Morocco: Are car guards a disguised form of begging?

In Morocco, begging resists the passage of time. Moroccans who participated in the online citizen survey launched by the CESE through its digital platform "ouchariko" on the phenomenon state that the phenomenon "is not limited to beggars who hold out their hands, but also extends to people who wear vests, whose number exceeds that of parked cars." 72.27% of respondents consider car guarding as a disguised form of begging. Only 29.81% of participants believe that people who sell low-priced products or provide simple services such as selling paper tissues and car air fresheners, etc., also practice a form of begging.

According to more than 88% of the participants in the consultation, "begging is a lucrative activity that attracts many people." However, a large number of them mention "the difficulty of distinguishing between people who are truly in need and those who make begging a profession, or even a criminal activity."

What about the causes of begging? Half of the survey participants justify the practice by the lack of a social welfare system and public social policies. According to a third of the respondents, this phenomenon is also explained by the weakness of social cohesion ties such as family disintegration and the decline in solidarity.