Migration in Morocco - an In-, Emigration and Transitcountry

Morocco, for many decades an emigration country, has changed in the last fifteen years to one of the most important transit countries for migrants on their way to Europe. With its special geographical situation Morocco is a political and economical tie between Africa and Europe. In the harbour of Tangier, one can look across The Street of Gibraltar until the south edge of Spain. Here, Africa and Europe are only 14 Kilometres apart from one another.

According to estimates of the year 2006 Morocco has about 33.241.000 citizens. According to official data, there are currently about 10.000 sub-Saharian migrants living in the country. At the same time, more than one million Moroccans are living in France: At a total there are about 2,5 million migrants of Moroccan descend living in Europe. Nationwide every second family has at least on family member living in Europe.

Each year several hundred subsaharian migrants cross Morocco on their way to Europe. They come from countries like Sierra Leone, Liberia or Cote D’Ivoire; Since the turn of the Century they come increasingly, among others, from Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan and Cameroon. Recent migrants from Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh pass Morocco on their way to Europe. Even though the majority of the migrants regard Morocco only as a transit country on their way to Europe, there is a crowing number of these migrants that find themselves stranded in Morocco, because they are unable to continue on their journey to Europe. Many of them live in cities like Casablanca and Rabat, but also in Tanger.

Treaty on the defence of „illegal“ migration between Morocco and the EU

Since the middle of the 1990’s, there are in regular consultations between the European Union and the Mediterranean buffer states regarding the defence against “illegal” migration. However for a long time, it didn’t make a great impact. Although - after an agreement from the year 2000 - Morocco took back his own citizens that have been intercepted without documents in Europe. But the transit migration issue was handled more or less careless.

Since the European Union intensified the cooperation with Morocco, the Morocon police toughened up against migrants. In November 2003 the government established a law on the entry and residence of foreigners into Moroccan territory. This law determines also the prosecution of citizens that host foreigners without residence permit or assist them on their transit.
In August 2006 government representatives of 30 European and 27 African countries introduced a plan against the “illegal” migration from Africa to Europe. The 62 issues enfolding plan will determine the introduction of efficient “repatriation systems” to all affected countries. To combat the causes of the emigration, Europe wants to contribute to the development in the African countries of origin. But the plan states no concrete financial backing. The EU guaranteed Morocco also further 67 million Euro for its campaign against immigrants. With this money, border control shall be tightened, police and judiciary better equipped.

Despite the efforts of the European Union to stop the illegal immigration from Morocco, migrants find consistently new ways and strategies to migrate to Europe.

On a research tour to the north and north east of Morocco, we wanted to get information about the changes on migration in Morocco. We were especially interested in the effects of a changed migration policy in the so called transit-places. Stops of the journey were the seaport of Tangier, the in the east of Morocco towards Algeria located border town Oujda and the capital Rabat.

Europe – at its closest: Tangier

From Tangier to Spain, Europe, the distance seems close enough to touch the other side - almost. From all viewpoints in town one sees the lights, the hills and during clear days even the white painted houses at the Spanish coast. During wintertime the town presents itself much more quite compared to the rest of the year. Locals and passengers do their business and take vacations from the ones visiting during vacation. Many of those living in town are in a waiting-position: waiting for the right moment, the chance to pass to Europe.

On days, when the ocean appears pretty calm, Tangier, as the place closest to Europe, seems to forthright invite the ones waiting for crossing to „there“. One does not need much effort to find the places where people hang out - waiting, e.g. the Café Hafa on top of the cliffs up-town. Here elder men work in the kitchen preparing the tee. The youngsters sit on the terrace. They smoke, drink tee, listen to music, and speak little. Sometimes tourists get lost here and enjoy the fantastic view across the Street of Gibraltar to Europe. The boys seem to be much more interested for the flight of the seagulls and are lost in their thoughts of how life might be in Europe.

