On Monday afternoon at the House of Representatives in Rabat, Minister of Employment and Vocational Training Mohamed Yatim stuck to his guns when answering questions related to Moroccan women working in strawberry farms in Huelva, Spain. «I have never said that there were no cases reported», said the Justice and Development Minister during a weekly oral session held today in the parliament, when asked about the alleged sexual abuses these women claim being subjected to. However, on May 18, a communiqué issued by his department stressed that none of the «women working in Huelva's farms has reported sexual harassment to the authorities». The press release was made public after a delegation was sent by the minister to southern Spain to check the conditions in which Moroccan women work. The measure came as an investigation revealed that several women in Huelva's strawberry farms, said they were raped, sexually abused, harassed, blackmailed and mistreated. For now, 13 Moroccan women in Huelva reported to the Spanish authorities sexual and labor abuses, lodging complaints against their managers in the fields.
