the idea of ongoing judicial education. We have also gathered some examples of material that is not publically available. This material is especially important as it offers detailed examples of the curriculum and materials from judicial training sessions.

We identified a number of factors for attention in the mobilisation of this research. First, is the limited audience for judicial education. Judges are a small, elite group. Second, there is considerable sensitivity about judicial training, particularly in the common law world. Concern that judicial training will be seen as a form of inculcating bias will be acute in the context of social context education which attempts to address difference and inequality in society, often in areas where there is considerable public dispute. This concern has manifested in Canada and, along with other factors, has led to shifts in pedagogical approaches, such that social context education is blended with what could be seen as more technical education about changes in the law or legal process. Thirdly, we identified the almost complete gap in research that attempts to measure the success or failure of judicial education methods, and traced this gap to the sensitivity around maintaining objectivity. The result, however, is that understandings of how and when judicial education works, that is, changes how judges understand the law and context, and changes how they do their work, are extremely limited.

Our May 2017 Workshop in Oujda Morocco focused on mobilization of this research, from discussions of remaining challenges in the implementation of the Moroccan family law reforms at the level of doctrine and as revealed in our empirical study of the work of particular courts, to discussions of the use and development of judicial education in Canada, with particular reference to efforts to challenge patriarchal interpretations of law and the implications for Canadian women. The workshop produced a productive dialogue, which has been documented on our Summary Paper so that it can be made available to an international audience.

The Workshop identified a range of issues. First, the issue of how to do this work with judges in Morocco. This discussion echoed the concerns in the literature, including the perception that social context education for judges could interfere with the need for judicial neutrality (and the need to have the public perception of neutrality or objectivity). In addition the discussion focussed on some of the social parameters for judicial education, such as the reception of social science evidence and social science methods among those trained in law, the position of judges as not only adult learners but elite adult learners, and other forms of resistance to education.

It this context, the discussion pointed to how the challenges in the Moroccan context would be similar to what much of the literature in the field has identified. Discussions about the insights produces by considering Morocco and Canada comparatively or together were particularly striking. Given both knowledge of certain differences between the two states, and the expectations of Western academic approaches to these differences, discussants consistently expressed surprise at the commonalities. These moments were prompted by the presentations from Canadian participants highlighting recent and notable examples of gender bias in sexual assault cases. These judgments contain tropes about women and sexual behaviour that were readily familiar to the Moroccan participants. The comparative aspects also allowed nuanced discussions identifying and considering the relationship between violence against women, religion, culture and patriarchy.

vi) Methodology

The methods used in each of the three main parts of this project are as follows:

Investigate ways in which Moroccan judges make decisions in cases involving family law

As there has been little social science research on either judicial decisions or judicial education in Morocco, this project used multiple methods to consider the objectives identified.

In order to carry out a study of judicial decisions in gender-based cases, we will undertook a study of judicial decision-making in Morocco to assess the impact of family law reform. The aim of this research was to highlight the degree of perception and application of the provisions of the Moroccan Family Code by Moroccan magistrates. 52 family law casefiles from the Tribunal de Première Instance Oujda Court (Family Law Section) were analysed by the Research associates. The files were also categorized into tables based on the legal issue raised in each case, whether the claim was accepted or rejected by the first instance Court, and whether there was renunciation by either spouse. 34 cases which were taken up to the Court de Cassation were also analysed for the report and similarly categorized. The report considers how judges interpret and apply the reformed Family Code. To ensure national representation, the decisions were sourced from two regions: Oujda and Rabat . The aim of this study is to highlight the degree of perception and application of the provisions of the Moroccan Family Code by Moroccan magistrates. The complexity of the problems that inspire this study proposes to evaluate the judicial practice to try to detect not only the advances but also to highlight the obstacles. The cities of Oujda and Rabat were chosen to serve as a laboratory for this study. The cases studied are ultimately indications of the effectiveness of the application of family law at the national level. We employed a content analysis when reviewing records, focusing on whether the Code changes were implemented.

