Moroccan Consul Criticizes France’s Approach to Foreign Minor Delinquency

Delinquency in downtown Rennes increased by 30% this summer compared to the same period in 2019, the public prosecutor said. Unaccompanied minors and adults from the Maghreb would be the main perpetrators of these thefts and violence.

It is in this context that the deputy Florian Bachelier (LRM) had announced on August 25 to Le Télégramme that France is first concerned with the fundamental problem. "There are discussions between President Macron and the King of Morocco for a reception, training and care center to be created directly in the Kingdom and co-financed by France, in order to take care of them in their country," he said.

"Unaccompanied minors does not automatically mean Moroccan minors. There is stigmatization," retorts Najoua El Berrak, the Moroccan consul in Rennes, denouncing the fact that Morocco is constantly targeted for this problem. "In my consulate, I have 75,000 Moroccans registered. Scientists, professors... It’s frustrating to see that, despite all this gray matter, they only talk to me about a dozen people who are causing problems," she says exasperatedly.

And the parliamentarian continues: "the idea is absolutely not to stigmatize anyone. (...) There are lives at stake! The challenge is to find solutions so that in 2020, men do not traffic in the lives of other men."

It should be noted that the two countries had started discussions on the subject of building a center since 2018. With the pressure of the French President given the current context, the discussions have resumed. The new Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupont-Moretti, former lawyer of Mohammed VI, is the main person on the file with his colleagues from Justice and the Interior, the newspaper specified.