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Picture from the article: © 2012 Gianfranco
Tripodo/contrasto/Redux
Nador, Morocco,
November 2012 – A migrant from Mali lying down in a cave used as shelter. In
the forests and mountains that surround Nador, groups of Sub-Saharan African
migrants survive and wait for the right moment to attempt to cross the border
between Morocco and the city of Melilla, a Spanish enclave on Morocco’s north
coast.
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Moroccan security forces commonly beat, otherwise abuse, and sometimes
steal from sub-Saharan migrants in the northeastern part of the country,
Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. These abuses
persist despite some improvements in the treatment of migrants since the
government announced a new migration and asylum policy in September
2013. Since that time, the practice of summarily expelling migrants at
the border with Algeria appears to have stopped.
The 79-page report, “Abused and Expelled:Ill-Treatment of Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Morocco,” found that these
abuses occurred as the security forces took custody of sub-Saharan migrants who
had tried unsuccessfully to reach the Spanish enclave of Melilla, or – prior to
September 2013 – as they were rounding up migrants without any semblance of due
process to expel them to Algeria. However, research in late January and early
February 2014 in Oujda, Nador, and Rabat indicates that Moroccan security forces
are still using violence against migrants expelled from Melilla.
