Moroccan Parliament Rejects EU Resolution on Migration, Citing Inaccuracies

Challenging the information put forward on irregular immigration and especially the case of unaccompanied minors, the chamber of the Moroccan parliament stated that Morocco’s record in the fight against irregular immigration is known and recognized with figures to back it up.

On the thorny issue of unaccompanied migrant minors, the Bureau of the House of Representatives does not compromise and makes it known that the European Parliament is positioning itself against the unanimous recognition of Morocco’s status and its role in migration cooperation.

"No UN agency (UNICEF, IOM, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights...), nor independent rapporteur, has spoken out on the issue of Moroccan minors or on any violation of the kingdom’s international commitments," the Moroccan parliamentary body said in the statement.

"On the contrary, the European Commission and the European External Action Service have widely welcomed the decisions taken by the Moroccan authorities to repatriate duly identified Moroccan minors," it recalled in this regard, stressing Morocco’s key role in migration cooperation.

"Since 2017, migration cooperation has made it possible to abort more than 14,000 irregular migration attempts, dismantle 5,000 trafficking networks and prevent countless attempts to storm the city of Ceuta," the House of Representatives said, noting that Morocco has always placed the immigration issue at the top of its priorities in its cooperation with several EU member states concerned, by requesting its resolution as early as 2018, the statement recalls.

The same source refers to the instructions of King Mohammed VI on this subject, noting that all the diligence made on the Moroccan side has been annihilated by the complexity of the procedures at the level of the European countries concerned. Regarding the reference in the text of the resolution to the city of Ceuta, the Bureau of the House of Representatives and the Chairpersons of the groups and the parliamentary group reiterate the legal status of "this occupied Moroccan city".