Morocco leads African Union efforts to debunk migration myths

Finally, the African Migration Observatory saw the light of the day in Rabat thanks to the leadership of King Mohammed VI, whom the African Union members designated as African Migration Leader.

This first African Union institution to be hosted in Morocco was inaugurated by Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and AU Commissioner for Social Affairs Amira El Fadil.

Speaking to reporters on this occasion, Bourita said the Observatory is the fruit of two-years of hard work by Morocco and the African Union who have both campaigned for a paradigm shift on how migration is perceived and managed.

The Observatory will have the task of compiling data and promoting an African vision and narrative about migration. It was the main outcome of the African migration agenda submitted by King Mohammed VI in 2018.

Human-based approach

In his quality as leader in charge of preparing the African Agenda on Migration, King Mohammed VI led efforts at the African level in favor of a human-based approach to migration that goes beyond narrow calculations building on the success of a migrants’ legalization policy at home that won praise internationally.

Morocco is leading by giving the example. Since King Mohammed VI urged the government to adopt a new migration policy, Morocco has become a destination of choice for several Sub-Saharan migrants. It has launched a legalization campaign that benefited more than 56,000 migrants, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa and Syria.

Morocco’s efforts are targeting the improvement of the living conditions of migrants, especially the most vulnerable social categories such as children. Morocco has also taken steadfast action against criminal networks operating in human trafficking thanks to a pro-active security approach against smugglers as evidenced by the significant drop in arrivals to Europe.

Debunking the myths

King Mohammed VI had debunked, in a message to the 5th African Union-European Union Summit in Abidjan in 2017, four myths about migration. In this respect, he highlighted that African migration is not mostly intercontinental. It is primarily intra-African as every 4 African migrants out of 5 remain in Africa.

While in Europe extreme right has been warning against a surge of clandestine immigration, King Mohammed VI responded by saying that illegal migration accounts for a mere 20% of international migration.

The King also refuted the claim that migrants impoverish host countries, saying that 85% of migrants’ earnings remain in host countries.

On the same occasion, the King said that he would submit proposals to the African heads of state in order to chart a genuine, sound African Agenda on migration.

In this connection, he recalled the foundations that he laid for this Agenda in June 2017 at the African Union’s 29th Summit, noting that this Agenda involves four levels of action: national, regional, continent and international.

He stressed that under the same Agenda, “African countries would shoulder their responsibilities in terms of guaranteeing the rights and dignity of African migrants on their soil, in accordance with their international commitments, thus doing away with the shameful, inhuman practices inherited from a bygone era.”

As part of its international advocacy for a new approach towards migration, Morocco hosted the UN migration summit in Marrakech during which all 193 UN member states agreed to a non-binding pact aiming at achieving a safe and orderly migration.