Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published
reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Morocco.htm
Morocco is a source,
destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for
the purpose of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Children are
trafficked within the country from rural areas to urban centers to work as
maids or laborers, or for exploitation in the sex trade. Men, women, and
children are trafficked to European and Middle Eastern countries as illegal
migrants who become exploited for forced labor and prostitution. Young
Moroccan girls from rural areas are recruited to work as child maids in
cities, but often face restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages,
threats, and physical or sexual abuse. Moroccan boys experience involuntary
servitude as apprentices in the artisan and construction industries and in
mechanic shops. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in
Persons Report, June, 2009 Check out a later country report here and possibly a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** The New Muslim
Personal Status Law in Morocco: Context, Proponents, Adversaries, and
Arguments
[PDF] Moha ENNAJI,
(Rutgers University & University of Fès, Morocco) www.fmyv.es/ci/in/family/1.pdf [accessed 7 February
2018] In an interview
published Saturday by French magazine "Le Figaro Madame," Belqadi
said "since the beginning of his reign, HM King Mohammed VI voiced
support for women's rights. Today, she went on, His Majesty has launched a
deep-rooted reform. And it takes courage to deal with such a hot issue in
Muslim countries." Morocco could become a model for Muslim countries in
the field of women's rights," said law professor Fatima Belqadi, the
first woman appointed at Morocco's Advisory Council of Human Rights (CCDH).
In an interview published on January 17, 2004 by French magazine "Le
Figaro Madame," Belqadi said "since the beginning of his reign, HM
King Mohammed VI voiced support for women's rights. Today, she went on, His
Majesty has launched a deep-rooted reform. And it takes courage to deal with
such a hot issue in Muslim countries. Portrait Mahi Binebine Katrin Schneider,
Qantara.de, 24.06.2003 en.qantara.de/content/portrait-mahi-binebine-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-painter-and-writer [accessed 3
September 2014] JOURNEY INTO DEATH - No one knows
exactly how many people attempt the dangerous illegal crossing of the Straits
of Gibraltar each year, though their number probably runs into the hundreds
of thousands. Conservative estimates suggest that hundreds of them perish in
the attempt. Though most of these individuals will appear only as statistics,
or in brief news reports of bodies washed up on the beaches of Spain, Mahi
Binebine’s novel gives them a human face - and a history. Street Life BBC World Service,
1st July 2000 www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/highlights/streetlife.shtml [accessed 21
February 2011] SLAVE TRADE - The neglect of ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Morocco U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/morocco/
[accessed 17 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Children in Western
Sahara engaged in the worst forms of child labor, including agriculture and
forced domestic work; they also produced artisanal handicrafts. Laws related
to the minimum age for work and the use of children for illicit activities do
not meet international standards and government programs that target child
labor did not fully address the problem. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/morocco/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 3 May 2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Child laborers,
especially girls working as domestic helpers, are denied basic rights and are
frequently abused by their employers. A 2018 labor law meant to protect young
women employed as household workers requires employers to use written
contracts, sets a minimum working age of 18 (after a five-year phase-in
period during which 16- and 17-year-olds are allowed to work), mandates a day
off each week, and sets a minimum wage. Rights groups criticized the
legislation for failing to provide support to reintegrate domestic workers into
society, and for permitting girls under 18 to work until 2023. A 2016 law
criminalized human trafficking; existing measures had defined and banned only
some forms of trafficking and left many victims unprotected. Immigrant
laborers, especially from sub-Saharan Africa, are often employed informally
and subject to significant exploitation. 2017 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018 www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf [accessed 19 April
2019] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 3 May
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 708] Morocco is a
source, destination, and transit country for children subjected to forced
labor and sex trafficking. (8; 9; 10; 20; 26) According to local
union observations, rural Moroccan girls, some as young as age 6, are
recruited for domestic work in private urban homes, as are girls from
Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and
Senegal. Some of these girls are subjected to physical and verbal abuse,
excessive working hours without regular periods of rest or days off, and no
access to educational opportunities. (7; 10; 27). Summary of midterm
reviews and major evaluations of country programmes - Middle East and North
Africa region UN Economic and
Social Council, 19 July 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 8
September 2011] 14. 15. According to
the study, several key factors were associated with child sexual
exploitation: poverty, single-parent households, abuse and maltreatment in
early childhood, peer pressure, and absence of sex education. Clients are
both nationals and foreigners, with an increasing number of sex tourists
coming from the West and from the Gulf region. More than 70 per cent of the
children interviewed had been informed about health risks but knowledge about
HIV/AIDS and prevention was limited. 16. Even if they
condemn sexual exploitation, families sometimes do not question their
children about their activities, especially if the families are poor and the
children bring money to the household. Empowering Girls
and Young Women at Risk Source: International Human Rights Law Group www.wluml.org/node/1143 [accessed 21
February 2011] Empowering Girls
and Young Women at Risk in The International
Human Rights Law Group are pleased to announce the publication of
"Empowering Girls and Young Women at Risk in Morocco: A Resource Book on
Sexual Abuse, Forced Labor, and Trafficking in Persons in Prostitution and
Domestic Service", recently produced by the Morocco Field Office of the
International Human Rights Law Group in collaboration with a Working Group of
13 local NGOs from diverse sites across Morocco. Traffickers hold
thousands of children, women in bondage UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report/47205/west-africa-traffickers-hold-thousands-of-children-women-in-bondage [accessed 9 March
2015] Traffickers who specialise
in taking young women to Europe, where they are held in debt bondage and
forced into prostitution, have established networks all over West Africa,
according to police and NGO sources.
