Sub-Saharan Migrants Face Crisis in Morocco Amid COVID-19 Lockdown

In a context marked by a health crisis like the one Morocco is currently going through, it is unacceptable that these sub-Saharan African migrants, "homeless and unemployed, dragging women and children," do not meet the minimum conditions to live in the country, according to the standards imposed by the state of emergency, declares the association which stresses that "the successive calls of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees insist that attention be paid to this segment of the population". For these organizations, "the epidemic could only be brought under control if there is a way to protect all rights to life and health, without discrimination, including for irregular migrants and refugees," reports Hespress.

This is why the local representatives of the AMDH call on the competent public authorities to intervene "immediately" and "urgently" to put an end to the suffering of sub-Saharan African migrants in Marrakech. It is a question of allowing them "to take shelter in a safe place, to be fed decently, and to subject them to confinement, while monitoring their state of health, under conditions that preserve their human dignity and their fundamental right to live in safety".

The urgency according to the AMDH, is to "preserve their safety and protection against the pandemic, to make their right to benefit from public health services, including covid-19 protection, and to integrate them into all social protection and health care regimes".