The port and the square just in front of the newly re-constructed front side of the houses at the pier are much less idyllic. The bustle at this place is impressive and it seems as if there is no one waiting but to put on a lot of effort to let the dreams come true. Instead of seagull-watching, trucks are being checked for a possible hiding-place to travel with the ferries to Europe. A poll made at the beginning of this millennium by the organization AFVIC, the Moroccan association of friends and families of victims due to illegal immigration, says that 82 percent of Moroccan high school students want to go to Europe. Among the youngsters out of work even 94 percent want to leave. Of the un-employed 62 percent are ready to leave without a visa - to take their chance illegally. The wish for
ion becomes very clear at this point.

The potential migrants that arrived from Sub Sahara Africa into the country don't frequent the area, because it attracts attention. For the migrants from Sub Sahara Africa the conditions in Tangier are much more difficult then e.g. in Rabat. For them it's hardly possible to „plunge“ in town and find a job. For reasons of immediate controls and deportations they can't stay any longer at the nearby port, in contrast to the Moroccans or the ones that appear like Moroccans that want to leave. Due to controls and harassments the number of Sub Sahara Africans in Tangier itself is not very high. Everyone that is caught without papers will be deported to the Algerian border-area – to the no-mans-land near the border town of Oujda. Many of them walked back several times. This means a trek of more then 600 kilometres says Jeffrey, a Nigerian, who is waiting in Tangier for his chance to cross to Europe for more then two years. „The situation is bad“, he continues: „As a Sub Sahara African you find no job, only begging or temporary work are possible“.

About an hour drive from Tangier the camp Bel Younech is located in the woods surrounding Ceuta. Over several years migrants put up their places to sleep here and tried to jump the „Grillage“ into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. During an interview with Said, a member of Chabaka, a NGO in Tangier, which works together with the migrants from Bel Younech, we find out that the camp does not exist any longer. But a new camp sprung up in Tangier-Balia. At the moment there are about 50 migrants living there. Chabaka supports the transit-migrants by organizing flats, medical care, clothing and food and is one of those organizations that are hard to find in Tangier.

Deportations at the Algerian border: Oujda

Oujda, a town close to the Algerian border, has a bit more then half a million inhabitants and is basically known for its university. Since 1999, this city became a transit-destination for migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa after they pass the Algerian dessert. About 15 kilometres from the city is the border to Algeria. The border is officially closed since 1994. For some reason only the secret-service, traffickers and traders are free to pass.

To go to the border from town one needs a private driver or some good amount of cash for a Taxi. About five kilometres after the town is a checkpoint by the police, who is looking for drugs and any other goods that might move in either direction. At the border crossing itself there is a new restaurant with a huge terrace, a small store and a playground for little racing cars. On first sight one wonders why all this service goes on at a border crossing that is closed for more then ten years. But soon it becomes pretty clear that all the business men need some kind of office and recreation area.

On our way back we pass abandoned hotels, restaurants and some well-monitored mansions and again the check-point. We take a U-turn to pass again, while the officials are just about to catch a "little fish" for the statistics. After about 200 meters we turn into a country road and stop at a dead railway. Our companions tell us that the migrants walk along the railroad not to get lost on their way to Oujda from the Algerian frontier. On their way they get food and water from the farmers here and there. We walk along the railway some 100 meters. It is obvious that it would be very easy to get to Algeria without any control on this trek. Something not imaginable on the road only 200 meters away.

We spend two days in Oujda and meet with delegates from the Association Beni Znassen pour la Culture, le Développemment et la Solidarité – ABCDS and Père Joseph from Paroisse Sant Louis. These two organizations support the migrants for quite some time. They put up a red of facilitators in and around the town. Père Joseph, an elder nice man, opened his parish-hall for migrants, offers them shelter and time to recover.

Once in Oujda, the migrants usually go at the university-campus. They stay there until a chance for the continuation of journey opens up. The area at the university is well known among the migrants. About 50 to 100 migrants camp here year around.

