Morocco and Spain are facing usually scrutiny and criticism over their handling of Sub-Saharan immigrants who have been seeking to enter Europe. The situation of the would-be-immigrants transiting via Morocco is so bad that Ron Redmond of the U.N. refugee agency UNRA urged "authorities to respect international protection principles, particularly against refoulement - or forcibly returning people to a country where they face persecution; to treat everyone humanely; and to ensure that all asylum seekers are given access to fair and proper procedures." Six deaths were the latest in a series of reported violent incidents at the border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.
These statements from U.N. officials are concerning and are indicative of a policy of "fortress" Europe that has spilled over into North Africa. Europe is apparently succeeding in involving other third nations in its immigration enforcement frenzy, often with disregard to the most basic human rights that these very governments pledged to uphold.
For the Sub-Saharan refugees, being between Morocco and Spain is not a comforting situation as the hunting season against them has been declared. Fear has been rising as governments have worked to confine refugees into camps without future. The latest violence recorded at the end of September began at the notorious Bel Younech refugee camp. Violence started when a rumor that Spain would raise the height of the barriers separating Morocco to the Sebta and Melilla enclaves controlled by Spain from three to six meters circulated in the camp, adding to fear that the refugees may be stuck there for an unlimited time. Despite warnings by some of the camp leaders that any action would lead to a violent reaction from authorities, refugees decided to take their chance and started moving into Spain. Unable to cope, the Moroccan guards were inefficient in halting what many Europeans called an "assault against Europe."
According to sources within the camp, the refugees' actions happened in incremental phases. In the first wave, the refugees on the move faced only a handful of Moroccan guards estimated at about 20. Witnesses said that a first wave of 200 refugees succeeded in jumping over the fence and crossed the boarder without resistance. The second wave of refugees was less lucky. Their attempt to follow their successful peers on the other side of the fence was faced with tear gas and rubber bullets.
For the Moroccan and Spanish officials, the guards never received orders to shoot. However, the guards, in particular on the Spanish side were equipped with rubber bullets and apparently used them directly against the crowd. Five death of individuals aged between 16 and 45 were recorded. There was also a sixth victim, an infant baby of 3 months only. The father was carrying the baby during the crossing when a single bullet killed both of them. There were several wounded resulting from the use of the rubber bullets, falls, and the climbing of barbed wires.
Violence affecting refugees is widespread and is not confined to this event only. A report released at the end of September by the international medical humanitarian aid organization Doctors Without Borders/Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) describes escalating violence against immigrants crossing from Morocco to Spain. Up to 25% of MSF's patients are seeking medical treatment as a result of persecution and attacks. Since early 2003, MSF has been running mobile clinics and monitoring the immigrant community for disease outbreaks. Medical data and testimonies collected from migrants reveal that of the 10,232 medical consultations conducted between April 2003 and August 2005, 2,544 are violence related. This places violence and illnesses related to poor living conditions as the two greatest health risks to these vulnerable people.
Immigrants who have been victims of violence and treated by MSF say that their injuries have been caused by Moroccan police forces (44%), Spanish police forces (18%), criminal gangs (17%), mafia groups or networks engaged in human trafficking (12%), other immigrants (2%), and accidents (7%). Injuries include gunshot wounds, beatings, as well as from attacks by dogs as people tried to escape Moroccan security forces. Deaths have also occurred. MSF is concerned that these findings reveal systematic violence and degrading treatment, which only serve to increase the suffering and marginalization of people who are already exposed to extremely precarious and often inhumane conditions.
On September 29, the day after the event, Spain sent some 500 troops along its Sebta and Melilla borders. Morocco also reinforced its side of the border with a vast contingent of troops. On September 30, the Moroccan government ordered a sweep of the Bel Younech refugee camp, which is located a dozen kilometers from Sebta. The sweep led to the arrest of 285 refugees from Mali, 276 from Senegal and 9 from Algeria. Despite efforts, often violent, to contain the refugees, several of them fled toward the Gourougou camp in Melilla, and toward Tangiers and other Morocco towns. Others were forced to hide in some of the most rugged mountains of the region, witnessing from a distance the destruction of the camp and seizure by the Moroccan security forces of their belongings, including blankets and food.
It was not the first time the Bel Younech camp came under attack by the Moroccan security forces. Police sweeps occur on average twice per week with the goal of intimidating the already vulnerable residents. That week, the usual sweep was canceled after the commanding officer was reassigned to another site. Since the event took place, Morocco's security forces continued to launch assaults against the refugees hiding in the area and within the camp itself. The plight of those remaining behind has deteriorated, worsened by a bitter cold and lack of food.
For Morocco, this event has been an embarrassment. However, the North Africa country has unwillingly become an important transit for would be-immigrants seeking a way out of Africa and into Europe. The violence that northern Morocco witnessed at the end of September and early October was predictable. For years the government of Morocco has been warned by NGOs operating in the region that the local border will inevitably be "assaulted" by illegal migrants if a sound policy of prevention is not implemented. But while NGO focused on the border regions, migratory pressure was not confined on northern Morocco only. Virtually all Moroccan cities have their share of undocumented migrants originating from Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Cte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Somalia, Togo, the Congo, and other nations. Morocco is not the only destination or transit point. Neighboring Algeria faces a similar situation.
