1 Introduction
Since the beginning of the reign of Mohammed vi, in 1999, Morocco has implemented a new foreign policy in Africa. Historically identified as an Arab and Muslim country, Morocco now wishes to be recognised as an African power,
From the Moroccan point of view, the development of a new welcoming approach to the governance of migration became inevitable from the 2010s onwards, as the country’s desire to deepen its regional integration in Africa became apparent. Usually known as a land of emigration (14 per cent of the population live abroad),1 Morocco has become not only a corridor to Europe, but more importantly a destination for African migrants. The proportion of migrants settling in Morocco for a medium or long period of time has increased sharply in the last fifteen years, making the country a real junction of migration. In order to strengthen its image in Africa, Morocco has formulated a new migration policy, advocating ‘a humanitarian approach in conformity with our country’s international commitments and respectful of immigrants’ rights’ (Maroc.Ma, 2013).2 The Ministry in Charge of Moroccans Living Abroad, part of the broader Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, has had, since 2013, an extended mandate including incoming migration as well. Before this date, only the Moroccan diaspora was taken into account in the migration policy. Since 2013, there has been a new strategy dedicated to inward migration. Between 2013 and 2015, this Ministry proceeded with the implementation of massive regularisation policies in record time. The new migration policy is based on an innovative discursive framework, which proposes a very different approach from that of Europe, in that it is intended both to be desecuritising and to promote a positive outlook on
Nevertheless, in practice, Morocco faces many obstacles. The first stems from the pressure exerted by the EU attempting to externalise control of migration across its borders (El-Qadim, 2015) and the integration by the Moroccan security apparatus of normative security reflexes (Jimenez-Alvarez, Espiñeira and Gazzotti, 2020). The second relates to the governmentality of integration and inclusiveness, which, like other Moroccan public policies, shows many structural weaknesses (Lowe et al., 2020). The third is linked to the reticence marking part of public opinion, which sometimes negatively stigmatises migration in the media (Bahmad, 2015; El Miri, 2018). These three dimensions also have effects on each other.
However, for the past ten years, the emerging tension of these obstacles has led many institutions and civil society organisations (csos) to support the government’s efforts by publishing studies and surveys that show the positive dimension of migration (including positive integration, positive stigmatisation, positive effects on social mix and economic development) (Hamdouch and Mghari, 2014). Also, thanks to its recent integration into the system of African multilateral governance, Morocco was designated ‘African Champion of Migration’ by the AU in 2018, positioning the country as a model and calling on Morocco to actively participate in the improvement of continental migration governance (AU, n.d.). Morocco has thus put itself in a position where it is pushed to improve its public policies.
In pursuit of such improvement, the government has participated in the creation of the African Migration Observatory. Based in Rabat since 2020 under the aegis of the AU, this observatory aims to produce quantitative and qualitative data on migration within Africa to better understand this phenomenon and to combat preconceived ideas. The observatory also aims to provide the continent with a unified source of data and to support existing initiatives across the continent to strengthen pan-African cooperation on the matter (AU, 2020). It is too soon to comment on the role that the observatory plays, but it is important to mention it in order for the reader to pay attention to its development in future years.
First, I show how Morocco is a case study worthy of interest since it constitutes a new migratory junction on an African scale. Secondly, I analyse the way in which the official Moroccan discourse on the development of the continent and the policies that accompany it carry a desecuritising and positive representation of migration. Then, I show how there is a close correlation
2 Morocco: A Growing Migration Junction
A ‘migration junction’ is a place that exists at the crossroads of migration pathways. Naik and Randolph (2018, 3) define migration junctions as ‘geographies where migration is especially influential in shaping present and future outcomes and where policymakers are likely to confront particular migration-related challenges and opportunities’. Morocco is a migration junction because its stands at the geographic crossroads of Europe and Africa and serves as a migratory gateway between the two continents. It is an important part of a transit route to Europe, encompassing a long stage in a multi-state migratory journey, and has also become a long-term destination for many migrants.