From bases scattered all over the region the women are taken on the
tortuous journey across the Sahara Desert to destinations in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya,
from where attempts are made to smuggle them to Europe. ECPAT International
At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 8
September 2011] ECPAT
International, in cooperation with UNICEF, organised a Regional Consultation
on North Africa at the Hotel IBIS, in New report
discusses child abuse in Morocco Imane Belhaj for
Magharebia in www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/07/05/feature-02 [accessed 21
February 2011] www.stormfront.org/forum/t706293/ [accessed 7 February
2018] The report explores
the origins of sexual exploitation. Most stem from blatant violations of
children’s socio-economic rights—the right to a respectable standard of
living, the right to education, the right not to work, the right to play— but
also from a lack of sexual education and awareness at schools. Poverty
appears to be the decisive factor pushing children into prostitution
alongside factors such as the break-up of the family unit, mistreatment
within the family and the absence of a national action plan delineating a
strategy for preventing violence against youth. Dying to Leave Thirteen, www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/dying-to-leave/human-trafficking-worldwide/morocco/1453/ [accessed 21
February 2011] www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/human-trafficking-worldwide-morocco/1453/ [accessed 18
February 2018] VICTIMS - According to the
U.S. State Department, some Moroccans seeking work in Europe and the Middle East
as domestic servants or in the hotel or construction industry have been
forced into situations of coerced labor, narcotics trafficking, or commercial
sexual exploitation. In November 2002 the press uncovered a trafficking
network in which young women paid $2,000 for work contracts in Jordan, and
upon arrival they were forced into prostitution. A month earlier nine people
were arrested in Internal
trafficking of children from rural areas to cities for domestic servitude is
widespread. Parents of rural children contract their daughters as child maids
to wealthier urban families. According to a 2001 UNICEF-funded study there
are more than 13,000 girls younger than 15 working as child maids in NOWHERE TO TURN:
State Abuses of Unaccompanied Migrant Children by Human
Rights Watch Reports, Vol.14, No. 4 (D), May 2002 www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2002/spain-morocco/index.htm#TopOfPage [accessed 21
February 2011] II. CONTEXT THE PRESSURES ON
CHILDREN TO MIGRATE
- Children in Morocco are exposed to a variety of factors that encourage
migration. Many unaccompanied migrant children we interviewed told us that
they saw no future for themselves in Morocco, a stark response to Morocco's
demographic and economic reality. Almost one fifth of the total population
lives in poverty, up from 13 percent in 1991, and the World Bank classifies
almost half the population as "economically vulnerable." Forty-four
percent of the poor are children under fifteen. The majority of those living
in poverty are concentrated in rural areas, where many of the children we
interviewed had lived. Official unemployment rates at the end of 2001 stood
at 13 percent, with unemployment rates for youth aged fifteen to twenty-four
at 20 percent. Legislation mandating free, compulsory education from ages six
to fifteen and World Bank-financed educational reforms have increased school
attendance, but primary enrollment rates remain low compared to other
lower-middle-income countries. Despite significant rural/urban and gender
disparities in access to education, survey data show poverty to be the
"single most important obstacle for non-enrollment of school-age
children in both urban and rural areas. Rights Of The Child - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography, Ms. Ofelia Calcetas-Santos UN Economic and
Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-seventh session, 7 November
2000 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 8
September 2011] 13. Once they
arrive in their employer’s home, they are extremely vulnerable to
exploitation. The girl is usually far away from home, and certainly cannot go
back to her parents at night. Often she has no opportunity to meet people
outside of her new household and consequently has nowhere to go and no one to
turn to for help. She is unlikely to see much of her family for several
years, and what little money she earns is usually given straight to her
parents. 15. In most cases,
the girls’ work involved cleaning and general housework, looking after the
children and doing the cooking for the whole family. Over 25 per cent of the
girls questioned confirmed that their work involved all three tasks.
