Morocco

European colonialism in Muslim societies represented a turning point for the powerful European influence that was widespread throughout the Middle East. With European Jews acquisition of land in Palestine, Arab nationalism started to incorporate antisemitic ideology into their texts and discourses. The creation of the Jewish state in 1948 accelerated this process. Thus, paradoxically, while the presence of antisemitism among European societies has been marginal since the end of World War II, socially and politically discredited, and even prosecuted, antisemitic voices have gained ground in the Middle East. With the immigration of the North African populations (both Jewish and Muslim) from the second half of the twentieth century, some conflicts have arisen in Europe as well, particularly, but not exclusively, in France. Therefore, the colonial period is crucial to understanding not only when, how and why European antisemitism entered northern Africa, and later returned to Europe, but above all how it interacted with the local notions and prejudices about Jews in Muslim societies. Further research is required to analyse in detail what the integration of a foreign ideology means and involves for native popular ideas and local prejudices. In this research project, the researcher will address these issues through historical anthropology and ethnography in the context of inter-religious relations in Spanish Colonial Morocco.

(En) Morocco has long been a country of asylum seekers and refugees from various origin countries. Currently, in Morocco, refugees and asylum seekers are mainly from African and Middle-Eastern countries. Morocco is party to the Refugee’s Convention (1951) and its additional Protocol (1967). Morocco has ratified the Agreement of 23rd November 1957 on maritime refugees as well as its protocol. In 1957, Morocco adopted a law on the implementation modalities of the Geneva Convention related to the refugee status. This law enables the Office of Refugee and Stateless persons (ORS) for the administrative and legal protection of refugees. The law, as it stands, is too general and the ORS has ceased its activities. In spite of it being short lived, Moroccan Law refers to the Geneva Convention (1951) and thus to the rights related to refugee status in terms of the right to work, to education, to health, to freedom of movement etc (article 12-34). UNHCR has had an official representation in Morocco since 1965, through an honorary delegation, and since 2007 it has had diplomatic representation in the country. Because of the absence of any effective national procedure in the field of asylum, UNHCR registers asylum seekers and determines the refugee statute. The UNHCR office deals with all asylum claims and decides on the recognition of refugee status in Morocco. The refugees recognised in Morocco by UNHCR do not benefit from all the rights normally associated with the refugee statute in the Geneva Convention (1951). The Moroccan authorities do not automatically deliver a stay permit which is a necessary condition for migrants wishing to enjoy their rights. Since 2007, UNHCR in Rabat, in partnership with some local NGOs, is active in supporting recognised refugees. UNHCR’s presence in Morocco, in particular, its recent diplomatic representation in the country is considered by some experts and civil society actors as a sign of the ‘externalisation’ of European borders brought about by the EU’s European Immigration and Asylum policy. (Fr) Le Maroc a été depuis toujours un pays de réfugiés et de demandeurs d’asile pour plusieurs peuples venant de plusieurs pays. Actuellement les réfugiés et les demandeurs d’asile au Maroc proviennent principalement des pays africains et du Moyen Orient. Le Maroc a adhéré à la Convention de 1951 et à son Protocole additionnel de1967. Il a également ratifié l'Arrangement du 23 novembre 1957 relatif aux marins réfugiés et le Protocole à cet Arrangement. En 1957, le Maroc a adopté une loi qui a fixé les modalités d'application de la Convention de Genève relative au statut des réfugiés et qui a confié la protection juridique et administrative des réfugiés au Bureau des Réfugiés et Apatrides (BRA). Mais cette loi est assez peu détaillée et le BRA a presque cessé actuellement toute activité. Malgré son caractère bref et assez peu explicite, la législation marocaine se réfère à la Convention de Genève de 1951 qui accorde des droits bien précis aux personnes reconnues comme réfugiés, comme le droit au travail, à l’éducation et à la santé, à la liberté de circulation etc.(articles 12 à 34). Le HCR est représenté officiellement au Maroc depuis 1965, tout d’abord à travers une délégation honoraire puis par une représentation diplomatique en 2007. En l’absence d’une procédure nationale effective en matière d’asile, c’est le HCR qui enregistre les demandeurs d’asile et conduit la détermination du statut de réfugié. Le bureau du HCR traite ainsi toutes les demandes d’asile, détermine et reconnaît le statut de réfugié dans le pays. Les réfugiés au Maroc reconnus par le HCR ne bénéficient pas de tous les droits inclus dans la Convention de Genève de 1951. Les autorités marocaines ne leur délivrent pas automatiquement une carte de séjour qui leur permettra de jouir de leurs droits de réfugiés dans le pays. En partenariat avec certaines ONG locales, le HCR à Rabat est actif dans l’accompagnement des réfugiés reconnus, particulièrement depuis 2007. La présence du HCR au Maroc et son installation diplomatique dans le pays depuis 2007 est considérée par certains spécialistes en migration et par des acteurs de la société civile comme l’une des manifestations de l’externalisation des frontières européennes, du fait de la politique commune d’immigration et d’asile développée par l’Union Européenne.

