Due to the continued unjustified rejection for Moroccans’ visa applications to the Schengen space, the Moroccan Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (MCHRO) has sent a letter to the European Union mission denouncing the “discriminatory behavior” adopted by some European consulates.
The CMODH said it has received a number of complaints confirming a significant and sudden reduction in the visa quotas by some European consulates, including the absence or delay in responding to applications and the lack of transparency in the reasons for refusal when the files meet all the requirements.
“This discriminatory behavior has caused great indignation among observers and human rights activists, especially since this act is a violation of the right to mobility as stipulated in international conventions and agreements,” said the alliance.
In addition, the coalition stresses that its components have “obtained several data demonstrating the discriminatory aspect” of these European diplomatic missions in Morocco towards visa applicants.
“It has been confirmed that this systematic campaign was launched in a unified period of time and adopted the same tactics to reject applications, while reiterating the same justifications in its response and doing everything necessary to avoid hearing the protesting voices.”
These consulates, says the MCHRO, “have ignored the calls and movements of human rights organizations in this regard, including the initiatives launched by the Moroccan League for the Defense of Human Rights and the Moroccan Association for Human Rights.”
These two organizations members of the coalition have corresponded with various embassies and international institutions concerned with guaranteeing and preserving the right to mobilize, noting that their initiatives have resulted in a demonstration organized by the Moroccan Association of Human Rights in front of the headquarters of the European Union delegation in Rabat.
To this end, the Moroccan Coalition has decided to address a memorandum to the mission of the European Union.
The correspondence, which was presented at a symposium held this Thursday, “came after exhausting all efforts to communicate and plead before a number of European consulates, and after the latter persisted in its abusive and degrading actions towards Moroccan citizens seeking visas to enter the territory of the European Union, which have intensified in recent times.”
“Our correspondence and protests have not received the care and attention necessary,” lamented the alliance during the presentation of the letter, adding that “the ambassador of the European Union had demonstrated through her response on December 24, 2022, that she is satisfied with the work of European consulates in Morocco,” despite the flagrant violation of the content of international laws on human rights.
“We, the Moroccan Coalition of Human Rights Organizations, will not let this opportunity pass without calling on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to urgently intervene in order to respect the rights of Moroccan citizens to obtain a visa to enter European soil, and to put an end to all the harassment and abuses to which they are subjected,” announced the coalition members.
back in September 2021, Paris announced that it would reduce the number of visas granted to Algerian and Moroccan citizens by 50% and to Tunisians by 30%, due to the “refusal” of these three Maghreb countries to return their citizens who are in an irregular situation.
Although France normalized visa procedures with Tunisia later last year, and despite popular demands for urgent intervention to solve Moroccans’ restriction, yet has to change for the thousands of Moroccan applicants.
Today, France is not alone, as more and more European countries started unofficially downsizing their visa quotas for Moroccans.
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