Create a data base of scholarly research and writing on pedagogical approaches and challenges in judicial education

Second, in order to document pedagogical approaches to judicial education, we carried out scans of organisations engaged with judicial education and research on pedagogical approaches. These revealed the growing acceptance that legal changes and reforms must have attention to the critical role that judges play in furthering or blocking reforms. It is in judges’ decision-making that the struggle between established norms and legal reforms is most acute. One response to these challenges over the past 25 years has been judicial education. In Canada, the National Judicial Institute (NJI) was been established to develop and run judicial education sessions for all Canadian judges. The NJI is known for pathbreaking work particularly on the concept and operationalization of social context judicial education.

The global spread of judicial education has been remarkable. Many other countries also have judicial training institutions – for instance, the American Bar Association in the United States, the National Judicial College of Australia, the Judicial College of England and Wales, the National Judicial Institute of Nigeria and the National Judicial Academy, India. There has been significant growth in programs supported by NGO’s offering independent (arm’s length from government) judicial education programs across the globe. Examples include the International Organization for Judicial Training, the International Organization of Women Judges (via the Towards a Jurisprudence of Equality program), and a variety of UN sponsored programs that support the training of judges in a broad range of countries. Country-based organizations such as the NJI,CIDA and the American Bar Association also further judicial education programs abroad with funds and advice.

While there has been little analysis of these programs, the research literature illustrates specific challenges which face judicial education. Judges are particularly challenging students; thus, pedagogical approaches must address their unique professional context to be successful. Judicial education is a sensitive matter, in that it can be seen to compromise judicial independence, making it difficult to require attendance at or adherence to judicial education sessions. Even in civil law systems, where the idea that judges are trained to be judges is accepted, training after appointment can be controversial. Judicial independence concerns also render the content and personnel of judicial education programs highly politically sensitive. Judges fiercely guard their institutional legitimacy, and recognize that it is fragile. They will be aware of the potential for discussion about the content of judicial education to become a focal point for challenging legitimacy and “objectivity”. At the same time, as we have seen in Canada more recently, egregious illustrations of judicial insensitivity to legal and cultural shifts will also harm the legitimacy of the bench as a whole in the eyes of the population.

III. Facilitate collaboration between Canadian and Moroccan experts interested in judicial education and women’s rights.

Third, as developing approaches to judicial education requires that they are appropriate for the local context. In order to achieve this goal, we organized a workshop with key researchers, feminist lawyers from Canada and Morocco, and judges. This workshop was organized to facilitate collaboration between Canadian and Moroccan experts. In order to share expertise this the workshop brought together two key components of the project gender and the law in Morocco and expertise on judicial education. organizing a workshop that gather Canadian experts in judicial education and gender equity and Moroccan judges and NGOs to adapt these approaches to Morocco.

vii) Project outputs

Aligned with the three objectives, there have been three outputs for this project.

First, we have undertaken a Study of judicial decision-making in Morocco to assess the impact of family law reform. This study presents new data on the extent to which reforms in family laws are being implemented.

Second, as there is little information of judicial education, we compiled a comprehensive set of resources for developing pedagogical approaches to judicial education. These resources are publically available our Website.

Third, we organized a Workshop in Oujda Morocco, May 2017 that brought together Canadian and Moroccan experts in judicial education and gender equity to discuss the issues and possibilities of judicial education in Morocco.

viii) Problems and challenges

The project faced two significant challenges.

First, we experienced considerable difficulty in obtaining Country Clearance. These difficulties were not related to a reluctance of the Moroccan government to support the project, but rather the lack of guidance and precedent about precisely who needed to provide the clearance and how to seek it. Indeed, our Moroccan partners have worked on many international cooperative granting projects and had never encountered such a requirement. Government officials in Morocco were also confused by the requests, as authorization might be required for Foreign Researchers in Morocco, but our project did not propose that any research would be done in Morocco by Canadians. Inquiries with Universities, Ministries, and other scholars were both immensely time consuming and fruitless. As a result, it took significant time and resources to facilitate our request. Moreover, the requests that our partners were repeatedly making at various Ministries in Morocco raised curiosity in a way that was unhelpful for them and for this project. We want to draw attention to this, especially given that the requirement for Country Clearance in the Moroccan context was unusual, and that we were originally (upon informal notification of the grant award) told that we would not need Country Clearance, but the formal documentation indicated that we would. We note that despite repeated indications of concern about our difficulty navigating the bureaucracy to have this request met, and repeated requests for guidance as to what level and department of the Moroccan government might provide this clearance, IDRC staff were unable to provide helpful guidance, templates or precedents of previous Country Clearance from Morocco-Canada projects. These would have been helpful in illustrating our need to Moroccan officials and could have substantially expedited the process, and prevented the negative outcomes we describe below. On December 18, 2015, in response to IDRC’s request that we explain the delay, we submitted a complete timeline to IDRC documenting our efforts to obtain Country Clearance.

