Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Open letter by Moroccan, African and European associations

In Morocco, the rights and dignity of men and women are scorned in the name of the protection of Europe’s borders

09.Jan.07 - Shortly over a year since the tragic events of autumn 2005, sub- Saharan migrants in Morocco, who are the victims of securitarian policies pursued by the European Union and its “partners”, continue to be persecuted, purely in the name of the protection of Europe’s external borders.

On December 23, 2006, the Moroccan forces for the maintenance of public order carried out some large-scale raids in the working class neighbourhoods in Rabat where a large number of migrants live. Dozens of police officers and agents from auxiliary forces entered the lodgings and indiscriminately arrested the sub-Saharans who were found there (including pregnant women and children) in order to take them to the Algerian border in a desert region near Oujda. In these raids at least 240 arrestations were made. On December 25, 2006, 40 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were arrested in Nador and taken to the border in the same conditions. On December 29, 2006, 140 people who were stopped in Lâayoune were on their way to Oujda. On December 31, 43 people from this group were taken to the Algerian border.

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