On 8 July, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, launched a new partnership with Morocco to “renew” its cooperation with the EU in order to “tackle human trafficking networks, particularly following the emergence of new and extremely violent modus operandi adopted by these criminal networks”, as mentioned in a statement.
In Rabat on 8 July, the Commissioner met with the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Moroccan Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, almost 3 weeks after the death of 23 migrants who tried to enter the enclave of Melilla and were violently repulsed by Moroccan forces. The commissioner and the ministers “deplored the deaths of people trying to enter irregularly”, according to the statement.
“These events, in addition to their human tragedy dimension, demonstrate the extreme danger and violence of human trafficking networks that are ready to take any risks”, the Commission adds.
“The new operational partnership between the Commission and Morocco in the fight against human trafficking may cover support for border management, strengthening police cooperation, including joint investigations, raising awareness of the dangers of irregular migration, as well as strengthening cooperation with EU home affairs agencies.”
In the first half of this year, Morocco has prevented more than 26,000 irregular departures to Europe and the dismantling of a hundred criminal networks of human trafficking, the Commission points out.
The European Parliament debated the events in Melilla in plenary and called, by the vote of most of its political groups, for new legal channels for migration to the EU to prevent these tragedies (see EUROPE 12986/5). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)