Problems obtaining Country Clearance had a profound impact on this Project. Most significantly, a number of those judges and lawyers who had been interested in the project, recruited by our Moroccan partners, either moved to other jobs and positions in other regions or lost interest in it. Thus, we were required to recruit a second time. Relatedly, Moroccan civil society in the immediate post-Arab Spring time frame was very engaged in this issue. Our Proposal was conceived at a time when concerns about rising Islamism in government and a related threat to the security of women’s rights were high. The delays caused by the difficulty of obtaining Country Clearance meant that all of this momentum was lost, as in many ways the political moment had passed. Finally, all of the researchers involved had planned their involvement in and time commitment to this project based on complicated and busy research, teaching and administrative schedules. The timeline revision necessitated by Country Clearance delays compromised our ability to focus on this project and compromised other commitments.

The second challenge involved trying to involve judges. Indeed, we had identified the risk that we would be unable to secure judicial involvement as one of the risks of the project. We were aware that judges might be disinterested in the project, or tend to see the project’s genesis or content as politically risky or illegitimate. We hoped to address that risk by ensuring multi-sectoral participation in our project, including local judges, NGOs, and scholars, along with the Canadian National Judicial Institute, hoping that the project would take into account the perceived needs of the judges themselves and provides judges with peer support for their participation.

Indeed we were successful in recruiting a number of judges for the project, both in Canada and in Morocco. However, in addition to the Country Clearance delay problem, we came across an unexpected challenge: Judicial expectations about the standard for travel and accommodation proved impossible to meet on a budget built for academics, students and civil society organizations. In addition, when we pivoted to try to involve Canadian judges via online communication tools, these were both insufficiently secure for the comfort of judges and offered insufficient time for the development of a relationship of trust between the Canadian and Moroccan participants.

ix) Overall assessment and recommendations

Morocco faces significant challenges, social and economic, in the coming years. The outcomes of debates about the direction the country should take will be critical in terms of access to justice, education, health and other rights for Moroccan women. A commitment to legal approaches which value and guarantee the rights of women is under threat and has to be effectively defended even as those defenders struggle to meaningfully implement it. The complicated and fraught nature of the struggle should not be underestimated by those outside the country. Patriarchal power in Morocco will use all available means to reassert itself. Education is a key zone in this struggle, from elementary school, to universities and even to the education provided to some of the most powerful in the form of judicial education.

Our Study of the decisions actually being made under the 2004 Family Code suggests that starting a national discourse on whether judges require ongoing education about the legal reforms and the conditions of Moroccan women’s lives will be critical to ensuring the implementation of the hard won reforms and the spirit behind them. While there are also sensitivities around international cooperation, a collaborative approach with Canadians who are engaged not in questions about what Morocco and Moroccans should do, but in similar issues in the Canadian national context, could be a meaningful source of support, inputs, training and initiatives.

Study of Moroccan Judicial Decisions (Family Law)
1. Recommendation that the results of the study be disseminated as part of a discussion about whether judges are fulfilling their duty under the reformed Family Code.
2. Preparation of specific case studies for use in legal education and ongoing judicial training.
Database re: Judicial Education
1. Use the database to prompt a discussion about how to deliver social context educational content to Moroccan judges
2. Widen the discussion about judicial education to one that encompasses social context educational content for those in law schools as well.
3. Engage with those who set policy for the profession (e.g., qualifying examinations) as a method of changing the content of legal training and training for magistrates.
4. Use the results of the Study to illustrate the problem.
Canada/Morocco Collaboration
1. Engagement at the highest levels of the Moroccan judiciary and the Canadian judiciary, facilitated via the Moroccan judiciary and the NJI
2. Relationships built between Moroccan law professors and Canadian law professors specifically on the issue of women’s rights, law reform, and the culture and pedagogy in law schools, to consider curricular shifts and methods of pedagogy.

Gender, Law, Pedagogy: A Canada/Morocco Research Collaboration

Final Report

Study for Judicial Education for Family Law Professionals in Morocco

ii) Executive summary