Interception of migrants on the Moroccan/Spain border. (Photo: Beating Borders, 2014)"We are in Morocco
Here, many Blacks have lost their lives
Here, it's Boukhalef
The Moroccans call us azzia
They talk about us to scare their children
And when they see us they flee
Oh oh, it hurts us".
Written by the Senegalese musician and no borders activist
living in Tangier, Xelu Baye Fall, these words (translated from Wolof) are written “for all the people
who have died at the border/For all the people who have died at the
fences." The song is about Charles Paul Alphonse Ndour, a 26 year-old Senegalese man who was killed by Moroccan men in Tangier
in August 2014. The lyrics reference the racism and violence experienced daily
in Morocco by sub-Saharan Africans. “Azzia”, meaning black-skinned, is a
derogatory term used primarily against sub-Saharans, along with the taunt
“Ebola”.
It is crucial to connect the everyday racism experienced
by sub-Saharans in Morocco with the overt racism of the deadly EU border regime: the
militarisation of the border as the EU spends millions to build fences (in 2015
Morocco built a fourth razor wire fence and deep trench at the border to Melilla with EU funding), the refusal of a safe passage to Europe to
avoid the deaths of thousands at sea, and detaining people who do
reach Europe in prison-like conditions. It was, after all, the colonial powers
of Europe who were the first to impose borders across the Sahara where there had previously been none, stopping the
previous high levels of migration that resulted in the collapse of
trans-Saharan trade.
The outsourcing of European border control
As a key country of transit from sub-Saharan Africa to
Europe, Morocco has proven to be the most reliable partner out of all the
countries in North Africa for the EU’s strategic policies of closing borders
and controlling migration flows into Europe. Hidden behind a proclaimed
humanitarian discourse of “supporting good governance and human rights” –
daily (often violent) raids, the destruction of migrant camps, “hot
deportations” (the unlawful return of migrants immediately after
capture by the Spanish authorities before an asylum claim can be made), and inhumane deportations to Morocco’s southern
borders – are all carried out using money provided by the EU. It difficult to believe that EU member states are concerned for the development of civil
society and integration of sub-Saharans in Morocco when they fail to offer
adequate care for unaccompanied children within their own countries, as seen in Calais in recent weeks.
The deals forged between the EU and
Morocco represent the neocolonialist outsourcing of border and migration
controls from Europe to countries in Africa, whilst the former simultaneously
avert their eyes from the human rights violations commited by state
authorities – particularly sub-Saharan communities in the context of Morocco.
These deals serve as a prototype for similar agreements, often made with
dictators – who, as
Shell has declared, can often provide a
“stable environment” in which investments and deals can be more easily
brokered. Earlier this year, The New Statesman acquired documents
regarding the EU’s secret plans to curtail migration from Africa, which openly
acknowledged that they would face “criticism by NGOs and civil society for
engaging with repressive governments on migration” including Sudan, Eritrea and
Ethiopia – the former two both being investigated for war crimes by the UN and
International Criminal Court.
The very recognition of the governments of these
countries as “repressive” highlights the EU’s explicit disregard for people
migrating who would be classified as refugees under the European Convention of
Human Rights. Rather, the EU is attempting to ensure that people suffering from
the neocolonial exploitation and nurturing of conflicts throughout Africa by
Western countries (Ivory Coast, Sudan, Central Africa, Congo, Libya) and many
of Africa’s own repressive governments cannot escape. As noted by one Nigerian migrant living in Morocco, “the
Europeans taught it to us”, referring to how colonial European states acted as
economic migrants en masse – exploiting and extracting resources and labour
from their colonies.
The offloading of responsibility onto countries such
as Morocco permits people such as Juan José Imbroda, leader of the Spanish
Melilla council, to declare: “We’re no longer in the
headlines for illegal immigration because it isn’t a problem any more” – while
the hospital in Nador received over 742 people in 2014 for injuries
sustained during attempts to cross the fences and the resulting
violence from Moroccan and Spanish authorities. An arrangement made between the EU and
Morocco in 2006 – in which Morocco was given €67 million to strengthen its border
controls – even allows EU member states to deport sub-Saharan migrants to
Morocco rather than their country of origin.
