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Fatima, a Moroccan farm-worker, is expected to leave Almonte (Huelva) for Tangier on Tuesday, 5th of June, after her bosses at a farm told her, and 50 other women, that the strawberry picking season has ended for this year.
Speaking to El Espanol one day before having to leave southern Spain, the Moroccan national who chose Fatima as a nickname to protect her identity, arrived in Huelva on April the 27th. She is one of the 19,000 Moroccan strawberry pickers temporary hired this year by Spain.
However, Fatima is being sent to Morocco two months before the expiry of her visa. Showing her passport to El Espanol, the farm worker argued that she is allowed to work in Spain until the 31st of July.
Sent away before reporting abuse
For her, women in the farm where she works are being sent away after numerous Moroccan strawberry pickers in the region filed complaints, accusing their managers of sexually abusing them.
«They want to make us leave so that we do not report abuse, they want to get rid of us», Fatima told the Spanish newspaper.
«They want to take us out of the farms before others know about what happens inside».
In her account, Fatima stated that they made her work only for 20 days and that if they don’t pay her today on her way to Morocco she wouldn’t have enough money to pay for the ferry. According to the same source 104 women are expected to leave the farm where Fatima works on Thursday, heading to the Kingdom.
A new strategy
For the Andalusia workers syndicate (SAT), sending workers back to their country is a business strategy these farms use to avoid getting into troubles. According to the body that accompanied nine women on Sunday when lodging complaints against their managers, farms are trying to send their employees home before they report abuse like the others.
The above-mentioned complaint was lodged after four other Moroccan female workers did the same on Friday, accusing their manager in a Moguer farm of allegedly abusing them.
Speaking of complaints, Morocco’s consul general in Seville Farid Oulhaj told El Pais on Monday that he has not received complaints for sexual abuse. He, however, declared that the consulate was sent only reports related to «work conditions».
He told the same source that he has let the government know about the complaints and argued that he can’t tell if Morocco is going to implement new ways to improve work conditions when concluding next year’s agreement.
For now, the measure that has been taken by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training consists of setting up a support system to accompany female strawberry pickers in Spain.
Announced Monday by Mohamed Yatim, the initiative aims to monitor the Moroccan farm workers' situation, facilitate their integration and protect them when needed.
For the record, in Almonte also, hundreds of Moroccan women were held in a strawberry farm in Huelva, Spain, Sunday awaiting their deportation to Morocco. Local media believes that these women are being prevented from ratifying sexual abuses allegations against their managers.