2.1 A Transit Route to Europe
Because it has become very difficult for Africans to get a visa to work in Europe, thousands of people try to cross the Mediterranean borders irregularly every year, hoping to find a better future in the global North. Irregular African migration to Europe now mirrors irregular Latin American migration to the United States (Slack and Martinez, 2021) in the sense that criminal organisations have taken control of this clandestine activity, using it for human and drug trafficking and making it an often tragic ordeal (Boyer, Lestage and París Pombo, 2018). Among the major land and sea migratory routes into Europe, the Western Mediterranean represented 44.7 per cent of irregular migration in 2018 (Frontex, 2021). In comparison, this route represented only 4 per cent of irregular migration flow in 2008 (Lahlou, 2018). Because many of the migrants pay as they go, they need to make enough money en route to pay for their journey, which consequently can last several years. As a result, many of them try to make a living in Morocco during that time. The estimated number of irregular migrants currently staying in Morocco is between 25,000 and 40,000 (Linard, 2017). Most of them come from West and Central African countries (Vie Publique, 2019).
These flows are continually increasing, even though the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are now protected by kilometres of fences, barbed wire and surveillance cameras, and despite the violent repression at the borders that is perpetuated by the Moroccan police alongside the Spanish police. Moreover, a large part of the risks endured by migrants during their journey comes from the inhospitality of the Sahara Desert, leading to dehydration, starvation, lack of healthcare and exposure to other human threats, especially against women. The International Organization for Migration (iom) missing persons database shows for instance that a large majority of deaths are caused during the trans-Saharan journey.3 Moreover, the coronavirus crisis irremediably led to the closure of the borders of many states, including Morocco, and to the increase of territorial controls. These new restrictions put migrants crossing the desert under even greater threat to their security. For example, many decided to change their route, at the risk of getting lost (iom, 2020).
Despite all these threats to the safety of migrants, African citizens continue to head to Morocco. According to the Frontex agency, Morocco was the third largest country of origin of migrants arriving irregularly in Europe in 2019. However, it is worth considering the factors behind this statistical increase. The first cause of this irregular migration is the increase in restrictions and difficulties in obtaining a visa or a residence permit to be able to enter Europe through regular channels. Therefore, the increase of migrants’ insecurity and the development of associated criminal organisations is a consequence, not
2.2 An Attractive Destination for Africans
Morocco should be considered more as part of the intra-continental migration phenomenon as it has also become a semi-permanent or permanent destination for African migrants. It is difficult to gather homogeneous and up-to-date data on migrants in Morocco, because the reports are often contradictory or scattered across sources. However, based on the last survey published by the High Commission for Planning (hcp), we know that the regular migrants represent 86,000 people, i.e., 0.3 per cent of the total population of Morocco (hcp, 2020). It should be noted that this data is not consistent with an iom report published in 2020, which estimates the regular migrant population to represent 2 per cent of the total population (iom, 2020). In either case, Africans represent the largest community of migrants in Morocco, before Europeans. Of all foreigners in Morocco, 40 per cent are of European nationalities, 41.6 per cent come from African countries, of which 64.5 per cent are from sub-Saharan countries and 31.9 per cent are from the Maghreb (hcp, 2014). Among Africans, some nationalities are more represented than others: notably Senegalese (7 per cent of all foreigners), Guineans (2.9 per cent) and Ivorians (2.7 per cent) (hcp, 2017). Compared to European countries, migration in Morocco remains minor. However, the average increase in annual migration is 10 per cent. If we also consider the welcoming migratory policy promoted by Morocco since 2013, and the developments of its foreign policy in Africa, this increase suggests that long-term African migration to Morocco will grow significantly in the next two decades. The following paragraphs present the sociological characteristics of migrants and the reasons why their number is likely to grow.