Stuck
in Morocco
Once in Morocco, people seeking to migrate find
themselves trapped: they are neither able to enter Europe nor able to return to
the country they travelled from. One woman, living in the makeshift camps in Boukhalef said, “We came here to pass through, not to
stay, but we are stuck here…The Moroccans see us like sheep. They do not accept
foreigners. There is no work or security for us in this country.”
One year after the EU-Morocco Action plan was
implemented in 2013 – approving a budget of €150 million for Morocco to create
closer ties between the EU and Morocco – the regularisation program was brought in. It
lasted for one year from January 2014 and was heralded as an explicitly “humanitarian” act by the Moroccan
government and media.
This masked the fact that the program – offering one
year residency status – was selective and limited for sub-Saharan migrants. Many
sub-Saharans were unable to prove that they had lived in Morocco for five years
– the primary qualification needed – as it is common practice for police to
stop people perceived to be sub-Saharan and strip them of their documents and
deport them, in an attempt to give the impression that they are stemming
migration flows into Europe. Moroccan authorities are paid per migrant they “catch” by the EU,
allegedly to pay for the costs of “adequate” detention conditions, and
deportation to one’s country of origin.
However, many sub-Saharans living in Tangier –
including those with regularisation status – describe the experience of being
picked up by Moroccan officials who drive them to the sea, take details and a
photo of them being caught “attempting to cross” to Europe as proof, and then
drive them back to Tangier or further south within Morocco. The Moroccan police
are accused of individually pocketing the money from the EU, raising questions
about whether the EU should continue to fund these corrupt practices.
Due to the regularisation program, a small number of
sub-Saharan migrants are now theoretically able to access education, health and
vocational support. However, daily structural and institutional discrimination
and racism persist: many are still subjected to arbitrary arrests (regardless
of whether they posses documents legalising their stay in Morocco or not) and
are regularly denied employment opportunities or rental accommodation. Individual and personal racism continued;
the fact that Charles Ndour had regularisation status in Morocco didn’t stop
him from being attacked and killed.
For example, after 232 people managed to cross into Ceuta
(Spanish territory) on October 31st, Moroccan authorities responded
with mass arrests in Tangier a week later, injuring at least
one person and holding over 80 people (all sub-Saharan) overnight in the police
station, including people with UNHCR papers and valid passports (having stayed
in Morocco for less than three months). 18 people were deported the next
morning to Fez, a four-and-a-half hour drive away. Often the police take
people’s phone, documents and any money the person has
with them, so that when they are kicked out after a deportation they have none
of their belongings with them or means to get back to Tangier.
At the same time, the regularisation program has made
it easier for the Moroccan government to monitor and persecute its citizens –
as echoed in the words of Charki Draiss of the interior ministry who asserted: “We gave them many opportunities, and
now if they don’t want to stay, Morocco will have to apply the law for the sake
of security”. For these reasons, many who received the year-long residents card
still want to reach Europe.
Arrests
and deportations in the forests
Regular violations of human rights have carried on
after the program. Early in February 2015, the Moroccan authorities ambushed migrant camps near the border to Mellila, destroying
and burning their camp and belongings, and detaining over
1200 people including children. Three days later, raids, arrests and the total
destruction of camps took place in numerous forests around Nador. Afterwards, many
moved to forests further afield, and the Moroccan authorities continue to come and
destroy the camps – where people live without access to drinking water or
proper shelter – arresting and deporting people they find. Small material
donations such as clothes or food, sent by supporters, are often intercepted
and destroyed by police.
As a result of these months of physical attacks and
psychological terror, people living in the forests remain in a constant state
of anxiety. One woman, living in a camp around Tangier said: “We live in the
forest as if we were dead people… they treat us like animals… you cannot even
sleep. Even if you rent an apartment, you have no security, then can come at
any instant, break the door, burn your things, put you outside… it is total
insecurity, especially for us, the women.”
The developing European border regime – assisted by migration
deterrence agency Frontex –
demonstrates the active awareness with which the EU and its member states
ensure that people cannot reach Europe or die trying. But, regardless of how many new barriers are
erected or border guards employed, resistance and the struggle for freedom of movement for everyone will
continue. People in Morocco dreaming of Europe are not
going back; people continue to cross borders daily.
The increasing awareness with which Europe reinforces its borders is only
resulting in more fatalities – deaths that lie in the
hands of the EU and its member states.