CNDH hosts a group of 13 families of Syrian refugees

The National Human Rights Council of Morocco (CNDH) welcomed, on Wednesday 21 June 2017 at its headquarters in Rabat, a group of Syrian refugees who had been stranded for two months at the Algerian –Moroccan borders.

His Majesty King Mohamed VI had given instructions to the Moroccan authorities to promptly deal with the situation of Syrian families who were on the Algerian-Moroccan borders.

28 Syrian refugees, including children and women, will be able to join family members in Germany and Canada, while the rest of the refugees will reside in Morocco after completing the administrative procedures at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Rabat.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Abderrazzak El Hannouchi, head of the cabinet of the president of the CNDH, stressed that the CNDH has been following up on the situation of these Syrian refugees in cooperation with the UNHCR. He also welcomed the initiative of the King which enabled these Syrian families to access the Moroccan territory. 

He indicated that this initiative is to be added to the various measures on migration and asylum, such as the exceptional operation to document irregular migrants that has made it possible to legalize the situation of more than 25,000 migrants.

Mr. Jean-Paul Cavalieri, UNHCR representative in Morocco, considered that the initiative to host Syrian migrants in Morocco is a brave and highly humanitarian action which has ended this crisis. The UNHCR and the CNDH will jointly undertake humanitarian actions by providing to refugees conditions of comfort and stability (housing, food and medical care).

The UNHCR intends to regularize the administrative situation of these refugees and examine sustainable solutions either in Morocco or abroad as a part of family reunification efforts.

The headquarters of the UNHCR in Geneva welcomed Morocco’s decision to admit a group of Syrian refugees stranded in difficult circumstances at the country’s border with Algeria since 17 April. The UNHCR welcomed, in a press release issued on this occasion, this humanitarian gesture, which is keeping with the traditions of hospitality demonstrated by countries across the region.