However, during our visit the situation was completely different. On December 23rd, 2006, the Moroccan government started to deport migrants from Sub Saharan Africa. Since then more then 400, some weeks ago even up to 700, men stay at the campus: At the night from the 23rd to the 24th more then 400 men, women and children from Rabat, Lâayoune and Nador have been driven in busses to the Algerian border and the Moroccan Army forced them to cross. Some of the deported women who made their way back to Oujda found shelter at the parish-hall Paroisse Sant Louis. Among them were two pregnant women and three children ages six month to three years. Together with their mothers they have been forced well into the no-man's-land between Morocco and Algeria. Three women have been raped by the Moroccan Army in the night of Dec. 23rd to 24th , 2006. One has been pregnant in her fifth month and lost her child shortly after New Year. Another woman has been raped by the Algerian Army.

The other deported migrants stay at the campus. During our second evening, shortly before we leave for Rabat, we meet three Congolese, who live in the camp. The area is about two to three times as big as a soccer field. Right in the middle crosses a pass. On the right side some kitchen tents are put up. On the left side is a wall, about one and a half meters high and behind there the migrants put up their places to sleep as well as some small fireplaces. They have to stay outside and need to get along with only little sleeping backs and blankets, even so the temperature goes down to 0° in Oujda during this time of the year.

One of the the Congolese, Mangaley, studied physics and lives since 2004 with his wife and two little children in Rabat. In the night from the Dec. 23rd to 24th, 2006, he was at home in his kitchen, when the police run into his apartment. His wife and the kids slept in the other room and the police did not find them by mistake. Mangaley has been arrested. Mobil-phone, money and shoes have been taken away and together with other migrants they have been brought in busses to Oujda at the border.

Once in Oujda he and the others were brought to the border-area outside the checkpoints and have been forced to cross with shootings into the air. When they reached the other side the Algerian Army shoot in the air themselves, so they had to run back and forth several times. After some time they could hide in smaller groups. At night using the shelter of darkness the small group took their chance to get back to Qujda. Mangaley told us: „We walked more then seven or eight hours.“…It was cold, they had no jackets or real shoes, no to talk about food or drinking water. At 4am they reached the campus. The places, where migrants meet and organize their daily life, are general knowledge among these travellers. Some carry the addresses already with them during their long way from home. Mangaley and his two friends have papers from the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). These papers do not call any attention to the officials, as he stresses out. „I don't want to go further to Europe. I just want to live in Rabat. I just want to go back to Rabat to be with my family.“

The migrants are at the mercy of the authorities in Oujda. They are kept as „non-prisoners“ in a place, were they officially do not exist. The political responsible officials deny that Oujda is a transit-city. There are no migrants in town - is the official talk. That explains why such a thing like an inter-station at the university-campus, does exist in a way. NGO's like Médecine Sans Frontières and Red Crescent try to win the tough business they have to run for competition-reasons. At a meeting in Rabat the spokesperson of Médecine Sans Frontières announces that the migrants in Oujda are supplied well with tents and that enough facilitators are around, even though he knows better when we met him some days before in Oujda. On the other hand the Red Crescent got jackets for the migrants and was willing to pass them out under TV attendance. The municipality in Oujda refuses any permits to film and therefore the Red Crescent decided not to pass out any jackets. Organizations like the UNHCR just stays in Rabat and are hardly recognized locally.

The migrants live in a state of emergency in Oujda, because they live in a legal vacuum. Even so they are able to move around town relatively free as well as go begging downtown, they are unable to leave town in busses or trains due to heightened police attention. A voyage, a trek (as they call it), of about 650 to 750 kilometres to Rabat or Tangier is impossible to walk without shoes. Those who have papers from the UNHCR try to fight for their rights – a right they do not seem to have or that is been simply ignored.

Town of several NGO's: the Capital Rabat

Rabat is the Capital of Morocco, hosts the Government, administrativ departments as well as the University and is a mix of rich and poor housing areas. Like Tanger, Rabat is located at the Atlantic Ocean. The town is deeply religious and hosts many organization and NGO's. At the UNHCR migrants can be recognized as refugees, which in the case of the Sub Saharan Africans makes no difference. During a conversation with a Camerun, who lives in Morocco since spring 2005 we learn that deportations are nothing special but something that takes place regularly. We found this very surprising, because many of the NGO's are protesting this practice very vocal. His response - there are many NGO's that talk a lot.

