MOROCCO: Moroccans who secretly converted to Christianity are demanding the right to practice their faith openly in a country where Islam is the state religion and “apostasy” is condemned.
At an apartment in a working-class part of the southern town of Agadir, Mustapha listened to hymns emanating from a hi-fi under a silver crucifix hung on the wall.
The 46-year-old civil servant, son of an expert on Islamic law from nearby Taroudant, was once an active member of the banned but tolerated Islamist Charity and Justice movement.
He said he converted in 1994 to “fill a spiritual void.”
“I was tired of the contradictions in Islam,” said Mustapha.
“I became interested in Christianity through a long correspondence with a religious center in Spain in the late 1980s.”
He went on to qualify as a Protestant pastor and received a certificate from the United States after taking a correspondence course.
Mustapha kept his faith secret for two decades, but a year and a half ago he published a video online in which he spoke openly about his conversion. The reaction was immediate.
“Family and close friends turned their backs on me, I was shunned at work. My children were bullied at school,” he said.
Converts to Christianity form a tiny minority of Moroccans. While no official statistics exist, the American State Department estimates their numbers at between 2,000 and 6,000.
Over the Easter weekend, Mustapha and a dozen fellow converts met for an “afternoon of prayers” in the living room of Rachid, who like Mustapha did not wish to give his full name.
Rachid, who hails from a family of Sufis — a mystical trend of Islam — embraced Christianity in 2004 and eventually became a Protestant pastor.
A father of two, Rachid said he became interested in Christianity when he was a teenager after listening to a program broadcast by a Paris-based radio station.
He researched Christianity at a cyber-cafe, contacted a specialized website and they sent him a copy of the Bible.
“I read the entire thing, studied the word of God, took courses,” he said. “At the age of 24, I was baptised in a Casablanca apartment.”
In April, Mustapha, Rachid and other Moroccan converts submitted a request to the official National Council of Human Rights (CNDH) calling for “an end to persecution” against them.
“We demand the right to give our children Christian names, to pray in churches, to be buried in Christian cemeteries and to marry according to our religion,” Mustapha said.
Islam is the state faith of Morocco but the country’s 2011 constitution, drafted after it was rocked by Arab Spring-inspired demonstrations, guarantees freedom of religion.
Foreign Christians and the country’s tiny Jewish community — of about 2,500 people — practice their faiths openly.
Moroccan authorities boast of promoting religious tolerance and a “moderate” form of Islam, and the country’s penal code does not explicitly prohibit apostasy — the act of rejecting Islam or any of its main tenets.
But in Morocco proselytising is punishable by law and anyone found guilty of “attempting to undermine the faith of a Muslim or convert him to another religion” can be jailed for up to three years.
“The subject is ultra-sensitive because it relates to the history of colonization and to the idea that Christianity constitutes a danger to the unity of Morocco,” a sociologist of religion told AFP.
But Rachid said the lines are shifting.
“The arrests have almost stopped, which is a big step,” he said. “Harassment has become scarce.”
Rachid, who says “I am Moroccan before being Christian, practices his faith openly and lives a normal life in a working-class district of Agadir alongside his Muslim neighbors.
Most Moroccans who have converted to Christianity live in Agadir and the central city of Marrakesh, and the majority have said they are Protestants.
With the exception of local Jews, Moroccans are automatically considered Muslims and King Mohamed VI holds the official title of Commander of the Faithful.
Mustapha said the 2011 constitution and actions by the king “in favor of tolerance and coexistence” have helped bolster human rights in Morocco.
But “the penal code, political parties and society have not followed suit,” he said.
Morocco’s Christian converts emerge from the shadows
Morocco’s Christian converts emerge from the shadows
Pakistan launches first skills impact bond to fund training with private capital
- New $3.57 million pilot ties investor returns to job placement and retention outcomes
- The program aims to upskill youth at scale, with 40 percent of trainees targeted to be women
KARACHI: Pakistan on Tuesday launched its first-ever Pakistan Skills Impact Bond (PSIB), a private-capital-funded instrument aimed at financing technical training by linking investor repayments to measurable employment outcomes, as the government seeks new ways to upskill its rapidly growing workforce without relying solely on public spending.
The Rs 1 billion ($3.57 million) pilot tranche, backed by a government guarantee, is part of a three-year program designed to fund skills training through an outcome-based model, under which investors are repaid only if trainees achieve results such as certification, job placement and at least six months of employment retention.
Social impact bonds are a form of results-based financing in which private investors provide upfront capital for social programs, while governments or donors repay them only if agreed performance targets are met. Pakistan’s skills bond is intended to shift training finance away from traditional input-based budgets toward a market-oriented approach that rewards verified outcomes and crowds in private investment.
“Speaking at the event, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, underscored the transformational importance of the PSIB in Pakistan’s broader economic reform agenda and human capital strategy,” the finance division said in a statement. “He described the day as ‘an important moment focused on education and training,’ reiterating that Pakistan’s demographic dividend can only be realized if the country succeeds in upskilling and reskilling its youth at scale.”
The program is anchored in collaboration with the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) and is expected to evolve over time, with later tranches potentially linking repayments to a small share of trainees’ future earnings, a move officials say could help make the model financially self-sustaining.
The bond forms part of a broader government push to adopt social impact financing across priority areas including education, gender equality, health, climate resilience and poverty reduction, the statement said.
“Highlighting gender inclusion as central to the program design, the Finance Minister welcomed the recommendation led by the British Asian Trust that 40 percent of trainees under the PSIB be women, acknowledging that women’s participation and leadership in the workforce will play a decisive role in shaping Pakistan’s economic trajectory,” it added.
The Ministry of Finance has provided the initial guarantee to help establish credibility and attract investors, but has stressed the support is limited to the pilot phase.
The government has noted the model is intended to support Pakistan’s large youth population by aligning training with labor market demand, including high-value digital skills, while reducing long-term pressure on public finances.
The launch ceremony was attended by senior government officials, development partners, private sector representatives and international organizations involved in structuring and financing the bond.
