Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
110
3.3.1. The Scale and Profile of Forced Migrants
Morocco’s increasingly prominent role as country of destination
Morocco, along with most other countries of the Maghreb, has long taken advantage of its
proximity to the wealthier European continent through migration. In 2012, it was estimated
that 4.5 million Moroccans lived abroad, a tenth of the country’s total population.264 Eighty-
five percent of the Moroccan diaspora live in Europe, with France and Spain serving as
especially popular destinations.265 This migration flow was initially facilitated by “guest
worker” labor recruitment agreements between Morocco and various European states in the
1960s,266 and has continued through today despite increasingly restrictive European
immigration policies—due to family-related migration, irregular migration, and persistent
labor migration.267
While the emigration of Moroccan nationals has continued, since the 1990s an increasing
number of migrants trying to reach Europe via Morocco have been sub-Saharan migrants.
There exists a long history of trans-Saharan migration, following the pattern of nomadic and
trade routes used by populations before colonization. Sub-Saharan flows exhibit hallmarks of
both forced and voluntary migration, and many individuals have mixed motivations for
migration. Some groups in Morocco, such as the Congolese, may qualify as refugees under the
1951 Convention as they have fled conflicts or persecution. Many others may not meet the
definition of “refugee” but are still compelled to migrate due to political instability,
environmental degradation, poverty, or lack of economic opportunity.
Migrants’ journeys across the Sahara vary widely, and are often taken in several stages as
migrants temporarily settle in towns along the way to work and save money to move
onward.268 Irregular migrants have traditionally crossed into Morocco from Algeria through
the border town of Oujda, from where they may head to the coast to cross the Strait of
Gibraltar into Spain, move toward the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla to enter Spain by
land, or seek work in Rabat or Casablanca, where they may settle either temporarily or
permanently.269
264 Mryiam Cherti and Peter Grant, The Myth of Transit: Sub-Saharan Migration in Morocco, (London: IPPR, 2013), 9,
265 Cherti and Grant, The Myth of Transit, 9; Hein de Haas, “Morocco: Setting the Stage for Becoming a Migration Transition
Country?,” Migration Information Source, March 19, 2014,
266 As strong economic growth in Western Europe in the 1960s drove up demand for low-skilled labor, many European
countries (most notably Germany) signed labor agreements with Mediterranean countries. During this period, Morocco
signed labor recruitment agreements with West Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Some of these agreements
came with terms meant to restrict permanent immigration. For example, the Moroccan agreement with West Germany was
limited to unmarried persons, whose sojourn was limited to two years with no subsequent family immigration. However,
many Moroccan migrants in Western Europe ended up settling permanently due to an era of economic and political
instability in Morocco during the 1970’s. Hein de Haas, “Morocco: From Emigration Country to Africa’s Migration Passage to
Europe,” Migration Information Source, October 1, 2005,
Goethe Institut, “Anwerbeabkommen (Recruitment agreements),” accessed
June 16, 2016,
267 Hein de Haas, “Morocco: From Emigration Country to Africa’s Migration Passage to Europe”
268 Hein de Haas, Irregular Migration from West Africa to the Maghreb and the European Union: An Overview of Recent Trends,
(Geneva: International Organization for Migration, 2008), 17
269 de Haas, Irregular Migration from West Africa to the Maghreb and the European Union, 17