Irregular migrants quest for the “European dream” is becoming more perilous with time, finds a recent report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The UN body warned of the “lack of protection services for refugees and migrants who take dangerous journeys” through routes from countries of origin in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa to North Africa, to later venture into the Mediterranean.
The repor traced the transit routes and map of migrants and refugees from sub-Saharan Africa, to the Atlantic coast in the direction of the Canary Islands, or towards the northern shores of the Mediterranean through transit or temporary stability countries, namely Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.
While it covers twelve countries on the African continent, the UNHCR identified protection services available to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers traveling along these routes, considering that Morocco is “the main transit or residence country for people in a situation of movement.”
The map and data of the UN Refugee Agency show that migrants or refugees are heavily concentrated in the Moroccan cities of Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh, as well as Tangiers, Asilah and Tetouan in the north.
Migrants are also present in other Moroccan cities such as Fez, Meknes, Oujda and Nador in the northeastern and central regions of the Kingdom, not far from the border with Algeria.
“While people on the move try to migrate and/or seek asylum, some of them face forms of exploitation, physical violence and trafficking,” the report says, noting that, in Morocco, “most of the victims of these violations are women and children.”
Although the Kingdom has had a strict legal arsenal against human trafficking since 2016, the report recorded the persistence of gaps and loopholes with regard to “identification, access to care and sustainable solutions for victims of human trafficking.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that “migrants are subjected to repeated practices of sexual assault, gender-based violence, kidnapping for ransom, as well as many forms of physical and psychological abuse and torture,” noting that “some victims were left to their fate to die in the desert.”
The report draws the attention of actors in the field of migration and refugees to the extent of “the gaps in the protection services currently provided, especially in the issues of housing, access to justice and identifying survivors, as well as the response to gender-based violence, trafficking and unaccompanied or separated children.”
Through this mapping of migration and asylum routes in the Mediterranean, the Sahel and Sahara, the UNHCR aims to raise demands for improved “protection services, including those across borders,” drawing attention to areas where additional means are needed to fill gaps in existing services.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.