Le Maroc est concerné par la migration qualifiée. Plusieurs compétences marocaines vivent à l’étranger et plusieurs migrants qualifiés étrangers résident dans le pays. L’émigration des compétences marocaines à l’étranger comme l’immigration des personnes qualifiées au Maroc sont en même temps choisies et imposées. Ces migrations sont souvent choisies par les pays de destination et parfois aussi par les migrants, mais elles peuvent aussi s’imposer aux migrants (obligés de se déplacer pour garantir certains de leurs droits humains) et au pays (incapable de les contrôler ou les empêcher). Les migrants qualifiés marocains de la diaspora sont pour la plupart nés dans leur pays d’accueil ou sont sélectionnés au Maroc par leurs pays de destination. Des agences étrangères de recrutement des personnes qualifiées s’activent dans le pays. Le Maroc est conscient de la perte résultant de l’établissement de certaines de ses compétences à l’étranger, principalement en Europe et en Amérique du Nord, et essaie d’encourager leur retour. Les immigrés qualifiés vivant au Maroc ont diverses origines. Récemment, surtout certaines élites subsahariennes et des retraités européens ont élu domicile dans le pays. Les migrants qualifiés marocains devraient théoriquement bénéficier de tous leur droits aussi bien dans leurs pays d’accueil que d’origine. Mais en pratique, ils confrontent plusieurs problèmes socio juridiques et font parfois l’objet d’injustice et de déni de compétences. La condition juridique des immigrés qualifiés vivant au Maroc dépend de leur statut juridique (régulier ou irrégulier) et aussi parfois de leur origine. Un problème rencontré par une grande partie des migrants qualifiés (émigrés comme immigrés) actuellement est celui de la reconnaissance de leurs diplômes et la mise en valeur de leurs expériences. La migration qualifiée a un impact socio juridique au Maroc. Les Marocains de l’étranger ont eu une influence sur les réformes juridiques et institutionnelles introduites dans le pays depuis les années 2000. Par ailleurs, l’impact socio juridique de certaines compétences européennes et subsahariennes commence à se faire sentir dans le pays, même si cette migration reste très peu étudiée pour le moment. Abstract Morocco is affected by skilled migration. Skilled Moroccans live abroad and foreign skilled immigrants live in Morocco. The emigration of skilled Moroccans as well as qualified immigration to Morocco are both chosen and imposed. Migration is often chosen by host countries and by migrants, but may also be imposed on migrants (obliged to move for human-rights reasons) and on the country that is unable to control migration. Skilled Moroccan migrants were mainly born in their host country or were selected in Morocco by their host country. Indeed, foreign employment agencies search for potential skilled migrants in Morocco. Morocco is aware of the loss resulting from the settlement of its qualified citizens abroad, mostly in Europe and North America, and tries to foster their return. Skilled immigrants in Morocco have different origins. Some Sub Saharan elites and retired Europeans have recently settled in the country. Skilled Moroccan migrants should benefit from their rights in both origin and host countries, but they often face socio-legal problems and injustice and their skills are not always acknowledged.

Circular economic migration refers to circular movements, which are partly motivated by either making or saving money. Moroccan migration to Italy has been sedentary rather than circular over the past two decades due to four main factors: visa requirements; employee status and employment based work permits; low earnings; and the absence of a livelihood in Morocco. I present a typology of forms of circular migration between Morocco and Italy based on existing theoretical and empirical research on (circular) migration and interviews with 30 Moroccan circular economic migrants and 21 Italian and Moroccan policymakers, stakeholders, key informants and researchers, conducted during the period June-November 2010. Italian and Moroccan policies, which incentivise and obstruct circularity are also discussed.

