Morocco’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN and International Organizations in Geneva, Omar Zniber, outlined on Tuesday the national and diplomatic priorities guiding the Kingdom’s migration policy, emphasizing the central role of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in ensuring safe, dignified, and effective migration governance.
Speaking on behalf of Morocco during the general debate of the IOM’s 116th Council (December 8-10), the diplomat stressed that “migration is no longer a marginal phenomenon.” In 2025, more than 304 million people lived outside their country of birth, nearly one in 25 people worldwide. In this context, he underscored that the IOM remains “the international community’s main collective instrument to ensure that human mobility is governed, safe, dignified, and beneficial for all.”
Zniber noted that Morocco’s action is built on three main pillars: significantly expanding legal pathways for migration, fully integrating the climate factor into migration policies, and promoting a fact-based, truthful narrative on migration.
Addressing the first pillar, he noted that organizing mobility helps reduce human risks and the influence of criminal networks while supporting diaspora remittances, which exceed 860 billion dollars annually and directly contribute to education, health, and local development.
On the climate factor, he highlighted how Morocco draws on its experience in adaptation and renewable energy to anticipate climate-related mobility and protect vulnerable populations, making climate prevention a true imperative of international solidarity.
With regard to a positive and factual narrative on migration, the ambassador noted that migration contributes roughly 4% of global GDP and helps offset demographic aging. A “positive strategic narrative,” he said, makes it possible to recognize migrants for who they truly are: rights-holders, contributors, and human beings driven by legitimate hopes and needs. “Such a narrative values facts rather than fear.”
These priorities stem from a simple conviction: “preserving the mandate, neutrality, and integrity of the IOM is a shared responsibility.” “Strengthening the IOM is not an institutional luxury; it is the minimum technical requirement for credible migration governance and for effective cooperation among countries of origin, transit, and destination,” Zniber noted.
Morocco, he added, also reaffirms the importance of consolidating the achievements of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, adopted in Marrakech.
For her part, IOM Director General Amy Pope said she “deeply appreciates” Morocco’s commitment to labor mobility policies and to creating pathways for students, particularly those choosing the Kingdom as a destination.
Recalling her recent visit to Morocco, which coincided with the national under-20 team’s historic victory in the World Cup final, Pope said she had “the great privilege of witnessing that truly historic moment.”
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