Morocco’s Successful Migrants Policy Showcased in Geneva

“Success & inspiring stories” of young migrants, who succeeded in their social and professional integration in various host countries, including Morocco, are the main theme of a global photo exhibition, which opened Monday in Geneva.

The event, running through Nov 24, is organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNCTAD and UNHCR. The Exhibition illustrates the contributions migrant and refugee entrepreneurs make in their new communities as well as those they come from.

With an estimated 272 million international migrants in the world today, migration has the potential to significantly improve the wellbeing and socioeconomic conditions of migrants and their families, as well as the development prospects in receiving and sending communities, provided it occurs in an informed manner and within a transparent and rights-based regulative environment, the organizing bodies said.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva Omar Zniber said the exhibition celebrates the successful experiences of migrants’ integration in the North African Kingdom. He highlighted in this connection the initiatives launched by Morocco to facilitate the integration of migrants through training, guidance and capacity-building.

For his part, UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General Isabelle Durant said: “at a time when international migration and refugee flows are stirring up fear and even being the target of hatred, we have joined forces to build a narrative based on facts to show the positive social, cultural and economic contributions that migrants and refugees make to their home and host countries”.

For Renate Held, Director of IOM Department of Migration Management, the exhibition on migration and entrepreneurship is an opportunity to show the diversity of migrant and refugee economic contributions to the communities they live in and those they come from in a variety of industries, and across the globe.

The tripartite inter-agency collaboration was initiated with the Policy Guide on Entrepreneurship for Migrants and Refugees, which was launched at the Global Entrepreneurship week in 2018. Later the same year, IOM and UNCTAD organized a migration and entrepreneurship competition, which selected three migrant entrepreneurs for tailor-made mentoring.

“Promoting entrepreneurship and economic inclusion enables refugees to provide for themselves and their communities and contribute to preparing them for solutions whenever available,” said Mamadou Dian Balde, Deputy Director of UNHCR Division of Resilience and Solutions.