On June 2020, a panel discussion was conducted by Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism [GRFDT], on the topic, ‘’ Livelihood of Migrants during COVID-19 and Future Challenges’’.
Prof. Bahija Jamal is an associate professor of International Law and International Relations at Hassan II University in Casablanca, Morocco, who shared her views on the livelihood of migrants in COVID-19, focussing on her country, Morocco, which sees a large influx of migrant workers every year.
COVID-19, Morocco and Immigrants
Prof. Jamal stated that alongside being a migration route to Europe, Morocco is also a city of immigrants. Morocco is both a migrant and transit country and a recipient country. Her talk focussed on how the immigrants in Morocco have been impacted due to COVID- 19 pandemic and what the government has done for them. Within the scope of the methodology, the Moroccan authorities adopted the balance dilemma, the security approach and the human rights-based approach until 2013.The dilemma of security and human rights with respect to migrants was sorted by the authorities until 2013 and became an important issue.This is about the response of the Moroccan authorities to living immigrants.
Several studies have been conducted on human rights, asylum and immigration, but Morocco being a transit country and a source country for immigration to Europe, there is a lot of wrong information in the literature regarding irregular immigration.
The country had an important policy reform in 2013 on immigration and the legality of immigrants. With the help of campaigns and access to policy, the situation of thousands of irregular migrants has improved in the country. There are undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, including irregular migrants, who have benefited from this policy reform.The situation of around 50 thousand irregular migrants has improved and is now around 20-30 thousand. There are 850 refugees, 6060 asylum-seekers. The Kuna and Miroki regions where migrants are concentrated have also adopted an immigration policy.
A Golden Age has been Experienced in the Region
Policies are in place to prevent human trafficking. With the recognition by UNHCR and the issuance of documents, the standards have increased a little more and as the academician has stated, “a golden age has been experienced in the region”. In the context of irregular migration, there was a decrease, especially between 2014 and 2017, and there was a dispute among the authorities about adopting immigrants and refugees.There are 11 strategy proposal programs for the adoption of the migrants and refugees strategy.Some of these programs have concerned access to health services, employment access and housing. Bahija Jamal emphasized these three programs with great emphasis because there were problems in the implementation of these programs.Human and integration policy was adopted in 2013.They have a growing economy, but they undertake a lot, although economically very limited.
Prof. Bahija Jamal further said that on March 16, Rene Morocco adopted a preventive policy on the pandemic. The government’s restrictive approach to COVID-19 has been addressed.According to her, restrictive approach has been used to restrict migrants from public spaces. Only a few people, who have a signed official document- written only in Arabic can go out. The immigrants usually have very crowded families, and live in small spaces, and hence are more prone to infection. Thus, the government has used restrictive approach to restrict the spread of the virus.
Casablanca is a region where irregular immigrants are facing difficulties in terms of both public and civil society. Women, especially pregnant women, have difficulties in accessing healthcare facilities. Although approximately 1500 migrants work in informal services and mobile jobs, work and employment has been stagnant for them due to the pandemic. Most importantly, these people do not have access to the official documents. The absence of documents has severely restricted the movement area of immigrants, but also restricted their access to many things. The reason for all the problems caused by poverty is their limited access.
Sümeyra Tahta, an International Relationsstudentworking on Migration, lives likemigratorybirds. https://twitter.com/SmyraTahta