While Morocco has one of the highest rates of students living abroad, it has become equally coveted by African students as a place to come to study. In 2012, there were nearly 15,577 foreign students from 134 countries in Morocco,
A second important migrant community is linked to religious brotherhood networks and, more generally, to the religious diplomacy developed by Morocco over the last two decades (Abourabi, 2020). Religious mobility has increased since the recognition of Sufism as part of official Moroccan Islam in 2002. Presented as a bulwark against extremism because of its mystical and spiritual dimension, Sufism has been accompanied by political and financial support for many transnational brotherhoods, particularly the Tijaniyya Brotherhood, whose founder’s tomb is in Fez. This city now hosts numerous pilgrimages, religious conferences and other events of a theological nature. Moreover, this anti-extremism religious diplomacy has also motivated the creation of a training centre for imams in Rabat, which opened in 2013, and which regularly accommodates apprentice imams from many countries in the West African region. The large support given by the state to the Tijaniyya Brotherhood and the migration networks established by the latter have favoured the settlement of new Senegalese in Fez, some of whom have married Moroccan women. According to a study on Ivorian migrants, it appears that
All this data does not consider the irregular migrants who have settled in Morocco, but it should be noted that this category is also relevant to consider. Because many undocumented migrants are young and educated, they try to blend in with sub-Saharan students, and learn about the opportunities that may be available to them. Conversely, some students find themselves in a situation of administrative irregularity and are unable to renew their visas, which leads them to turn to the solidarity networks frequented by undocumented migrants. Moreover, the nationalities of undocumented migrants coincide with those of students and religious people living in Morocco, and some of them have the same level of education. Around 48 per cent of undocumented migrants in Morocco have primary education, 36 per cent have secondary education and 16 per cent have higher education. Both groups sometimes live in the same neighbourhoods, sometimes share the same conditions, and some of them have employment opportunities in similar sectors such as the medical and paramedical sector, call centres, the press or it, due to their level of French and their specialised studies, even though the unemployment rate of Moroccan youth is 22 per cent (Peraldi, 2012).
The general picture I have just painted is intended to show two things: that sub-Saharan migration to Morocco is largely motivated by training (educational or religious) and skills exchange, and that it involves diversified labour migration. The socioeconomic characteristics of these migrants show that Morocco is a destination and not a default choice or simply a transit route. It is therefore not a site of ‘parking’ migration as is the case for Libya, since most migrants aspire towards professionalisation, regularisation and integration. This means that their migration project is part of a long-term process. This embedded process (one flow attracts another through community networks and family links) is comparable to the creation of the first European migratory hotbeds, which further supports the idea that this inward migration to Morocco is more likely to grow and become a settlement migration, especially since the government has supported this mobility of students, members of religious orders and workers by relaxing the laws on entry and conditions of stay for Africans. Indeed, Morocco’s migration diplomacy tends to promote
3 Morocco’s African Diplomacy Desecuritising Migration
3.1 From Regional Integration to Visa-Free Travel
At the diplomatic level, Morocco promotes a welcoming image toward its African neighbours through a set of speeches and sectoral policies referring to ‘South-South’ cooperation and humanitarian action. South-South cooperation refers to a system of economic, cultural and technical exchanges that emphasise solidarity rather than profit (Simplicio, 2011). To claim its new role in South-South cooperation, Morocco’s first symbolic act was the debt cancellation of the least developed countries in 2000. In addition to development aid, food and health convoys were sent to fifteen African countries at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic outbreak. This aid included masks, hydroalcoholic gels, chloroquine (during the first few months of the crisis), and other essential medicines, and was flown in when the borders were closed (Le Monde, 2020). This required special logistical and financial efforts in a context where states were ensuring their own health security first. These actions of solidarity have reinforced the recognition of Morocco’s Africanness and consequently have helped to shape its image as a welcoming country.
To strengthen the South-South cooperation framework, King Mohammed vi has undertaken several state visits to African countries over the last twenty years and conducted dozens of interministerial or public-private cooperation agreements. These agreements cover agriculture, construction, electrification, training, finance, trade, banking, transport and telecommunications, among other sectors (Abourabi, 2020). After twenty years of intensive bilateral diplomacy, Morocco re-joined the African Union in January 2017 (Abourabi, 2017b), then applied to join ecowas in February 2017 (Abourabi, 2019a; 2019b). All this has also involved agreements concerning the mutual suppression of entry visas with many African countries, particularly West African countries. Moreover, the demand to join ecowas itself showed that Morocco was willing to integrate a free migratory region.
