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# taz.de -- EU migration policy in northern Africa: The logic of mobsters
> The EU will only create more misery with its migration policy. As long as
> exploitation persists, people will try to get to Europe.
Bild: Protest for refugee's rights in Malaga, Spain
The situation could hardly be more paradoxical: on the one hand, one speaks
in a dramatized and exaggerated manner of the tens of thousands of
sub-Saharan migrants living in Morocco and waiting to „penetrate“ Europe.
But when it comes to taking responsibility for the gaps in the boat, which
are a direct consequence of the European migration policy, the numbers are
often played down and talk of some „illegal“ drowned.
The figures given in the first case are often the subject of negotiations
on grants or political and diplomatic dividends. They are published in
Europe by populist media in order to create anxiety among the population,
thus justifying the implementation of a migration policy that is
exclusively attributable to the security disposition. For this reason, it
is absolutely necessary to critically examine and question the figures
circulating with regard to the so-called irregular migration.
The European Union has just started to build so-called hot spots on its
territory, and many camps outside the EU, aimed at destroying those
migrants wishing to move towards Europe and, on the other, those who are
from Europe Have been deported. In order to safeguard this logic, the EU
invents a whole new set of new concepts to protect its policy against the
public. So one hears again and again from so-called „safe third countries“
or „safe countries of origin“.
Jurists may have wondered when they suddenly saw countries like Turkey,
Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, which the European Union considers safe. It
is no longer that those countries are classified as safe third-country and
/ or countries of origin which guarantee the basic rights and freedoms of
the citizens, but simply those who accept it to register themselves in the
logic of the externalization of EU border policy. This means that for the
EU, a country is considered to be „safe“ when its political leaders are
both willing to stop migrants on their way to Europe, as well as those
refugees who are returning as transit migrants through their country
Traveled.
## Shameful and unscrupulous
In the context of this migration policy, the EU has declared Morocco as a
„safe third country“ and has given this country the role of „border arms�…
for part of its external borders. The basic idea is to give responsibility
for one's own actions and to leave the others the „dirty work“.
For the implementation of this policy, the EU is spending billions of Euros
and is attracting political and economic dividends as incentives for the
countries concerned. Are not the signatories of these treaties subject to
the same mafia logic as the tugs, which they condemn as shameful and
unscrupulous?
Despite the alarming human rights situation of sub-Saharan migrants in
Morocco, this country is classified as a „safe third country“. It ignores
the fact that there are continual arrests and deportations from the
northern border towns of Nador and Tangier, and those affected in the large
cities of Casablanca, Rabat and Fès are simply exposed on the road. Those
who have no papers are often deported to Oujda, where they are thrown into
a ditch seven meters deep, which has been lifted to prevent the entry of
migrants from Algeria to Morocco.
## Recognized and without support
However, migrants who have been recognized by the UN refugee agency UNHCR
and the Moroccan state are also denied the issuance of a passport. Access
to the labor market and hospitals is also extremely limited.
There is only a chance for treatment if an employee of an antiracist group
or NGO accompanies her. Furthermore, access to school education for migrant
children is very difficult, despite official regulations, because there is
no support or accompanying measures that ensure that most parents live in
extremely precarious circumstances. In some schools even refugees are
simply rejected. Another example of a particularly serious form of
discrimination are sub-Saharan refugees who are begging on the street. In
contrast to Syrian and Moroccan beggars, they are frequently arrested,
imprisoned or deported to the Algerian border.
The EU's repressive and human rights-taking policy will certainly not stop
the migration from sub-Saharan Africa. It will at most lead to a shift in
the migration routes and drive the number of death victims even further.
This recognition should have been achieved in the meantime in Europe and
thus a change of course towards a humanist policy which respects the
fundamental rights of migrants.
## Exploitation as a cause of escape
The billions spent on European frontier protection and militarization will
not stop the migration from sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, the EU should have
the courage to name the true causes of migration and act accordingly. This
includes, on the one hand, the fact that many European corporations have no
interest in the ending of armed conflicts in Africa and, on the other, the
fact that the exploitation of natural resources is supported or even
promoted by multinational corporations by European and African governments.
As long as these mechanisms of exploitation and hegemonic power do not
change, people will continue to leave their countries.
As far as the commitment of the „Afrique Europe“ network is concerned, we
have decided, in view of the current situation, to take concrete measures
for the sub-Saharan women who arrive in Morocco and do not have a place to
live. For them, we have built a shelter called Baobab. It is open to them
and their children and has capacity for about 20 people. While the demand
for seats is constantly increasing, capacity can unfortunately not be
expanded. In September, we also started to set up a school education
program for refugee children and have so far been able to integrate 30
children into the schools. For this project we are looking for individuals
or organizations who would like to sponsor the school education of refugee
children in Morocco
The author studied economics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
was active in the student organization of the opposition party „Union for
Democracy and Social Progress“ (UPDS). In 2002, he was imprisoned in the
course of a demonstration against the regime of Joseph Kabila, but was able
to flee. Since 2008 he lives and works in the Netherlands. He is an
anti-racist activist in the network Afrique Europe Interact and author of
the book „My Way from Congo to Europe – Between Resistance, Flight and
Exile“ (2015)
14 Dec 2016
## AUTOREN
Emmanuel Mbolela
## TAGS
migControl
Marokko
EU
Schwerpunkt Flucht
migControl
migControl
EU-Flüchtlingspolitik
Schwerpunkt Flucht
## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA
Integration von Migranten in Marokko: Auf Sand gebaut
Die EU, allen voran Spanien und Deutschland wollen Flüchtlinge und
Migranten von Europa fernhalten. Das Kalkül geht nur zum Teil auf.
Spanische Exklaven in Marokko: Ein heißer Zaun
Immer wieder versuchen Menschen die Grenzanlagen in Ceuta und Melilla zu
überwinden. Spanische Behörden schieben sie rechtswidrig unmittelbar ab.
Debatte EU-Flüchtlingspolitik in Afrika: Europas neuer Umriss
Unter Merkels Führung verteidigt die EU neuerdings ihre Außengrenzen tief
in Afrika. Das soll die Migration nach Europa radikal stoppen.
Kommentar Wiener Flüchtlingsgipfel: Vor allem Grenzen sichern
Es ging in Wien nicht darum, die Migration in geordnete Bahnen zu lenken.
Die europäische Flüchtlingspolitik war schon mal weiter.
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