Assembly of Overseas Moroccan Community Council sets out priorities

2008-06-10

Moroccan immigrants gathered in Rabat to discuss emigration policies and strategies for involving expats in domestic politics.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat –10/06/08

[Sarah Touahri] The first general assembly of the Council of the Overseas Moroccan Community discussed emigration policies and strategies for involving expats in domestic politics.

The Council of the Overseas Moroccan Community held its first general assembly last Friday (June 6th) in Rabat, gathering members from a large number of countries.

The Council was created to respond to the concerns of Moroccans abroad. According to Council president Driss El Yazami, the organisation prioritises Moroccan emigration policies, stressing the need to support the remarkable development of these communities by systematically and consistently adopting gender-based and generation-based approaches and paying particular attention to issues faced by female and young Moroccan émigrés.

"The council does not represent the Moroccan government before overseas communities, nor does it serve as a spokesperson for these communities before the government. Our role is to take the valuable things that people tell us, reflect on them, analyse them and make something of them in the light of research and scientific study allowing us to form opinions and proposals which are as relevant as possible in order to respond to their expectations and legitimate interests, as well as the national interests of the country, " he said.

Moroccan immigrant Nadia Boures from the Netherlands believes the meeting was a fantastic opportunity to discuss the concerns of Moroccans living overseas. "We hope that ties between overseas Moroccans and Morocco will strengthen in the future as the aspirations of the overseas Moroccan community translate into concrete projects," she commented.

Abdelaziz Dades, a Canadian member of the Council, said that the most important thing was to focus on the issues of integration into the job market and preserving Moroccan culture for second- and third-generation Moroccans.

With regard to the often-raised point of involving overseas Moroccans in Moroccan domestic policy, El Yazami said that the Council’s first mandate obliges him to put forward a fuller strategy for membership and organisation, as well as establish adequate rules for eligibility and the election of overseas Moroccans to representative bodies in Morocco. To this end the Council has already begun a comparative study on the political rights granted by several countries across the world to their overseas nationals.

The Council’s secretary-general, Abdellah Boussouf, asserts that getting overseas Moroccans involved in Moroccan politics in a systematic fashion is not the sole priority for the Council for the Overseas Moroccan Community. He says that the Council has set itself a number of major priorities relating to culture, identity and harnessing the skills of overseas Moroccans so that they can participate in the development which the country is experiencing.

Particular attention was paid to the issue of identity, with consideration being given to ways of strengthening the teaching of Arabic, religious education, mosque-building, training for imams and the creation of Moroccan cultural centres abroad.

Opinions of the Council among overseas Moroccans differ. While some believe that the institution does extremely important work in addressing the issues faced by overseas Moroccans, others say that its make-up does not reflect their aspirations.

Ahmed Boujaidi, who lives in France, says that the right strategy needs to be found to ensure that the Council’s members are truly representative of the overseas Moroccan community.

"The current status quo is not democratic. Members of the Council should be elected, not appointed. That being said, the creation of this body will address the needs of all overseas Moroccans," he told Magharebia.