When caught, the future of the illegal migrants remains uncertain. Governments have been working to send them back to their countries of origin, however many migrants manage to return once again. In the worst cases, Morocco deports thousands of Sub-Saharan Africans who arrived in Morocco via the vast desert of Algeria. In this deportation, Morocco sends them back the way they came, forcing the immigrants to take major risks crossing the Algerian desert again.
While Morocco is attempting to honor its engagements with Europe in terms of securing its borders, there is in fact little it can do to completely control all access and transit points used by migrant smugglers. According to official Moroccan data, since 2003 the Moroccan police managed to reduce the illegal outflow of Moroccan citizens by 25%. The number of foreign nationals using Morocco as a transit point was reduced by 27%. A total of 425 smuggling networks were dismantled in 2004, a number that is 60% more than 2003. For the first nine months of 2005, the number of individuals who illegally crossed the Morocco-Spanish border fell by 35% to 23,000, with 17,000 being non-Morocco citizens.
These numbers are indicative of the rise of a tense security climate which makes the movement of people between Morocco and Europe intensely scrutinized. The increase of this security fury is such that migrants and their smugglers have adapted to the changing landscape. New exit points in Libya are growing as Morocco tightens controls of its borders. Desperate migrants use desperate means such as substandard boats to cross the Mediterranean Sea. But the creation of barriers in Morocco to stop migrants moving north has its limits, as there is also a lucrative business. Smuggling a single individual into Spain via Morocco costs between 5,000 and 7,000. With this money, smugglers can afford equipping themselves with the latest technology, allowing them to operate below the radar screen. Those who cannot afford the 5,000 fare often end up stuck in Moroccan towns and in camps like Bel Younech, Gourougou and other similar facilities. Their only option remains the jumping of the fence separating them to Spain's Sebta and Melilla. This has become an increasingly difficult task to achieve. The remaining alternative would be to stay in Morocco.
Inside the Bel Younech Refugee Camp:
The Bel Younech refugee camp is a sad place. It is the symbol of a failed global migration policy. At any given time, the camp is what between 500 and 2,000 men, women and children call home, where they stay for two years on average. Most of them are between the prime ages of 16 and 40, because it takes an able body to cross the desert to arrive there. The refugees are well organized and water-gathering duties are shared in a disciplined manner. Beggars from the camp line up the streets that link Bel Younech to Tetouan and Fnideq.
The Bel Younech camp is a small town, with its own mosque, church, market and its very own meeting hall. The meeting hall is an important gathering place where the leaders of each community meet to organize the camp and optimize access to medical care and food. Services tend to go in priority in order of community size. When doctors came recently to treat patients who have contracted rheumatism and respiratory illnesses, two of the most frequent diseases in the camp, the last one to be checked was a Mauritanian refugee, the single one from that country.
Many of the refugees living in the camp claim to have left their country due to political persecution. However the Moroccan government remains inconsistent in its interpretation of international law. While the police and other agencies in Rabat tend to recognize the refugee status issued to individuals by the high commission on refugees, officials in other regions do not recognize such status and often end up arresting the refugee, jailing them and finally deport them.
In this environment, traffickers have made a good living from selling false documents. Several networks involved in false document production have been dismantled in Morocco but there is a lot more to be done to make a real dent on this type of crime.
Reaching the Morocco-Spanish border is not a small task at all. The site is situated between the towns of Mdiq and Fnideq, and is only 12 kilometers away from Spain's Sebta. Those who reach that region are prevented from crossing to Spain with the presence of the Moroccan police. Now and after the September 29 event, the camp has been destroyed and refugees escaped the area in fear of police crackdown.
For many, the march to northern Morocco involved 7,000 kilometers. The poorest of the refugees, those with no financial means to pay for transportation are forced to walk for up to three months as was the case of many Malians. Some from further south say that it even took them years to get there, stopping in various regions to work or beg for months before resuming their journey.
In this long road toward Europe, various territories are crossed and the ones that are the center of this wave of migration are Mali, Niger, and Algeria. Niger is the biggest transit territory in the Morocco migration route. The individuals crossing Niger toward Morocco speak of a dangerous journey characterized by violence, aggression, and rape. Although they are less than men, women are the main victims of violence. The desert is also harsh, killing an untold number of migrants.
Solving a great deal of Morocco's illegal immigration problem requires important political and diplomatic efforts. This is because Morocco has no bilateral agreements with its neighbor Algeria on issues of border control. And the Algerian border is also source of illegal migrants. Not only there is no accord with Algeria, but also Morocco does not have a single agreement with any of the major source countries. The situation is even more difficult as migrants that are caught often refuse to divulge their identity and nationality, preventing the organizing of repatriation procedures. The source countries are also among the poorest nations in the world and cannot afford paying for the repatriation cost. This was not the case last year when Morocco and the oil-rich Nigeria launched a spot joint operation to transfer 1,700 Nigerian nationals living illegally in Morocco. Nigeria sent five airplanes to Morocco for this purpose, something that most other Sahel region countries couldn't afford.
In this complicated environment, tension inevitably rises, resulting in human rights violations. There have many documented cases of deportations of individuals who had legitimate political refugee status and whose forced return home could mean imprisonment, torture and even death.
By Arezki Daoud
© The North Africa Journal 2005