He himself has no papers and so it seems best for him and his situation to make a living in Casablanca and Rabat. In Rabat live about 4.000 Black-Africans without papers, in Casablanca about 2.000. We ask what they are doing to make a living: „There is not much to gain, temporary jobs, begging, you know, the Moroccans themselves have no jobs, so for migrants it is even harder.“ But Caritas and an organization from the Protestant church offer projects for economic start-ups. These organizations offer each migrant a one-time amount of 500 Dirham (about 50 €) to start a small business. The migrants themselves established some support system in Rabat. The ones that are new in town can stay for free in the community and have some time to get situated. Then they have to find their own way.

Many migrants make their living in Rabat. They still try new ways to get to Europe, but come back into town again. The „doctor“, how our conversational partner is called, describes us the expectations of the families back home. About 100 € a month are enough to feed a family for four weeks and enable one or two children to go to school. He says that this kind of foreign aid is much more important then the official one. Another un-expected fact comes to this: Many of those who made it to Morocco or further, experienced so much during their voyage that they are unable to go back. They wait for their chance to pass to Europe and in the meantime built up a living in Morocco. They are the hope of Africa, as the "Doctor" says.

We meet with a member of Attac-Moroc. She stresses that the amount of migrants being deported to the Algerian borders lately is more then double the amount that is announced by the Moroccan Government. Attac-Moroc invited us and other delegates from the migrant community as well as the University to meet with Marcelle Mori and Louis Dey, Commissioners for civil society respectivly rights, migration and human rights of the European Union. They want to pass a petition related to the situation in Oujda as well as deportations. For an hour we have interested listeners that are willing to send a letter to Brussels. For any further opportunities they do not seem to be open, since these problems are certainly business of migrations politics of the European Union, but every action has to be authorized by the Moroccan authorities and it's souveranity.

Migration as part of society

The living-conditions for migrants vary in these transit-places. In a town like Rabat it is much easier to live relatively peacefully quite some time. More and more these transit-places become places, where migrants start to settle temporary and recover from their voyage. But in most cases migration is negated by official delegates and migrants move around almost invisible in the appearance of a town, e.g. in Tangier.

Places like Oujda are known as transit station since eight years by now. But since the deportations started again on December 23rd, 2006 the situation is disastrous. Improvement cannot mean to only have a better equipped camp, provisions and medical care. The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben is right when he points out the depoliticized effects of a human rights politic. This humanitarian help - separated from politics - as seen in the camps and temporary shelters repeats only the separation into citizen and migrant made by nations.

In regards to policy making related to the trans-migration in Morocco it becomes clear how responsibilities are shifted from one side to the other. Authorities from the Moroccan Government justify their handling of the trans-migrants with the political pressure by the European Union on Morocco. Delegates from the European Union admit the influence of EU policies on the Moroccan authorities regarding the migration politics. But at the same time they refer to the independence of another country with which they can't interfere. Many of the NGO's and international organisations, like the UNHCR, are used as a cover-up for the Moroccan Government, but have literally no influence on the incidents happening within the country. So to blow it hot and cold.

Once again during our talks and interviews we found that migration organizes itself in spite of tightening border controls - a shift of Europe's external borders to Morocco as well as a high repression against migrants. An enormous transfer of knowledge, practical support and self-organization is shown among the groups of migrants. Migrants are only numbers in the negotiation of borders. These borders are flexible and the rules can change at all times without prior notice. Migrants find new ways and strategies particularly against the current armament and reinforcement of the borders. The dream of Europe, the longing for a better live, passes, crosses and attacks the migration-regime. New escape routes are established, new ways of adopting to new circumstances occur – even though it sometimes endangers ones own life.

Franziska Frielinghaus and Gerda Heck
Translation: Eike Frielinghaus, Franziska Frielinghaus, Gerda Heck
January/July 2007