To get anyone’s attention in this world of information overload and 24-hour news cycles, sometimes you need to get a little dramatic. Indeed, human rights organizations are finding that highly visual (and often shocking) campaigns are more likely to get the public’s attention than more conventional efforts. And this is exactly what Human Rights Watch recently did to shine a spotlight on the issue of violence against women—and specifically domestic violence—in Morocco.
In this HRW video, Moroccan comedian and feminist activist Mounia Magueri plays the role of a domestic violence survivor, an abusive husband, a police officer, and a prosecutor and highlights the problem of domestic violence from different angles.
In 2009-10 a national survey found that 62.8% of women aged 18 to 65 had experienced some form of physical, psychological, sexual or economic violence. Because Morocco is a highly devout country, the debate amongst human rights elites on women’s rights has often been highly polarized, pitting religious against secular, even though polls suggest that among ordinary people the issue is far more nuanced. This is a promising sign, because as many rights activists know, getting public buy-in on a controversial issue is often all about the framing.
