Morocco’s commitment to the protection of refugee and displaced populations around the world was reiterated, on Tuesday in Geneva, on the occasion of the 78th meeting of the Standing Committee of the High Commissioner’s Program (UNHCR).
“Morocco, co-founder of the Platform on Disaster Displacement and currently co-chair of the Group of Friends of this platform, is committed to responding globally to displacements caused by the adverse effects of climate change and disasters,” said Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations office and international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Omar Zniber, in an address on behalf of the Kingdom.
In Africa, he went on, forced displacement has increased pressure on host communities and has impacted services like education, health, water and sanitation, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, stressing that the situation in the Sahel is alarming where conflicts and instability have been exacerbated by poverty, the lack of opportunities for devolution as well as the effects of climate change.
“We therefore call for a more predictable and fairer sharing of responsibilities in order to ease the pressure on the host countries, in accordance with the objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees,” he said.
He recalled the pragmatic and action-oriented initiative, launched by HM King Mohammed VI, to support efforts to fight the pandemic in Africa, explaining that this initiative led to dispatching medical aid and assistance to the African Union Commission as well as several African countries, belonging to all the sub-regions of the continent.
He also praised the interaction between the UNHCR, through its office in Rabat, and the Moroccan authorities, civil society actors and partners, “which has yielded positive results in terms of protection of refugee and asylum seekers, including full access to health and education, as well as vocational training, self-employment and access to the labor market.”
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