European Union and Morocco launch a renewed migration partnership

As part of the regular political dialogue between Morocco and the European Union, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, and the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, met the Moroccan Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit this Friday in Rabat.

While highlighting the successful results of their cooperation based on shared responsibility in the field of migration, they agreed to renew their partnership to face “the networks of human trafficking,” said a joint statement issued after the meeting.

Both parties denounced the actions of these gangs, their accomplices and all those who help them.

The Commissioner and the Ministers deplore all the deaths of people trying to emigrate irregularly, including those that occurred during the recent events of 24 June.

These events, in addition to their tragic human dimension, demonstrate the extreme danger and violence of human trafficking networks that are willing to take all risks, underlines the joint statement, noting that investigations are ongoing to clarify the aspects related to these events.

At the same time, the European Commissioner and the two Ministers welcomed the fact-finding mission carried out by the National Council for Human Rights of Morocco to establish the facts, respect for fundamental rights being a value shared by Morocco and the European Union, the same source said.

The new operational partnership in the fight against human trafficking between the Commission and Morocco could cover support for border management, strengthening police cooperation, including joint investigations, raising awareness of the dangers of irregular migration, as well as strengthening cooperation with the European Union agencies responsible for home affairs, it explains.

The joint statement said that Morocco is a strategic and committed partner of the European Union with which the partnership in migration matters goes back several years, noting that the National Strategy for Immigration and Asylum (SNIA) is now a model of migration management of the most advanced, both in legislative and institutional terms, which has regularized the administrative situation of several thousand migrants and integrate them into Moroccan society.

Morocco is also one of the founding states of the Rabat Process and King Mohammed VI is designated by his fellow African Heads of State as the leader of the African continent in migration issues, the source added.

The operational efforts of Morocco prevent tens of thousands of irregular departures to Europe with a significant number rescued at sea, recalls the statement, noting that the Kingdom has also proceeded, during the same period, to the dismantling of a hundred criminal networks of human trafficking.

Under the new pact on migration and asylum, the Commission is developing partnerships on migration with countries of origin, transit and destination to fight against trafficking networks, but also to address the root causes of migration and improve opportunities for legal migration, so that people do not feel the need to risk their lives on dangerous journeys, concludes the joint statement.