Morocco prevented more than 75,000 irregular migration attempts last year
The Ministry of the Interior of Morocco has reported that in 2023 there were six assaults on the border fences with Ceuta and Melilla, in which about 1,000 migrants participated, a reduction of 62% compared to the previous year. This is clear from an annual report in which the Government estimates that last year it stopped 75,184 irregular migration attempts in different areas of the country, an increase of 6% compared to 2022, while it would have dismantled 419 networks dedicated to trafficking people, 44% more.
Morocco rescued more than 16,000 migrants at sea
With regard to maritime operations, the Ministry has indicated that it rescued more than 16,800 migrants – a 35% increase -, although at the beginning of the month the Armed Forces had also reported about 87,000 interventions in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean , entry routes to Spain. The Government of Morocco defends these figures as a sign of its “solidarity” commitment with all partners and its contribution “to regional security and the fight against cross-border trafficking networks”, according to the statement collected by the news agency MAP official.
Morocco commits to “respecting the rights of migrants”
Rabat, who also refers to “an unstable regional context and full of multiple threats”, argues that King Mohammad VI has chosen to make “respect for the rights of migrants” the axis of the National Immigration Strategy and Asylum, “within a logic of solidarity and inclusion”. The Moroccan Ministry of the Interior frames within this strategy the massive regularizations of 2014 and 2016, from which more than 50,000 people benefited, and ensures that in 2023 it facilitated the voluntary return of 5,844 migrants to their countries of origin – an increase of 62 percent if compared to 2022 -.
