Council of Europe Special Representative on Migration issues salutes HM the King’s visionary and humanist leadership

The Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for Migration and Refugees, Drahoslav Štefánek, welcomed, Wednesday in Strasbourg, the visionary and humanist leadership of HM King Mohammed VI in the field of migration at the national level and continental.

During a meeting with the Consul General of the Kingdom in Strasbourg, Driss El Kaissi, Mr. Štefánek underlined Morocco’s initiatives in the field of migration.

At the start of this meeting, the two officials hailed the upward trajectory in which relations between Morocco and the Council of Europe have taken place since 2012 and welcomed the convincing results of the dialogue initiated between the two parties, which ‘is further consolidated as part of the ongoing partnership for the 2018-2021 period.

The Consul General of the Kingdom explained to his interlocutor the main lines of the National Immigration and Asylum Strategy initiated under the leadership of the Sovereign, noting the global and humanist character of this policy, which is intended to be respectful of human rights. man and which sets itself up as a regional model of management of the migratory problematic which is both responsible and united.

This is, he stressed, a vision that has its origins in the fundamental change that Morocco has undergone in recent years, thus moving from a land of emigration or transit to a territory of reception of migrants.

Morocco’s efforts, as well as the success of its national approach to dealing with the migration issue, underlined Mr. El Kaissi, have led the African brother countries to entrust HM King Mohammed VI with the mandate of “Leader on the issue. migration ”within the African Union.

The Royal Vision, he explained, declined in the African Agenda for Migration, anticipated the importance of knowledge of migration dynamics, through the establishment of an African Migration Observatory in Morocco, in as a regional mechanism for collecting, analyzing and exchanging data, with a view to demystifying certain clichés and stereotypes about African migrants.

In this context, Mr. Štefánek praised the visionary and humanist leadership of the Sovereign on the migration issue, specifying the importance of such initiatives in the consecration of a positive narrative on migration and migratory flows, which, today , face several challenges, especially security.

Insisting on the importance of this positive narrative, M Štefánek, highlighted the initiatives of the Council of Europe in this field, in particular the project entitled “European Qualifications Passport for Refugees” in view of the integration of this fringe of the population in the labor market and the pursuit of studies, as well as the future action plan for the protection of the vulnerable migrant population.

Regarding this aspect of integration and protection of migrants and refugees, the Consul General of Morocco told his interlocutor that the Kingdom is prepared to provide the Council of Europe with the benefit of its experience, highlighting the actions undertaken in these areas, citing for this purpose one of the strong points of the national immigration and asylum strategy, namely the opening of the access of migrants and refugees to basic services, in particular education, health, housing, vocational training and employment, as well as the exceptional operation to regularize the situation of thousands of migrants with a view to ensuring them better integration.

The first phase of this system was initiated in December 2014 allowing the regularization of 23,096 migrants out of 27,649. After the success of the first campaign, a second phase was scheduled on Royal Instructions. Thus from December 2016 to the end of 2017, 28,400 regularization requests were filed, including more than 20,000 approved requests, recalled Mr. El Kaissi.

In addition to the regularization of the situation of migrants, he continued, Morocco has also upgraded its regulatory framework, through the adoption of the law on trafficking in human beings which gives new life to the various actions and measures undertaken by the Kingdom as part of its new migration policy. Also, two other bills are in the process of adoption, namely Bill 17.71 on the entry and stay of foreigners in Morocco and Bill 17.66 on refugees.