Morocco Urged to Update Immigration Laws Amid Surge in Irregular Migration

Morocco remains both a transit, host, and leading country on the African continent in terms of illegal immigration. A position that subjects it to many difficulties like those recorded a few days ago where thousands of sub-Saharan migrants forced the passage at the level of Nador, reports Medias24.

For Mehdi Alioua, president of the anti-racist group for the defense and support of foreigners and migrants (GADEM) and Nadia Khrouz, university professor and expert in migration issues, strengthening Morocco’s legal arsenal could help it be effective in the fight against the incessant flows of illegal migrants, for whom Morocco is a point of passage to Europe.

For the two experts, it is important to try to distinguish among the migrants those who want to go to Europe at all costs and those who plan to regularize their situation in order to settle in Morocco. They noted that the fact that King Mohammed VI launched massive regularizations in 2014 has helped "limit attempts to cross," according to Mehdi Alioua. For him, the adoption of the asylum law is absolutely necessary to make the task easier for asylum seekers, and thus help reduce the number of migrants trying to force their way through the Moroccan borders in order to end up in Europe.

For her part, Nadia Khrouz, professor of political science at Mohammed V University in Rabat and expert in migration issues, points out that in "terms of the right to asylum, there is a decree dating back to 1957, but it remains insufficient. There is also a draft law pending since the launch of the new immigration and asylum policy".

It must be said that Morocco has also ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in 1993, even if they are in an irregular situation. For the academic, this convention is "precious" in the sense that "it takes up all the fundamental rights of migrant workers, regardless of their administrative situation, and integrates a part of those in a regular situation". It is now up to Morocco to bring its legal framework into line with the international conventions to which it has committed itself.