The scene was commented on by the world’s media. Candidates for irregular emigration, most of them Moroccan minors, rush to the Fnideq border post, hoping to reach Spain. With this embarrassing question: is Morocco really developing?
The images caused a national shockwave. Risking their lives, hundreds, even thousands of would-be irregular migrants were trying to reach the occupied Spanish enclave of Ceuta on September 15, 2024, in search of a better tomorrow. The scenes also reawakened old demons, associated with a poor Morocco, where the heart of its population, the youth, prefers to perish in the sea, rather than live in a country where the horizon seems obscure.
Even more shocking is the age of these migrants, the majority of whom are Moroccan minors. Fueled by calls for encouragement on social media, these young candidates for exile flocked to the border post in the Moroccan city of Fnideq, near the occupied city of Ceuta. On social media or local media, they expressed their weariness and embarrassment at living in a country that, they insist, offers them no jobs, no supervision, and no prospects for social reintegration. But who are these minors who are driven by the idea of leaving the kingdom? Why have they lost all hope, at a time when Morocco has been experiencing development on several levels for two decades?
While a third of the population is under 18, each year, more than 300,000 children leave the Moroccan public school system, according to the UN. This alarming situation, which is compounded by several cyclical and structural problems, undermines the development of this part of the population.
Raising awareness.
“What we observed on Sunday must raise awareness. For our part, we have identified approximately 150 minors who were trying to reach the occupied city of Ceuta, on their own initiative or at the incitement of their families. We hold the government responsible for its approach to developing the region which has proven to be flawed. Unfortunately, there are no adequate structures to support these young people,” says Achraf Maimouni, a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) in Tetouan, who believes that poverty is the factor behind the destitution of these young people. “Thousands of families cannot even provide for their needs, how do you expect them to take care of their children?” he asks angrily.
According to the High Commission for Planning (HCP), although the rate of multidimensional poverty in Morocco has recorded a reduction, from 40% in 2001 to 9.1% in 2014, then to 5.7% in 2022, the challenges are still numerous. In addition to school dropout, the absence of sports centers, and support centers for minors, the six consecutive years of drought, the Covid-19 pandemic, and inflation have only worsened an already explosive situation.
Explosive situation
Faced with this lack of communication and this crisis, the president of the PPS group in the House of Representatives sent a letter to the president of the Committee on the Interior, Local Authorities, Housing, Urban Policy, and Administrative Affairs in the House of Representatives, requesting the convening of a meeting of the committee to examine the events of Fnideq.
The PPS group also demands the presence of the Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, to answer the questions of public opinion, which was shocked by attempts at migration by hundreds of minors. According to the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE), there are 1.5 million young people in Morocco who are neither in employment nor in education or training. These are worrying figures, but they do not surprise Nabila Mounib, MP and former general secretary of the Unified Socialist Party (PSU).
“We have experienced phases of immigration of this type before, but the percentage of minors among the candidates is unprecedented. The government makes promises that it is incapable of keeping. Brains are also leaving the country. There is a bourgeoisie that lives in luxury and what do we do with the other Moroccans? It is a government that impoverishes the poor and enriches the rich and that does not dare to start the reforms that the country needs,” denounces Ms. Mounib, according to whom it is urgent to rehabilitate the school, restore hope, and put marginalized regions on the development path. Will the government emerge from its lethargic state after the events of Fnideq? The coming days promise to be decisive.
