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On Wednesday evening, the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presented the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018, compiled by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
In the section dedicated to the human rights situation in Morocco, the US Department of State hailed the progress made by the Kingdom without neglecting failures.
The document made sure to feature condemnatory voices and those of the government without commenting on the two stands. This was witnessed in the passage reporting on Morocco’s migration policy.
The US diplomat indicated, quoting London-based NGO Amnesty International, that «since July law enforcement authorities seized an estimated 5,000 persons, including thousands of sub-Saharan migrants, and forcibly relocated them from areas neighboring the straits of Gibraltar and the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta to the south of the country or near the Algerian border».
The department added that these migrants, included «14 asylum-seekers and four refugees registered with UNHCR in the country who authorities forcibly transferred to the south».
The US Department of State featured the response of the Moroccan government, referring to government spokesperson Mustapha Khalfi and the Ministry of Interior.
«The operations transferring migrants to other cities were in accordance with national laws that fight illegal immigration», wrote the department, quoting El Khalfi.
The report also welcomed the «exceptional regularization of persons in irregular situation under the 2016 migrant regularization program», noting that the Moroccan government «continued to grant status to UNHCR-recognized refugees and temporary status to registered Syrians».
Meanwhile, the document neglected reports on «police violence» reported by NGOs such as the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH).