Seventy-two per cent of the girls began their working day before 7.00 and 65
per cent did not finish until after 23.00; 81 per cent declared that they did
not get a single day off in the week and 34 per cent claimed that they had to
continue to work even when they were sick. In over 80 per cent of the cases,
the child’s salary, which was usually less than 300 dirham per month (10
dirham = US$ 1), was sent directly to their parents. Twenty-five per
cent claimed that they were never allowed to be visited by their parents; 43
per cent of parents reported that they visited their child once a month and
36 per cent reported that they visited the child in order to collect her
salary. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 6 June 2003 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/morocco2003.html [accessed 21
February 2011] [60] While noting the
efforts of the State party to prevent and combat child labour (ratification
of ILO Conventions Nos. 138 and 182, ILO/IPEC program to fight child labour),
the Committee is concerned that the incidence of economic exploitation
remains widespread in the agricultural and handicraft sectors, including
metalworking and jewellery-, carpet- and mosaic‑making. The Committee is also deeply concerned at
the situation of domestic servants (petites bonnes), mostly girls, who are
subjected to harsh working conditions and abuse. Human Rights
Overview Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/en/middle-eastn-africa/morocco/western-sahara [accessed 21
February 2011] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/morocco/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 3 May 2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Child laborers,
especially girls working as domestic helpers, are denied basic rights. A 2016
labor law for household workers required written contracts, set a minimum age
of 18 (with a five-year phase-in period during which those aged 16 and 17 are
allowed to work), stipulated weekly rest periods, and provided minimum wage
guidelines. The quality of enforcement of the law, which took effect in
August 2017, remains to be seen. Separately, Parliament adopted a law in 2016
to criminalize human trafficking; existing measures had defined and banned
only some forms of trafficking and left many victims unprotected. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61695.htm [accessed 21
February 2011] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– Trafficking of women for prostitution was prevalent, and prostitution was a
problem particularly in cities with large numbers of tourists, as well as
near towns with large military installations. Prostitution of trafficked
minors was a particular problem in the Human Rights
Reports » 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41728.htm [accessed 10
February 2020] CHILDREN - The practice of
adoptive servitude, in which urban families employ young rural girls and use
them as domestic servants in their homes, was widespread. Credible reports of
physical and psychological abuse in such circumstances were widespread. Some
orphanages have been charged as complicit in the practice. More often,
parents of rural girls contracted their daughters to wealthy urban families
and collected the salaries for their work as maids. Adoptive servitude was
accepted socially, was unregulated by the Government, and only in recent
years began to attract public criticism. The problem remained prevalent,
although the National Observatory of Children's Rights has conducted, since
2000, a human rights awareness campaign regarding the plight of child maids. The legal minimum age
of employment was 15 years. The number of children working illegally as
domestic servants was high: 45 percent of household employees were between
the ages of 10 and 12 and 26 percent were under the age of 10, according to a
2001 joint study by the Moroccan League for the Protection of Children and
UNICEF. The report denounced the poor treatment a number of the children
received, such as being forced to work all day with no breaks. Many children
worked either as domestic servants, artisan apprentices, or in some other
capacity that kept them from attending school. TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– Women were trafficked abroad, and internal trafficking was also a problem,
particularly of women for sexual exploitation or of young girls for domestic
service. The country was a
transit point for trafficking and alien smuggling to The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/morocco.htm [accessed 21
February 2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - In urban areas, girls can be found working as domestic
servants, often in situations of unregulated “adoptive servitude.” In these situations, girls from rural areas
are trafficked, “sold” by their parents, and “adopted” by wealthy urban
families to work in their homes. Girls
and boys working as domestic servants and street vendors are increasingly
targets of child sex tourism, particularly in the cities of Marrakech and All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
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