Many nationalities have benefited from consular facilities in order to travel to Morocco. This is the case of the Senegalese, in the first place, who do not need a visa to travel to Morocco, and who also have the right to reside and
3.2 A Dynamic Migration Diplomacy
While pursuing its foreign policy in Africa, Morocco is helping to disseminate a positive discourse on migration at the international level. The first spearheading of this policy was the launch of the ‘African Alliance for Migration and Development’ initiative on the sidelines of the United Nations Second High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (hld) that took place in October 2013. Let us recall that the goal of this multilateral discussion is not only to identify ways to maximise the positive impacts of migration for both migrants and countries, but also to strengthen international cooperation on the matter. According to King Mohammed vi, this initiative was based on ‘an African vision and humanitarian principles to govern migration issues. It is also based on the shared responsibility between countries of origin, transit and host countries, and on the close link between immigration and development’ (Mohammed vi, 2013). Therefore, the Moroccan representatives promoted the construction of a new African architecture to manage migration issues, characterised by a multidimensional approach, focusing more on ‘human’ rather than security issues. The initiative proposed to rely on regional organisations such as ecowas or amu (Arab Maghreb Union) to develop a common institutional and legal framework, aimed at protecting the rights of migrants, and to strengthen political dialogue between state actors, the private sector and
Despite its ambitious character, unprecedented and, above all, in line with the development/migration nexus promoted in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the initiative did not immediately lead to a concrete mechanism. Indeed, at that time, Morocco had not yet developed a migration policy aimed toward arrivals and had yet to face critical reports of violence perpetrated against irregular migrants transiting its territory, including those presented in the 2013 report of Morocco’s National Human Rights Council (cndh, 2013). These seem to be the main reasons why this national migration policy was announced in September by the king and put rapidly into place a few months later, in December 2013.
The new migration policy started, as mentioned in the introduction, with the creation of a ministerial department in charge of migration affairs entrusted to the Ministry delegate in Charge of Moroccans Living Abroad. Four sub-commissions, respectively in charge of the regularisation of illegal foreigners, the regularisation of statutory refugees, the upgrading of the legal and institutional framework relating to migration, asylum and trafficking, and diplomatic cooperation in migration matters, were also created. These institutional upheavals enabled the development of a governmental mechanism not only centred on the application of royal directives, but also based on a shared governance with civil society. Only a month after the launch of the new policy, the first residence permits for refugees were granted. A draft law on asylum was also drawn up for the first time, based on the principles of the 1951 Geneva Convention (ratified by Morocco in 1957). The objective advocated by the government was to provide ‘protection to any foreign person who has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, nationality, religion, membership of a particular social group or political opinion’ (Debbarh, 2014). All this shows how much political will there was to put in place a policy welcoming migration quickly.
Indeed, following the launch of this policy, three massive regularisation campaigns were organised in 2014, 2016 and 2017. In 2014, almost 18,000 undocumented migrants out of approximately 35,000 applicants were regularised following a massive and exceptional campaign. Most of them came from sub-Saharan countries, in particular Senegal, Niger, Cameroon and Guinea (Chakir Alaoui, 2015). Applicants had to meet the following criteria: they either
The following years were dedicated to promoting these national efforts at the international level and making a place for Morocco in the international migration governance system. In 2017, shortly after Morocco’s readmission to the AU, King Mohammed vi was designated ‘Champion of Migration’ by the organisation. This title gives Morocco a role in the formulation of a roadmap for African cooperation on migration, and more generally in the improvement of the continental governance model in this area, to better protect the security of migrants, states and their interests vis-à-vis Europe. It is important to note that at the same time, Morocco was co-organising with Germany, in their capacity as co-chairs, the 2018 edition of the Global Forum on Migration and Development. Morocco had already participated in the previous editions, showing a strong and committed interest in making this approach to governance work. By 2018, the city of Marrakech was hosting both the gfmd and the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. These conferences led to the signing of two major agreements: the Marrakech Pact and the Global Compact for Migration, respectively. Even though these documents are not legally binding and are still criticised, they mark an important step forward in the history of global migration governance because they contribute to international accountability in addressing development and human rights issues through global dialogue (Oelgemöller and Allinson, 2020). Moreover, these events drew much attention to Morocco, which reinforced the government’s conviction that the country has a role to play as a model of migration governance at the continental level.5 Projected in the light of the major multilateral conferences since 2018,
3.3 The Positive Affirmation of Migration in Morocco Linked to Its African Diplomacy
As a result of this migration diplomacy, the number of migrants continues to grow, but most importantly the existing migration communities seem to have found more legitimacy in their presence and therefore asserted their visibility. Several West and Central African community areas have emerged in Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangiers, Oujda, Fez and Laâyoune. These neighbourhoods are also witnessing the multiplication of migrant support associations as well as informal places of worship, mostly Pentecostal, Protestant or prophetic (Bava, 2016). These house churches are set up inside the buildings where migrants live (Coyault, 2014). The whole Christian religious landscape of West and Central Africa seems to be represented in this network of informal churches. They are essential for the migrants because they often offer them all types of assistance (Coyault, 2015). Similarly, in certain Moroccan markets, the presence of African arts and crafts demonstrates the development of supply chains that follow the movements of migrants. These transformations confirm the normalisation of the migratory presence in Morocco.
