Morocco: Conference on “Building a Positive Narrative on Migration”

Morocco and El Salvador, Co-Chairs of the Global Compact for Migration’s Champion Countries Initiative for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, adopted in Marrakech in 2018, organized an online conference on February 14, 2024, under the theme ‘Building a positive narrative around migration and migrants’, in collaboration with the United Nations Network on Migration.

This conference marked the culmination of Morocco’s six-month co-chairmanship of the Champion Countries Initiative of the Pact and was attended by representatives of Champion Countries, as well as international experts from various spheres of migration governance, media, academia, civil society, and entrepreneurship.

Participants unanimously welcomed the organization of this meeting, which echoed concerns about the increase in anti-migrant discourse and provided examples of policies and measures aimed at restoring a positive and balanced narrative on migration, building on the efforts made by Champion States to implement Objective 17 of the Marrakech Pact.

The Director of Global Issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Mr. Ismail Chekkori, highlighted in his introductory remarks the proliferation of hate speech and discrimination against migrants in many regions of the world, while calling for efforts to build renewed momentum in favor of a positive narrative on migration and migrants.

In this context, Mr. Chekkori presented national best practices illustrating Morocco’s contribution and pioneering role in this field, highlighting the establishment of the African Migration Observatory, a concrete illustration of the implementation of the African Agenda on Migration, presented by His Majesty King Mohammed VI as an African Leader on migration issues.

At the end of this meeting, it was envisaged to develop a ‘Reference Framework’ of the main best practices identified for promoting a positive narrative on migration, in view of the next Pact Review Forum, scheduled for the last quarter of 2024.

The Initiative of Champion Countries, of which Morocco is a founding member, was launched in 2020 with the aim of creating favorable momentum in the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and has so far been joined by 34 United Nations member states from different regions of the world.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Kingdom of Morocco – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates.