GADEM condemns racist attacks in Morocco

Two persons senseless attacked on the first day of Ramadan, a month normally of solidarity and tolerance

On Thursday 12 August 2010, an asylum seeker and an UNHCR¹-recognized refugee, both natives of sub-Saharan African countries, were attacked senselessly in an outlying neighborhood of Rabat. C., an asylum seeker, was going to see his former lessor to recover 200 dirhams that he had given him. After he made his statement, the situation degenerated very rapidly, and numerous racial insults were directed at C., who had to flee with haste from the location. Caught in the street, one of the sons of the lessor, who was armed with an iron bar, gave him a blow to the back of his head by surprise, and another blow to the arm after he had fallen to the ground from the first strike. He was saved by passers-by who succeeded in stopping the attacker. He suffered cranial trauma according to the medical-legal certificate that he was given by the hospital of Souissi.

A., a refugee, was similarly struck violently in the head after he passed just in front of the building to join his friend, C., had been attacked. Unconscious, A. was transported to the hospital. The medical-legal certificate states he suffered cranial trauma with wound to the scalp and temporary incapacity for 35 days. According to a witness, the attacker was also one of the sons of the old lessor of C.

Two other persons were witnesses to the scene and were able to confirm these statements. One of them was also attacked below the building when she tried to flee, by 7 or 8 persons armed with knives, machetes, and other objects, all members or friends of the same family.

Numerous similar cases have been reported by GADEM, notably, that of A., a statutory refugee who was insulted and attacked in the street by 3 persons in March 2009, then intimidated by the family of the attacker; no action has been perceived on the complaint that was filed more than a year ago.

Since 2006, GADEM has registered testimonies of numerous persons who have been attacked without the possibility of being protected by the law being offered, because of their legal status or because of the simple fact that the competent authorities (police or military police) do not register their complaints.

GADEM deplores these senseless and repeated attacks, questions the motivations of such violence, and calls on Moroccan authorities for the complaints to be heard and taken into account and that the victims be able to effectively access justice and benefit from legal assistance.

GADEM demands that the victims of such aggressions be protected and their cases investigated, and that all legal guarantees be implemented so that they will benefit from fair procedures. GADEM also calls on the government of the Royal Kingdom of Morocco and the Moroccan authorities for measures to be taken to assure the protection of persons in the process of migration who are present in the Moroccan territory, and for respect the international obligations undertaken by Morocco.

Finally, GADEM recalls that Monday 16 August and Tuesday 17 August, Morocco presented its 17^th and 18^th reports before the UN Committee for Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination in Geneva² – reports in which the government of Morocco did not highlight any simlar problem of racism and cases of repetitive attacks against persons in migration who are in Moroccan territory. Further, GADEM has written a Note to the CERD committee in which the organization describes these problems and provide elements which seem essential in the framework of the review of the application to Morcco of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The Note is available in French and English at: http://www.jsf-jwb-migrants.org/index.html

Contact : gademm@gmail.com

[1] UN High Commissioner for Refugees

[2]  http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/index.htm

(English translation of French original by Justice Without Borders for Migrants)