Rabat – Dutch deputy minister of justice Ankie Broekers-Knol said that she has tried and failed to talk to the Moroccan government regarding Moroccan asylum seekers in Netherland.
Dutch news outlet AD reported on November 21 that the Moroccan government refused to talk to the official about failed asylum seekers from Morocco.
The official wanted to ask Moroccan officials to repatriate Moroccan undocumented migrants who had failed to gain asylum in the Netherlands.
Most countries across the globe, including the Netherlands and Spain, consider Morocco a politically stable country, refusing to grant asylum to Moroccan undocumented migrants.
Brokers-Knol said that she wanted to speak to “the right minister (…) but the appropriate minister didn’t want to talk to me.”
The official said that Morocco’s response was made through Dutch diplomatic channels.
“I have been told that it would make no sense to go there, because I would be denied entrance.”
The Dutch lower house discussed Morocco’s decision to refuse dialogue on failed asylum seekers, AD reported.
Several MPs condemned Morocco’s alleged refusal.
Quoted by Dutch News, MP Jasper van Dijk said the move shows that “Morocco is not taking the problem seriously.”
Van Dijk tweeted that he is preparing a motion to discuss the visa requirements for “senior officials,” wanting to travel from Morocco to the Netherlands.
A member of the Green Party (GL) and former diplomat, Bram van Oijk also expressed his frustration.
AD reported that Broker-Knol described diplomatic relations with Morocco as cold and complex.
The Netherlands and Morocco have traditionally maintained stable diplomatic relations until the Netherlands’ interference in the Hirak Rif movement in 2016 and 2017.
In 2018, Morocco’s foreign affairs minister summoned the Dutch ambassador to Morocco over the Netherlands’ criticism of Hirak Rif activists’ prison sentences.
Morocco sentenced dozens of activists involved in unauthorized protests to prison terms ranging between 1 to 20 years.
Morocco reiterated that the Hirak Rif crisis was an internal issue and not a diplomatic topic, emphasizing that Morocco does not need lessons regarding such issues.
