Moroccan Women Exploited in Sex Trafficking in Middle East, Europe: US Department of State

Rabat- The US State Department in a report released June 20, 2014, cited Morocco as a “source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking,” asserting that the Moroccan Government “does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” despite attempts to do so.

The 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report prepared by the State Department’s Office To Monitor And Combat Trafficking In Persons has placed Morocco on the Tier 2 Watch List. “Moroccan men, women, and children are exploited in sex trafficking in Europe and the Middle East,” according to the report.

“Moroccan women are forced into prostitution primarily in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Syria, and European countries; some of them experience restrictions on movement, threats, and emotional and physical abuse,” states the report.

The report also notes that Moroccan men are subjected to “debt bondage” in the Persian Gulf when recruiters offer Moroccan men jobs in the Persian Gulf, “but seize the victims’ passports and subject them to debt bondage after arrival.” Some Moroccan men and boys “are lured to Europe by fraudulent job offers and are subsequently forced to sell drugs,” according to the report.

The report also states that rural young girls and boys are subjected to forced labor and sometimes to sex abuse. “[R]ural Moroccan girls as young as 6-years-old are recruited to work as maids in cities and become victims of forced labor, experiencing nonpayment of wages, threats, restrictions on movement, and physical, psychological, or sexual abuse.”

However, the report revealed that the incidence of child maids “has decreased since 2005,” in part due to government-funded programs promoted in primary school and awareness programs funded by UN agencies and NGOs.

According to the report, “Some Moroccan boys experience forced labor while employed as apprentices in the artisanal and construction industries and in mechanic shops.”

The 2014 Trafficking in Person (TIP), which is the U.S. Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments in the fight against human trafficking, praised the significant efforts of the Moroccan government to comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Still, it says, Morocco has “more work to do.”

Because the Government of Morocco has not demonstrated evidence of overall increased efforts to address human trafficking and to protect the victims of trafficking since the previous reporting period, Morocco has been “placed on Tier 2 Watch List.”

The report urged the Moroccan Government to provide additional funds to NGOs that provide specialized services for human trafficking victims, including foreign victims, and to refer victims of trafficking to these service providers.

It also called on Morocco to complete drafting and enact legislation that prohibits all forms of trafficking and increases prescribed penalties for forced labor, and “ensure that victims are not punished for crimes committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking.”

Edited by Elisabeth Myers