Morocco Cracks Down on Child Exploitation in Begging, 142 Cases Processed

The processing of these cases, launched in December 2019, was made possible thanks to the cooperation between the structures in charge of protecting children against this phenomenon, explains the President of the Public Prosecution, specifying that it was decided to return the child to his family environment and admit him to a social care institution, if necessary.

In addition, in order to allow their schooling, the identity of some children was verified and they were registered in the civil status registers, in addition to coordination with the social assistance cells of the National Mutual Aid for supporting families. Specialized magistrates, social workers and judicial police officers (Security and Gendarmerie) were mobilized for this action based on an approach that combines the repression of the accused and the protection of the child victims.

The national action plan to combat this scourge calls for the intervention of multidisciplinary field teams in different regions, as well as monitoring and evaluation. It will be launched on an experimental basis in Rabat, Salé and Témara, before being extended in a second phase to major cities and different regions of the Kingdom, adds the same source.

The action plan includes nine axes, including the child’s journey in the protection system from his reporting by the judicial police, appropriate judicial protection, urgent medical, clinical and psychological care depending on the situation of each child. After that, he is reintegrated into his family, accompanied, and benefits from available social support programs, either through the Social Cohesion Support Fund or the Takaful Family Fund, or by being admitted to a social protection institution, if his interest requires it.