New network established to protect the human rights of Sub-Saharan refugees and migrants in Morocco

In a meeting organised by the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) and ECRE member CEAR, it was agreed that a network of Moroccan organisations will be created in order to protect the rights of sub-Saharan immigrants and refugees currently living in Morocco.

Said Tbel, from AMDH, told ECRE that the network aims at putting pressure on the government to establish a national asylum system, and to recognise the 850 persons who UNHCR has declared to be refugees. Currently refugees recognised by UNHCR are not allowed to work and do not have a residence permit. Furthermore, the organisations are also calling on the government to grant protection to Syrians.

The establishment of the network also responds to serious concerns regarding the violation of asylum seekers’ and migrants’ human rights by Moroccan authorities that have been frequently reported. A report by Doctors without Borders shows that sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco live in precarious conditions and with the constant fear of being detained or deported.

CEAR has claimed that the recent arrivals of hundreds of migrants in Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish cities in the coast of Morocco, are motivated by the violation of their human rights by the Moroccan authorities. Estrella Galán, CEAR’s Secretary General, said that the recent assaults against the fence of Melilla were desperate actions of people who have been in Morocco for months in deplorable conditions and facing severe repression.