No land without sex
A young woman is told she can only benefit from a land redistribution scheme if she provides sexual favours to the Moroccan official administrating it.
This is one of a collection of seven short stories from inside the Moroccan Occupied Territory. These are ordinary Sahrawi people who responded to Konstantina Isidoros’ request for every-day examples of the difficulty of living under an occupying power. She has retained their anonymity.
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A young Sahrawi woman is 26 years old and married with two children. Her husband works in the fishing sector and has an income of approximately $41.70 a day. Her economic condition is barely stable.
One day she went after hearing news of redistribution of plots of land, she hoped to benefit because she belonged to the same district. One day she went to speak with the administration. She met someone who was responsible for her administratively, a Moroccan citizen working as a leader of the province to which she belongs.
During the conversation with him about her economic situation and the extent of their need for plots of land in order to build a house instead of renting, he assured her that nothing would be found unless he was able to find plots of land for her in exchange for her satisfying his sexual desire.
When she felt the shock and shouted out against him, he sent for the police to expel her from the place on the grounds that she had tried to rob him. They hit her and then expelled her from the place.
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NOTES
The following videos provide insights into the Sahrawi fishing industry, in which this woman’s husband works:
* Fishermen in Boujdour strike in protest against Morrocan authorities (August 2011)
* Aminatou Haidar gives an interview about Morocco’s illegal selling of fishing rights to the EU, which has knock on effects on local Sahrawi fishermen.
* Norwegian campaign group video on fishing industry.