Aïcha Ech Chenna

Born in Casablanca in 1941, Aïcha Chenna is an emblematic figure of Moroccan activism for human rights and women’s rights.

After graduating as a nurse, she worked as a health and social education facilitator. In this context, Aïcha Chenna discovers the reality of single mothers and children born out of wedlock in Morocco.

As she was an orphan who lost her father, she gets moved by the women’s cause and that of abandoned children. To treat this situation, in 1985, she founds the Association Solidarité Féminine (ASF) that defends their rights. 

In 1996, Aïcha Chenna publishes  Miseria, a book collection that treats stories of victims, women who have been abused and raped or abandoned children. This book has affected the Moroccan public opinion.

Her courage and actions in favor of defending human rights have been awarded, internationally, several times. Aïcha Chenna receives the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic (1995), The Grand Atlas Prize (1998), the Medal of Honour from King Mohamed VI of Morocco (2000), The Prize Elisabeth Norgall (2005) and the consecration, with the Opus prize in 2009 delivered with a $1 million cheque.

In 2013, tha association Solidarité Féminine publishes a collection of testimonies by single mothers and their children, A Hautes Voix, subsequent to Miseria.