Gradually, the non-concealment of the religious practices of Christian communities in Morocco has led to the revitalisation of official churches, especially evangelical churches with a Pentecostal dominance. It has been estimated by a member of the Mowafaqa Institute6 in 2019 that the official churches gather a total of 30,000 faithful. The main nationalities represented are from Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Central Africa (Coyault, 2014), countries located in the area of cooperation favoured by Morocco (Abourabi, 2020).
The effect of Morocco’s cultural diplomacy on migrants’ social affirmation has been raised by many observers. The formulation of a migration diplomacy mainly focused on African countries will gradually become a leitmotif of migration policy at the domestic level, in line with the international commitments made by Morocco and the role it advocates. The nationalities represented in the social spheres vary according to the cooperation agreements
Positive affirmation means here that migrants do not need to hide or experience repression of their identity. The examples given are linked to religious expression, but they could also have been other kinds of identity claims. The expression of religiosity seems, however, to be the most illustrative of the gap between the normative structures within Moroccan society, and the normality with which these norms have changed. Before the advent of the reign of Mohammed vi in 1999, Morocco was a country whose official Islamic institutions were close to the Salafi movement and did not recognise the Sufi Way. It was also a country in which the expression of the Christian faith was perceived as abnormal or reserved for Europeans within the limits of their discretion. The most curious or open-minded Muslim Moroccans did not dare to enter churches for fear of being associated with Christians and repressed accordingly. Today, this era seems very distant. Through the examples I have given, I argue that the presence of migrants is not hidden, and contrary to a common belief that migrants tend to hide, their strong presence is expressed positively through the visibility of their identities. My hypothesis here is that this normalisation is the result of a declaratory diplomacy favourable to migration.
4 The Positive Effects of Desecuritising Migration in Morocco
There are many positive effects of desecuritising migration: in addition to the active participation of migrants in the economy of host countries, cultural diversity often acts as a factor of tolerance and mutual understanding. In the case of Morocco, all these consequences apply, especially the latter. This integration is neither sufficient nor homogeneous. Nevertheless, through their encounters with other African nationalities, many Moroccans (most of whom have never travelled across the continent) get to know new cultures and integrate new habits. When talking about Africa, King Mohammed vi has also stated that: ‘all these constructive actions in favour of immigrants have thus precisely reinforced the image of Morocco and strengthened the ties that we
4.1 Overcoming European Normative Transfers through Diplomatic Negotiation
Through its declaratory diplomacy advocating inclusive migration and its active participation in multilateral processes, Morocco has learned to resist the normative frameworks that the EU wishes to impose. These include the EU’s desire to externalise control of its borders to Morocco. It should be recalled that since the early 2000s, the European Union has put pressure on Morocco to become a buffer state that protects European borders from immigration (El-Qadim, 2015). Spain accused Morocco of not controlling its own borders and tolerating the passage of migrants. The objective of the Spanish government is to enforce an agreement drawn up in 1992 on the readmission by Morocco of any illegal migrants who have transited through its borders. These agreements consist in making African countries accept the return not only of their own citizens to their soil but also of migrants from third countries who have transited through their territory. For Morocco, this would mean the readmission of all sub-Saharans who have already arrived in Europe but who have been arrested by the authorities, which Morocco refuses. This matter is a recurrent source of tension between the two countries (Arab, 2018; Larramendi and Bravo, 2006). The Moroccan government has agreed to readmit Moroccan citizens arrested at the border, but still resists the admission of other nationalities (Michalska, 2020).
