MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2022) The European Commission announced on Friday a new partnership on migration with Morocco, two weeks after more than 20 people died when trying to illegally enter Spain from the North African country.
The agreement was reached during the visit of the European Commissioner with responsibility for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, and Spanish Home Affairs Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska to Morocco where they met with the interior minister, Abdelouafi Laftit.
"They highlighted the solid results of their cooperation based on shared responsibility in matters of migration, and agreed to renew their partnership in order to work together to tackle human smuggling networks, in particular following the emergence of new, extremely violent, methods adopted by such criminal networks," a statement said.
The new partnership between the European Union and Morocco includes border patrol assistance, increased police cooperation, including joint investigations, as well as public awareness of the dangers of illegal migration, the statement added.
On June 28, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called for an independent investigation into the deaths of 23 African migrants who tried to cross the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla on June 24.
