2023-04-27 22:30:58
A scientific press conference was organized this Thursday by the Presidency of the Public Ministry (PMP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with the support of the European Union, with the aim of unveiling the conclusions of the national consultation led by the Office of International Social Services in Geneva on the care of migrant children and the establishment of durable solutions for their best interests.
In his speech, El Hassan Daki, Attorney General of the King at the Court of Cassation and President of the Public Ministry, underlined that Morocco has become in recent years a country of residence for a large number of migrants, after having been during decades a country of transit.
Convinced that immigrants, especially illegal immigrants, live in conditions that place them in a vulnerable situation, Daki pointed out that this situation is further exacerbated among unaccompanied migrant children due to the risk of exploitation by transnational organized crime.
« The transformation that Morocco has witnessed economically and socially and the policy of openness that it has addressed, especially with regard to African countries, have been key factors in this transformation, which has had a reflection on the social structure of our country and required the promulgation of laws and the establishment of policies and strategies to frame this transformation“, he confided.
While recalling that unaccompanied migrant children in Morocco enjoy all the rights devolved to Moroccans, including criminal protection against any violation or aggression against them, El Hassan Daki specified that Morocco, in fulfillment of its obligations international organizations in this context, has put in place various legal texts to protect these migrants, foremost among which is Law No. 02-03 relating to the entry and stay of foreigners in the Kingdom of Morocco, emigration and irregular immigration, which prohibits the expulsion of minor migrants to their country of origin (article 26).
The King’s Attorney General at the Court of Cassation returned to the interest granted by King Mohammed VI to migrants and his permanent support for the protection of human rights in general, without discrimination, even giving his high instructions to define a national immigration and asylum policy through which Morocco has made, since 2013, the bet to adopt a pioneering experience in the Arab and African region.
This approach is reflected in a set of measures taken by Morocco at many levels, such as education and health, allowing migrants, especially children, to integrate schools and vocational training centers and benefit from leisure programs and summer camps like other Moroccan children without discrimination, in addition to giving them the right to benefit from health services and vaccination campaigns, and helping them integrate into society.
For his part, Naseem Awl, Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Morocco, returned to the issue of the migration of unaccompanied children and stressed the need to find more sustainable solutions for children affected by situations of mobility, migration or others.
« The seminar we organized today is temporary. The work we have done has taken many years to gain knowledge of the situation of children. At UNICEF, we are concerned about the rights of children. The first step is to understand their situation and the context for which they come here to Morocco, knowing that the situation is changing”Naseem Awl told Hespress Fr.
She added that the second step is to determine how to support these children in their rights, to ensure that they have access to immediate services and to find durable solutions in a third step.
Today’s scientific conference has been organized to assess and determine the best interests of the child, asking the question of what is the best decision for each child, knowing that the first voice to be taken in consideration is that of each child, she argued.
“For UNICEF, we always try to have a mixed approach. This means that we always try to do advocacy at strategic and national level, to see how we can ensure that the situation of children and their needs are well integrated into all national policies and strategies. We also remember that each child has a life that requires an adapted and individualized response.“, she pointed out.
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