Strengthening Efforts to Combat Migrant Trafficking and Invest in Legal Migration
Morocco called on Monday in Lanzarote for intensified efforts to effectively combat migrant trafficking, ensure the safety of irregular migration candidates, and boost investments in legal migration mechanisms.
During a meeting of parliamentary presidents from southern EU countries and North Africa under the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, Abdelmajid Fassi Fihri, Vice President of the House of Representatives, stressed the need to strengthen efforts against criminal networks exploiting migrants’ vulnerabilities and to ensure their safety throughout their journey.
Representing Rachid Talbi Alami, President of the House of Representatives and Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, Fassi Fihri highlighted Morocco’s intensified efforts to secure its borders while adhering to international commitments on migrant protection. He also called for enhanced collaboration with neighboring countries to combat human trafficking networks.
Fassi Fihri underscored that migration management cannot rely solely on security measures. He emphasized the importance of investing in mechanisms promoting legal and secure migration, as well as creating opportunities for youth, the demographic most affected by migration flows.
He further noted that managing migration in the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions requires a shared vision and collective solutions, turning migration into a driver of sustainable development and a factor for closer international relations. When properly managed, migration can become a tool for wealth creation, skill exchange, and stronger ties between peoples.
Highlighting Morocco’s realistic and humane approach, he pointed out that the Kingdom’s migration and asylum policy focuses on protecting migrant rights and combating human trafficking networks. The approach also seeks to strengthen partnerships with European and African allies to establish robust collaborations centered on joint development projects.
These partnerships aim to provide economic alternatives for populations in migration-prone areas, particularly through investments in education, vocational training, and youth entrepreneurship. Fassi Fihri noted Morocco’s initiatives and reforms to regularize migrants within its territory, offering them dignified living conditions based on social integration.
He also recalled Morocco’s hosting of the 2018 intergovernmental conference in Marrakech for adopting the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration. This marked a turning point in global cooperation on migration and reflected Morocco’s belief in a collective, humane approach grounded in solidarity and respect for human rights.
