Morocco cannot let its territories to serve as a shelter for human trafficking networks and refuses to play the policeman in the region, minister delegate for Relations with Parliament and Civil Society, government spokesman, Mustapha El Khalfi, said Thursday in Rabat. In a statement read at a press briefing following the weekly cabinet meeting, El Khalfi said that after following a presentation on the fight against illegal immigration made by the Interior Minister, the Council stressed that upon Royal Instructions, the Kingdom of Morocco has adopted since 2013 a new national strategy to deal with immigration with includes humanitarian and solidarity dimensions, an initiative which made of Morocco a model to follow at the regional and continental levels in terms of management of migratory flows. Two operations to regularize the legal and administrative situation of illegal immigrants were carried out in 2014 and 2017, which led to the regularization of the legal situation of approximately 50,000 migrants, 90% of whom are sub-Saharan, the minister added. Morocco has also worked, in coordination with the diplomatic representations of the countries concerned and the international organizations in charge of migration, to ensure the voluntary return of migrants to their countries of origin while respecting their dignity and their rights, El Khalfi pointed out, adding that 22,000 immigrants have benefited from this operation since 2014, including 1,400 in 2018. As part of Morocco's fight against all forms of organized crime, Moroccan security services thwarted in 2018 more than 54,000 illegal immigration attempts, dismantled 74 criminal human trafficking networks and seized 1,900 boats, the minister said. He added that Morocco, which continues to defend the principle of shared responsibility, has adopted a solidarity approach with all the countries concerned by the problem of illegal immigration and calls on all partners to greater interaction in order to achieve the expected objectives.
