From “Khadema” to “Zemegria”: Morocco as a “Migration Hub” for the EU

Abstract

The converging processes of globalization, political and economic integration in the region (in the form of the EU specifically) and growing securitization in the region have created significant change in Moroccan migration over recent decades. First, with the growth in export processing and growing numbers of free trade agreements reaching new heights over the last decade, the considerable expansion of export processing (predominantly for EU markets) in the Northern regions of Morocco (most notably the port city of Tangier) has drawn internal migrants from Morocco and beyond, seeking employment in one of the many under-regulated textile, electronics, and automotive factories. Second, in recent years Morocco has become an important gateway to Europe (primarily through Southern European member states). While Moroccan emigration is not itself a new phenomenon – for example, Morocco has had longstanding bilateral migration agreements with many European states, including Spain, France, and Italy – Morocco’s contemporary migration management terrain has changed considerably. Third, as the country has responded to growing immigration (as both a destination and a transit country), there has been mounting pressures from the EU to control their borders in the face of growing emigration from Africa. The result of these processes has been the emergence of a multi-tiered and messy migration management system made up of national, bilateral, regional, and international policies, conventions and agreements involving administration by numerous government departments and agencies, as well as numerous intrastate and non-state governing bodies and actors. Caught somewhere in the middle – are the migrants, whose rights (both as migrants and as workers) are neglected. Ironically, this myriad of migration and security policies, and the expansion of export processing in Morocco, were in part intended to reduce migration through increased employment opportunities, stay-at-home development, and tightened borders. Yet, this messy migration management system, coupled the global export processing zone with under-protected workers, poor wages and job security, and escalating securitization, has actually served to create the conditions that encourage migration (particularly irregular migration), rather than curb it.