After the Covid, Inchallah. Investigating, lags and challenges of WPS (Women, Peace and Security) Agenda implementation in Morocco

This article aims at describing the main causes which contribute to explaining to what extent the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda does not represent a national priority for Moroccan decision makers and why the adoption of a National Action Plan (NAP) in 2022 has proceeded very slowly in the North African Kingdom. Constructed from a gender-based analysis of the Moroccan political context and drawn from 15 semi-structured interviews targeting Moroccan institutional actors, academics and civil society representatives, the study explores lags, challenges and opportunities for the WPS Agenda implementation in Morocco. Following up on new and critical approaches to the WPS agenda that expands its understanding, beyond the dichotomy of peace and security, the article brings out relevant strategic axes that the implementation of the WPS agenda could potentially imply in the country. In conclusion, the article explores the urgent need, expressed by several Moroccan scholars and activists, to reconsider the concepts of peace and security, by emancipating it from purely military issues and redirecting it to a more social and human oriented dimension. This is mainly relevant now since the COVID pandemic has made inequalities more visible and corrective measures to eliminate them more necessary, especially from a gender point of view.