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Rabat – Morocco authorized the repatriation of 170 women seasonal workers stranded in Spain’s Huelva due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
The women joined Huelva farms earlier this year under a work contract to collect red fruit.
The women seek to come back home urgently due to several circumstances such as illness, death of a family member, an advanced state of pregnancy, or having given birth in Spain in recent weeks, Huelva Informacion reported.
Dialogue between Spain and Moroccan consulates led to a cooperation agreement for the repatriation of the women seasonal workers.
The repatriation operation is set to take place on Wednesday, the news outlet said.
A ferry from Algeciras is set to return the seasonal workers to Tangier-Med. The women will undergo a PCR test and will spend a ten-day quarantine in a hotel before joining their families, as part of preventive measures to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Seasonal workers in Spain suffered similar situations after Morocco and other countries decided to close borders as part of precautionary restrictions in March 2020.
Many women were stranded in Spain amid lockdown and closed borders last year.
The total number of Moroccan seasonal workers stranded in Huelva last year was estimated at 7,100.
The women issued several pleas, calling for their repatriation.
They also called on King Mohammed VI to intervene and help them return home.
Seasonal workers have long expressed concerns and filed complaints about poor working conditions on strawberry and red fruits farms in Huelva.
The workers claimed they were forced to work long hours without pay.
The New York Times published an interview with a group of Moroccan workers in 2019, where they spoke out about the conditions in the Donana 1988 d’Almante strawberry farm.
One of the women said that the farm managers made them feel like “slaves.”
“They brought us to exploit us and then to send us back. I wish I drowned in the sea and died before arriving in Spain,” one of the workers said.
Some others also complained about alleged sexual assaults by managers.