The equilibrium with Europe is sensitive for both actors. It should be recalled that Morocco’s diplomatic relations with Europe are part of continuous cooperation since 1963. Morocco gradually became the first beneficiary of the European financial envelope for the Maghreb in 2013. The new Action Plan for the implementation of the Advanced Status (2013–17) confirmed the special EU-Morocco relationship formalised by the initial granting of Advanced Status in 2008, as the financial envelope dedicated to the projects continued
The advanced status has also been used by Morocco to its advantage when negotiating migration issues. In order to put pressure on Morocco, the European strategy consists in using development aid as a lever for a ‘carrot and stick’ policy, meaning conditional aid (Belguendouz, 2005). Given that the EU wants to convert its neighbours into buffer zones at all costs, its strategy has consisted in introducing readmission agreements into trade agreements that were not directly linked to this issue.
The EU has thus proposed action plans to facilitate Morocco’s takeover of migration management. Since the signature of its advanced status with the EU in 2008, Morocco has become the first beneficiary of aid for border management with Europe’s neighbouring countries. However, Moroccan policy makers try to balance this policy. They have agreed to work together with the Spanish authorities through the establishment of joint surveillance patrols but continue to refuse the application of agreements for the readmission of migrants on their soil. They have also signed bilateral readmission agreements with many European countries (Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands), but voluntarily applied these agreements in an irregular manner (Martínez, 2009). Faced with Morocco’s reticence regarding such provisions, the EU has redoubled its efforts to include the migration issue in many sectors of Moroccan-European cooperation (El-Qadim, 2015). One such cooperation sector is police capacity building. Between 2018 and 2020, Morocco received eur 343 million in European aid to strengthen its police capacity. In 2019, new cooperation programs worth eur 389 million were allocated by the European Commission in support of border management.7 When this kind of agreement reveals itself to be not decisive enough, the EU resorts to compromises during direct negotiations. This was the case for example in December 2020, when European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson travelled to
the support provided by the EU is modest compared to what the Moroccan government is investing in the region through very ambitious regional plans. […] Some of them also stressed the need to increase catches landed by EU vessels in the region, which would allow the local industry to develop further and create jobs for the local population, while cushioning the impact on employment resulting from the increasing sub-Saharan migration in the territory.
European Commission, 2018, 32
Migration is not a security issue—nor should it become one. A repressive migration policy will not be a deterrent. Through some perverse effect, repression deflects migratory dynamics, but does not stop them. Migrants’ rights cannot be ignored simply because there are security concerns. Their rights are inalienable. The side of the border on which a migrant stands does not make him or her more or less human. Addressing security concerns should go hand in hand with socio-economic development policies which tackle the root causes of risky migration. Finally, security concerns should not be invoked to deny mobility. In fact, the latter can be turned into a lever of sustainable development, at a time when the international community is seeking to implement the 2030 Agenda.
mohammed vi, 2018
This shows that even though Moroccan migration policy is often described as exclusively reactive to its own geopolitical interests (Benjelloun, 2020), the way in which this policy is conducted with its partners, on the contrary, shows a proactive dimension. The Moroccan policy has gone so far as addressing
With the advent of African diplomacy and its migratory component, Morocco is, now more than ever, at the centre of a relational mechanism, and must combine all its interests: continue to develop its partnership with the EU while resisting the pressures concerning readmission; encourage African migration to Morocco while having the capacity to control the routes of migrants entering the territory; and encourage regional integration while having the capacity to control the geopolitical and security issues that are gradually emerging. Morocco is thus a migration state in the whole sense of the term, and not only a transit state, even though as already stated many times in this chapter, the quantity of migrants entering legally is relatively small. The concept of transit migration was introduced by various organisations during the first processes of the externalisation of EU migration policies during the 1960s. Thus, this conceptual category carries a very strong normative burden since it has made it possible to legitimise the need to share responsibility for migration control with transit countries. As a result, Morocco has progressively stood up for itself and become an example to show that EU externalisation policies should not lead to readmission and that a migration state should not only be perceived as a transit state.
