Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
109
of creating jobs for refugees are also likely to improve labor market prospects for native
Jordanians.259
In the long-term, it is unclear how many refugees will eventually return home, or when. The
size and protracted nature of the Syrian refugee crisis may require Jordan to rethink its
reluctance to integrate refugees in order to avoid creating a population that is stuck in
intergenerational poverty and dependency. Ensuring refugees are able to support themselves
and their families, and access critical services like health care and education, will be crucial to
maintaining social and economic stability both in Jordan and in the region. Help and support
from the international community is critical to accomplishing this policy shift, particularly
given the very real fears among Jordanian policymakers of repeating the Palestinian
experience. Recent efforts by the Jordanian government to extend work authorization to
Syrians—supported by the international community via the Jordan compact—are a
meaningful step in this direction.
3.3. MOROCCO260
Seated at the top of Africa and separated from Europe by just nine miles, Morocco holds an
important position in the West and North African migration networks. Long before mixed
flows of refugees and migrants began to cross the Eastern Mediterranean Sea in large
numbers in 2014 and 2015, the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco and the
Strait of Gibraltar served as a major pathway to Europe. In 2000, over 47,000 unauthorized
migrants were detected entering the Spanish African enclaves, and a further 13,000 were
found crossing the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain.261 Increased Spanish border enforcement in
these areas shifted migration flows to the south; in the mid-2000s, the route between Senegal,
Mauritania, and Morocco and the Spanish Canary Islands was the most popular for irregular
migrants, peaking at 32,000 migrants in 2006.262
Through increased border control and cooperation between Morocco and Spain, flows from
West Africa into Europe through Morocco have greatly decreased. But immigration into
Morocco has continued, forcing the country to reconcile its role as a traditional country of
emigration and transit with its newfound status as a destination country. As such, it has begun
the process of developing a comprehensive immigration and asylum strategy—unique in the
region. This was catalyzed in 2013 by increasing criticism from national and international
observers about the country’s treatment of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. In
response, King Mohammed VI ordered that Morocco take steps to improve the condition of
forced migrants, leading to the establishment of a “national legal and institutional framework
of asylum,”263 which has the potential to become the first comprehensive asylum law in the
Arab World.
259 Alexander Betts and Paul Collier, “Jordan’s Refugee Experiment: A New Model for Helping the Displaced,” Foreign Affairs ,
April 28, 2016,
260 This chapter was written by Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Bart Bachman, with contributions fromWiam Khalifa.
261 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Transnational Organized Crime in West Africa: A Threat Assessment,
(Vienna: UNODC, 2013), 26,
262 UNODC, Transnational Organized Crime in West Africa, 27
263 Conseil national des droits de l’homme (CNDH), Conclusions et recommandations du rapport : « Etrangers et droits de
l’Homme au Maroc: pour une politique d’asile et d’immigration radicalement nouvelle », (Rabat: CNDH, 2013), 4,