Najat Anwar, president of anti-peadophilia association: Casablanca – Raja Battaoui In an exclusive interview with Arabstoday, Najat Anwar, president of anti-peadophilia association\"Matkeesh waladi\" (Don\'t touch my son) was eager to express her opinion and ready to expose these immoral practices to protect Moroccan childhood from the hands of the abusers. AT: \"Matkeesh waladi\" (Do not touch my son) association recently  organised  a protest in front of the Court of Appeal, in which doctors, engineers among others took part. What was the reason of this protest?
N.A: The demonstration was a reaction to the rape of \"M. Q\" (his identity remained unknown for obvious reasons). Civil and community groups participated in it, to raise awareness about this plague that affects the community. \"Matkeesh waladi\" association became the prosecuting party in this case to take down the offenders and impose the most severe penalties, to be an example to other evil peadophiles.
AT: How do you explain multiple cases of children rape in recent years?
NA: Rape of children in Morocco has been and continues to be a fact impossible to hide or ignore. The association has already mentioned in its reports and statements the reasons behind the expansion of this phenomenon. The association linked the reason with the crises of the Moroccan society and the growth of some bad behaviours that began to come out, and the decay of moral values ??that receded in the culture of consumption and saturation. However, Moroccan society has move beyond the silence and the fear of scandal. The credit goes to media, which played a key role in raising awareness, and encouraged the rest of the victims to reveal the hidden facts, and expose the hidden facts that families were afraid to talk about it.
AT: In your opinion, what are the characteristics of a rapist?
N.A: Throughout the years that we spent in \"Matkeesh waladi\" association, we have learned that children rapist do not have social or cultural identity, in the sense that cases of minors exploitation, the villain can be a businessman or just a laborer, and can be committed behind the walls of schools, and can also be committed in the workshops. This phenomenon cannot be limited and everyone becomes a suspect.
AT: \"Matkeesh waladi\" association program that warns from cases of rape, does it replace the role of the victims’ families of or it works in coordination with them?
N.A: Our association supports the victims and provides psychological care, and try to integrate them and work on their cases under the supervision of psychiatrists and legal assistants; their goal is to support the victims in the courts. Helping families remains essential, and parents must be able to cope with the crisis and help the child to overcome his experience, by providing medical and psychological and social care and ensuring that this does not lead them into social phobia.
AT: Do you think that the prosecution and the legal approach is sufficient to achieve deterrence and reduce sexual assaults against children?
N.A: The goal of our association is to totally eliminate the phenomenon of the exploitation of children, and dismantle the isolation of the victims and break down the wall of silence and expose the prostitution of minors. Just talking in Morocco today about these issues openly in itself constitutes a quantum leap, but an insufficient step. We were and we still aspire to align national law with international laws and agreements.