Morocco Denies Travel Restrictions on Civil Servants, Clarifies Border Policy

Socialist MP Hayat Laraichi sent a written question to the minister on this subject. In her question, she specified that "the border police at several airports continue to require administrative certificates from civil servants wishing to travel abroad, knowing that the law on the civil service does not contain this provision. This provision only concerns civil servants carrying service weapons." The MP asked Abdelouafi Laftit to take appropriate measures to prevent this procedure from occurring, in accordance with Article 24 of the Constitution, which guarantees everyone freedom of movement, residence within the national territory, to leave the country and to return to it.

In response, the minister specified that only civil servants carrying service weapons are required to present an authorization to the border police to leave the national territory, reports the Arabic-language daily Al Akhbar. "The authorization to leave the national territory only concerns civil servants registered in the category of weapon carriers (National Security, FAR, Customs, Water and Forests, etc.), in accordance with the legal provisions requiring the obtaining of an authorization from their respective administrations," he stressed. And to add: "As a result, the control to which non-weapon-bearing civil servants are subjected at the various border centers of the kingdom is limited to verifying that they do not belong to the category of civil servants who must provide an administrative certificate to leave the national territory."