4.2 A Booster of Integrative Public Policies
The second positive effect is that a migration policy, as a public policy, was born and developed in a concerted manner with diplomacy, civil society actors and other ministries. In a context where Morocco, in the midst of a democratic transition since the Arab upheaval in 2011, is seeking to improve the efficiency of its public policies, the difficulties encountered in the implementation of this migration policy on a domestic scale have favoured the gradual emergence of a new mode of ‘internal-external’ governance.
According to Natter, Morocco conducts a liberal migration governance because it is an illiberal regime. She argues that ‘[i]n Morocco, political power remains concentrated within the Makhzen, a network of politicians, families, and businessmen centred around the King’ (Natter, 2018, 7). It rather seems that, on the contrary, migration policy illustrates a liberal way of practising public policies. In fact, Natter contradicts her own terms when she rightfully asserts that the Moroccan state ‘is not a uniform, rational actor, but consists of fragmented institutions that can pursue multiple, potentially contradicting
Indeed, the National Human Rights Council (cndh), a public institution that submits its annual reports directly to the king, has established itself as one of the main levers for public action in the field of migration policy in Morocco. For them, Morocco cannot allow its relations with its African sister countries to be damaged by the repressive practices of the Moroccan authorities toward migrants. One of their reports states that ‘this issue of migrants must also be dealt with on a regional level’ (cndh, 2006, 8). These recommendations provide a better understanding of the geopolitical representation of Moroccan actors. The fact that an institution dedicated to human rights considers the diplomatic interests of the country and reports directly to the king also shows the extent to which it is integrated into the migration governance process. It should also be remembered that it was following a cndh report (2013) whose recommendations were based on field studies conducted by local csos, that the new migration policy was defined.
Such integration of civil society in the decision-making process has not always been possible. Between 2000 and 2010, the public authorities reacted ad hoc to each migration phenomenon, without consultation or a global vision of the migration policy to be adopted. In 2003, a first law on the status of migrants was enacted and the government committed itself to implementing the provisions of the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. In 2007, the government signed a headquarters agreement with the High Commissioner for Refugees, while continuing to increase border control and arrests to meet European requirements. These arrests were often characterised by the practice of violence against migrants and non-respect of their fundamental rights, even though Morocco had signed and ratified the main international conventions
Today’s evolution points toward the idea that Morocco is more likely to have a sustainable migration policy and to act on its engagements. The recommendations of the National Human Rights Council finally found a favourable echo within the palace. The king immediately invited the government to draw up a new global policy on immigration issues following ‘a humanitarian approach in line with our country’s international commitments and respectful of the rights of immigrants’ (Mohammed vi, 2013). Between 2013 and 2020, the migration policy has constantly involved not only the cndh but also, indirectly, multiple migrant defence csos (Groupe Antiraciste de Défense et d’Accompagnement des Etrangers et Migrants, Association des Amis et Familles des Victimes de l’Immigration Clandestine, Association des Sans-papiers et Demandeurs d’Asile au Maroc, Rassemblement des Réfugiés Ivoiriens au Maroc, etc.). The peculiarity of the regularisation campaigns is that they emanated from high royal instructions and had to be conducted quickly, efficiently and on a large scale. They were therefore extraordinary in every sense of the word. As Benjelloun (2020) observes, following her fieldwork at the Ministry delegate, in charge of Moroccans Living Abroad and Migration Affairs during the 2016 regularisation campaign, not only were many state agents and financial means mobilised to quickly regularise the greatest number, but above all, these agents showed the greatest possible flexibility regarding the criteria for regularisation that they had set themselves. She notices that ‘[t]he obsession with numbers was such that the foreigners’ offices regularized migrants while knowing full well that the documents they have provided are falsified. Far from being anecdotal, the extent of this phenomenon is surprising’ (Benjelloun, 2020, 12–13). The main reason for this flexibility seems to lie partly in the government’s willingness to respond to the criticisms and recommendations of human rights organisations. This dynamic shows that Morocco could be an example to the neo-institutionalist argument that the State open their migration policy because of domestic pressure.
cherti and collyer, 2015, 591
Morocco has become the focus for much of this critique, not because its policy is unusually bad but because the activities of civil society and foreign researchers are unusually unrestricted—certainly compared to Algeria, Libya or Egypt, where the treatment of migrants is worse but there is a very limited evidence base on these issues.