Circular migration between Morocco and Spain is currently restricted to a very narrow labour niche, the temporary agricultural work. Despite the geographical proximity between the two countries and the large number of Moroccan immigrants on Spanish soil, circular migration characterises only a minimal part of the migratory phenomenon. Other forms of circularity found in close and similar countries also related with Morocco, as Italy, are not present in Spain due to a variety of geographical and institutional reasons. The short periods Moroccan circular migrants spend in Spain and the low qualification of their jobs result in a small effect on development on origin. The report presents proposals to enlarge the scope of circular migration and open it to more qualified jobs.

MIREM stands for MIgration de REtour au Maghreb. This collective research programme was launched in December 2005 and ended in December 2008. Today, MIREM and its deliverables (publications, statistics and field surveys on return migrants, conferences and seminars) are part of the RDP. Focusing on returnees’ aspirations, the core deliverable of the MIREM project is a comprehensive comparative database based on 992 interviews made with return migrants to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. As the collected data were gradually processed and analysed, it became clear that the distinction between migrants who decided on their own initiative to return to their country of origin and those who were compelled to do so constituted one key variable explaining returnees’ prospects of socio-professional reintegration back home. The main objective of the MIREM project lies in taking into better consideration the challenges linked to return migration as well as its impact on development. A whole set of analytical tools have been produced to shed light on the sociodemographic characteristics, conditions and patterns of reintegration of return migrants to the Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia). The project collected both quantitative and qualitative data in selected countries or regions.

This report covers migration in 18 EU neighbouring countries, including: Algeria; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Belarus; Egypt; Georgia; Jordan; Lebanon; Libya; Mauritania; Moldova; Morocco; Palestine; Russia; Syria; Tunisia; Turkey and Ukraine. Each country report provides the most recent update on the demographic, legal, and socio-political aspects of both inward and outward migration stocks and flows.

Le Maroc possède une législation nationale en matière de migration et il a adhéré aux principales conventions internationales relatives aux déplacements de population et aux droits humains. Diverses institutions spécialisées s’activent dans le domaine du droit de la migration et travaillent avec les migrants marocains et étrangers. En 2009 et 2010, il n’y a pas eu de grands développements dans le domaine du droit de la migration au Maroc. Ce droit est caractérisé par une certaine faille entre la théorie et la pratique. Les droits des migrants comportent certaines limites aussi bien en ce qui concerne les Marocains résidant à l’étranger que les étrangers immigrés dans le pays. Abstract Morocco has domestic legislation relating to migration and has also signed the most important international treaties concerning population movements and human rights. Various specialized institutions deal with migration law and work with migrants (emigrants and immigrants). In 2009 and 2010, there was no important development in the field of migration law. During this period, we can note though a discrepancy between theory and practice and some limits on migrants’ rights, for both Moroccans residing abroad and for immigrants living in Morocco.

The objective of this project is to clarify and compare the complex process of transnationalism. During the past few years, transnationalism has attained ever greater importance and topicality due to the increase in transnational mobility of people. In order to attain a comprehensive and valid insight into the topic in question we adopt a multilevel approach. The research conducted in Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Morocco, Turkey, and the United Kingdom addresses both policy documents and individual migrants, including labour migrants; posted workers; family-based migrants; humanitarian migrants, and foreign degree students. The focus lies on their transnational networks and political, economic, and socio-cultural activities. Moreover, the topic of transnational empowering is of central importance. The following transnational spaces will be taken as the main units to analyse the border-crossing relationships: Estonia/Finland, India/UK, Morocco/France, and Turkey/Germany. Research data will be gathered through content analysis of policy documents and semi-structured and life-course interviews among a selected sample of respondents in each participating country.

The objective of this project is to clarify and compare the complex process of transnationalism. During the past few years, transnationalism has attained ever greater importance and topicality due to the increase in transnational mobility of people. In order to attain a comprehensive and valid insight into the topic in question we adopt a multilevel approach. The research conducted in Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Morocco, Turkey, and the United Kingdom addresses both policy documents and individual migrants, including labour migrants; posted workers; family-based migrants; humanitarian migrants, and foreign degree students. The focus lies on their transnational networks and political, economic, and socio-cultural activities. Moreover, the topic of transnational empowering is of central importance. The following transnational spaces will be taken as the main units to analyse the border-crossing relationships: Estonia/Finland, India/UK, Morocco/France, and Turkey/Germany. Research data will be gathered through content analysis of policy documents and semi-structured and life-course interviews among a selected sample of respondents in each participating country.

