Alarming Rise in Missing Moroccan Migrants in Spain Sparks Trafficking Concerns

The Association of Human Rights of the Great Rif, based in Nador, has requested the intervention of the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs "in order to follow up the case of the disappearance of Moroccans in Spain and in all countries of the world" through embassies and consulates. By the end of October, 2,423 Moroccans, including hundreds of minors, had gone missing in Spain, the NGO says, suspecting that "human organ trafficking networks" are behind the many disappearances of Moroccan migrants.

"These are punctual and voluntary disappearances of young people who leave the center for minors and then return," says the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, rejecting the hypothesis of organ trafficking or child trafficking. "The vast majority are minors who escape from the center and, although they return later, they must logically file a complaint, and this increases the statistics of missing persons," confirm agents stationed in the minor centers in Ceuta and Melilla to El Español.

The Andalusian ombudsman, Jesús Maeztu, who has been denouncing for about ten years that the autonomous community is a migration route to Europe for migrants, especially minors and women, does not subscribe to the hypothesis of the existence of criminal organizations dedicated to organ trafficking or child trafficking. Faced with the increase in cases of disappearance in the peninsula, the Ministry of the Interior launched the National Center for Missing Persons in 2018, which records and analyzes data in order to provide viable solutions to the problem.

In its strategic plan on missing persons (2022-2024), the Ministry of the Interior has planned actions to "promote prevention activities and raise awareness among citizens". In 2021, 2,856 Moroccans, including 2,317 minors, went missing in Spain.