Morocco Tightens Control on Ramadan Charity Campaigns to Prevent Political Exploitation

In order to prevent the arbitrary exploitation of the solidarity campaigns organized across the country, the Ministry of the Interior has imposed a visa on all charitable operations carried out during Ramadan.

According to the newspaper Al Massae, all associations will henceforth have to justify to the authorities the nature of their activities and their sources of funding, in order to avoid using these "iftar tables" for electoral purposes.

These new measures could trigger negative reactions from some elected officials who are used to meeting the needs of the needy for electoral purposes, adds the same source.

The collection of donations and philanthropic actions, which usually take place in places of worship or other public spaces, will now be subject to the visa of the authorities and must be the subject of a request made by organizations recognized by the State. Authorization requests must be filed with the governor or wali of the region 15 days before the date of the campaign, in exchange for a receipt.