Le Maroc constitue un bassin migratoire important. Si le territoire a constitué, au cours de toute cette première moitié du XXème siècle, un pays d'immigration accueillant des flux migratoires relativement importants en provenance d’un certain nombre de pays européens, il est également et progressivement devenu depuis un pays d'émigration à destination des pays de l'Union européenne dans sa grande majorité. L'émigration marocaine vers cet espace est en effet devenue, depuis les années 1960, un phénomène sociétal majeur. Reste, toutefois, que le Maroc ne constitue pas seulement un foyer d’émigration dans la double mesure essentielle où il est aussi devenu un espace de transit pour de nombreux jeunes migrants originaires principalement de l’Afrique subsaharienne, et s’inscrit dans une tendance croissante à devenir un pays de résidence pour ces derniers. Morocco has always been an important migration hub. While it was an immigration country during the first half of the twentieth century, receiving relatively important migratory flows from a range of European countries, it has also become, in recent times, an emigration country, mainly towards European Union countries. Moroccan emigration towards the EU has become a major social issue. However, Morocco is not only defined as an emigration hub. It has also become a space for transit for young migrants from Sub-Saharan African countries, and it has become a country of residence for many of them.

This paper uses the recent survey carried out in the framework of the MIREM project on returnees to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia and studies the duration of emigration and the labour force status upon returning. The results suggest that age and the year of emigration play a central role in the migration decision, but they do not support the hypothesis that the duration of migration is determined by the desired labour market status upon returning home.

Actualisée à la mi-novembre 2010, la présente note d’analyse et de synthèse constitue un état des lieux d’un point de vue socio-politique, sur l’application au Maroc de la démarche genre et migration. Le recours à cette méthode étant encore très embryonnaire, il s’agira de montrer ci-dessous l’intérêt du recours à cette approche, le pourquoi du retard de son adoption, les efforts entrepris sur le plan des institutions, de la société civile et du milieu de la recherche, pour jeter les bases de la saisie de la question de la migration internationale pour le Maroc (émigration et immigration) à l’aune de l’analyse genre. En procédant à une relecture de la trajectoire de la migration marocaine d’hier avec une grille de lecture « gendérisée », la première partie consiste à montrer en quoi et pourquoi a prédominé jusqu’à une période très récente, d’abord le suivi d’une politique migratoire choisie au masculin, qui n’équivaut pas nécessairement au déni de la migration au féminin. La nécessité est donc d’aborder au niveau analytique les silences relatifs au genre qui continuent de caractériser certains aspects de la question migratoire au Maroc, l’objectif étant de restituer la part prise par les femmes marocaines dans ces flux. La seconde partie retrace et évalue les efforts entrepris aujourd’hui par les différents acteurs institutionnels marocains dans la sphère migratoire, dans la prise en charge de ce vaste domaine multidimensionnel, en ayant recours aux instruments et aux ressorts de la méthode d’analyse et d’action en termes de genre. Abstract This text presents, in a sociopolitical perspective, a state of the art of the Gender and Migration approach in Morocco. It first deals with the positive significance of this approach, and then focuses on the recent attempts of the institutions, the civil society and the academics aiming at developing a gender-analysis of migrations in Morocco. The first part reviews the history of Moroccan migration in order to explain why, and how, male migration have been dominant in migration policies, although this does not mean that female migration where totally ignored. In other word, this text deals with the unspoken part of the analysis of migration in Morocco in order to restore the women’s role in this phenomenon. The second part presents the recent effort of various Moroccan institutions dealing with migration issues in order to apply to the Moroccan case the methods and the instruments of the gender approach.

Data on how patterns of migration to Europe have developed. The THEMIS international project team investigated what makes people decide to migrate, why some of those initial moves to Europe result in the formation of significant migration systems, and why some migration processes simply tail off or stagnate. This involved a comparative study of the evolution of migrant groups following different migration trajectories from several regions of three origin countries (Brazil, Morocco and Ukraine) to selected areas in four destination countries (UK, Norway, the Netherlands and Portugal).