Rabat – Europa Press has reported that the Ceuta government is urging the regulation of the status of Moroccan domestic workers who cross the Spanish-Moroccan border daily to work.
The Spanish news outlet noted that only 1,300 people are “registered as contributors, a third of their actual total.”
The news site added that the Spanish government delegate in Ceuta, Salvadora Mateos, will meet with interior minister Fernando Grande Marlaska on Monday to discuss the situation of the Ceuta border as a “priority.”
The border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has been a concern for both the Moroccan and the Spanish government because many violent stampedes have killed Moroccans in recent years.
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In 2018, two Moroccan women known as “human mules” died while several others suffered injuries at a stampede at the Ceuta border.
In 2017, several incidents were reported.
Thousands of Moroccan women cross the border post every day to make a living selling Spanish goods in Morocco.
According to Europa Press, the regional government said that about 8,500 Moroccans enter Ceuta daily to “carry out activities with impact on the local economy.”
“Approximately half are women who work in Ceuta housing,” according to Europa press.
The news outlet added that the government is demanding the regularization of their status.
In December 2018, Materos asserted the need to regulate the situation of domestic workers.
In a statement to the press, Mateos said that the new restriction requires locals to provide proof of work or residence and does not violate the Schengen visa agreement, which allows domestic workers and Moroccans who live less than 40 kilometers from Ceuta to enter the city without restriction.
In 2017, 197 domestic workers regularized their status, and 286 did in the first 11 months of 2018.
