The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last month sent a three-member team to Morocco to interview dozens of sub-Saharan Africans with agency documentation reportedly being held in various parts of the country after having been picked up by the authorities in a crackdown on irregular migration. At the time, UNHCR called on the Rabat Government not to forcibly return them to a country where they might face persecution.

Amnesty International delegates have found numerous irregularities in the treatment of migrants, including possible asylum-seekers, during a 10-day mission to Spain and Morocco including the towns of Ceuta, Melilla, Oujda, Nador and Tangier. The delegates took testimonies from people fleeing poverty and repression mostly from central and west Africa who were trying to get into the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, either by sea or by climbing the barbed and razor wire protected fence around them.

Under the direct supervision of the UNIFEM Program Coordinator for North Africa, based in Rabat, Morocco and in close consultation with the Morocco Ministry of Finance and Privatisation, the Project Manager will manage the Morocco Component of the Global Gender Responsive Budgeting Programme, Phase II.