Morocco has called for a fundamental rethinking of how the international community manages the refugee crisis in the Middle East and North Africa region, urging the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to adopt a new paradigm that addresses root causes rather than managing symptoms. The appeal was made by Omar Zniber, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, during recent sessions of the UNHCR Executive Committee.
Speaking on behalf of the Kingdom, Ambassador Zniber argued that conventional approaches to refugee management — focused primarily on border control and humanitarian assistance — have proven insufficient given the scale and structural nature of displacement in the MENA region. He called instead for a multi-dimensional strategy that prioritizes socio-economic integration, legal pathways for migration, and stronger burden-sharing mechanisms among host nations and the international donor community.
Morocco presented its own national model as a template for this shift. Under the National Immigration and Asylum Strategy, launched under the High Instructions of King Mohammed VI, the Kingdom has worked to integrate refugees into national health, education, and employment systems on equal terms with Moroccan citizens. Rabat also hosts the African Migration Observatory, which provides data-driven analysis to support evidence-based migration policies across the continent.
Zniber used the occasion to renew Morocco’s longstanding criticism of Algeria’s management of the Tindouf camps in southwestern Algeria, where Sahrawi populations have lived for decades. He reiterated that Algeria’s continued refusal to register camp residents in accordance with international standards constitutes a violation of the 1951 Refugee Convention and of UNHCR’s own mandate. Morocco has consistently called on the agency to conduct biometric registration of the Tindouf population independently of any political resolution to the Western Sahara dispute.
The ambassador reaffirmed Morocco’s financial and political commitment to multilateral refugee governance, noting the Kingdom’s decision to become the first contributor to the IOM’s Resilience Fund and its role as host of the 2018 Global Compact on Migration. Moroccan officials stressed that durable solutions to displacement require greater solidarity, shared responsibility, and a clear distinction between humanitarian imperatives and geopolitical agendas.