Comparing Morocco to its neighbours is not the only tool for measuring the dynamism of this governance (including its capacity for openness to civil criticism). The comparison of migration policy with other domestic public policies shows that migration is subject to a more integrative form of governance. For example, there is a strong associative activism focused on gender equality that may have driven social change, but it did not lead to a decisive response from the government (Ennaji, 2016; Lambert, 2017). In the case of migration, government representatives went so far as to organise, with civil society organisations, campaigns to attract and convince the hidden and reluctant migrants to regularise (Benjelloun, 2019). Again, in comparison to gender policy, the government does not conduct campaigns, for example, to encourage women to file complaints of rape or domestic violence. Yet again civil society activism over this particular matter is quite significant (Massoui and Séguin, 2020). All these observations tend to show that, indeed, Morocco’s migration policy is playing the role of a booster in public policies.
5 Conclusion
Morocco provides an interesting case study to exemplify how the global South responds to migration policies in the North. According to Adamson and Tsourapas (2020, 862), Morocco fits well into the category of ‘developmental state’,10 defined as a state that ‘challenges the overwhelming focus on immigration by pointing to the important role of emigration and labour export in the economic development strategies of democratic and non-democratic states in the Global South’ (Adamson and Tsourapas, 2020, 863). Yet this chapter was aiming to show that the government’s attention to its migration policy demonstrates just the opposite. Morocco does not fall either into the authors’ two
According to Morocco’s High Commission for Planning, using official statistics from the Directorate of Consular and Social Affairs (dacs) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Morocco counted 4.8 million Moroccans living abroad in January 2019, representing 14 per cent of the total population. More than four-fifths of them live in Europe. The number of Moroccans migrating abroad has increased considerably despite the multiplication of obstacles to immigration. By contrast, in 2015, the oecd counted about 2.8 million emigrants, representing 8 per cent of the total population (hcp, 2020; oecd, 2017).
Unless otherwise noted, all translations of quoted material are provided by the author.
iom Missing Migrants Project database, Geneva. Available at
These fears were shared by several Moroccan policymakers and civil society representatives on the margins of a series of conferences I attended, and during informal interviews I conducted in Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in 2018.
A report published by the Ministry of Migration stated that ‘At the international level, the National Immigration and Asylum Policy has become a regional model of responsible and solidarity-based management of the migratory phenomenon’ (Ministère chargé des affaires de la migration, 2017).
The Mowafaqa Institute is an ecumenical theological institute founded by the Catholic and Protestant Churches in 2012. It is based in Rabat.
343 million eur = 411 million usd, 2018 conversion; 389 million eur = 445 million usd, 2019 conversion.
Declaration of Khalid Zerouali, governor in charge of migration and border control at the Ministry of Interior (Le Desk, 2020).
Informal interviews conducted by the author with representatives of both institutions in the margins of a conference held at the International University of Rabat, 2018.
The authors redefine the concept of ‘Migration State’ (Hollifield) as a ‘liberal immigration state’ and propose three other types of migration state—nationalising, developmental and neoliberal—in order to enlarge the theoretical tools for analysing different migration policies (Adamson and Tsourapas, 2020).
‘The nationalizing migration state poses a challenge to the dominance of economic and market concerns as motivating factors for state migration policies, highlighting instead the political and ideological roots of state migration policy and the prevalence of state-driven instances of forced displacement. […] The neoliberal migration state calls into question the centrality of rights-based migration policymaking and demonstrates how variations in state capacity (and autonomy) lead to differences in how states commodify cross-border migration flows’ (Adamson and Tsourapas, 2020, 863).
I discuss the concept of differentiation in this context in a discussion paper (Abourabi, 2017a).
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