Several Moroccan human rights organizations have issued a joint statement emphasizing that racism is a crime, not an opinion. The statement also urged Morocco to organize itself against hate speech and racism and to oppose deadly immigration policies.
The statement was signed by several associations, including the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, the Association for Assistance to Migrants in Difficult Situation, the Moroccan Commission for Human Rights, and the Moroccan Network of Migration Journalists, among others.
The human rights organizations have been monitoring the rise of racist rhetoric against male and female immigrants from sub-Saharan African countries in Morocco and the Maghreb region.
Some of these discourses are similar to the extremist right-wing political currents in Western countries, with an aim to reproduce them in the reality of immigration in Morocco and the countries of the Maghreb, According to the statement that added that these racist campaigns are an indirect way to distract and divert public debates from the demands related to the real issues of the Maghreb peoples in democracy and decent living.
The human rights organizations have urged for collective efforts by civil society organizations, media outlets, intellectuals, and scholars to combat hate speech, discrimination, and racism targeted towards immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
Moreover, the organizations emphasized the need for the enactment of a law that criminalizes all forms of discrimination and racism based on any grounds, including religion, gender, and skin color, regardless of its source.
The signatories of the statement directed all Moroccan citizens and inhabitants of the Maghreb to be vigilant and cautious in the face of the current racist campaigns. They urged people to give priority to the values of tolerance, coexistence, and pride in the African identity with all foreign communities present in the countries of the region, especially those coming from sub-Saharan African countries.
The human rights organizations stressed that the mistreatment of male and female immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa is a result of public authorities in their countries neglecting their responsibility to promote the culture and values of human rights, coexistence, and respect for others.
The solution, they said, is the adoption of an immigration policy grounded in the values and principles of universal human rights, as well as the establishment of immigration and asylum laws that recognize the inherent dignity of every human being without discrimination.