UN-REFOULEING THE REFUGEES

C O N F I D E N T I A L RABAT 000049 SIPDIS SIPDIS NOFORN DEPT FOR NEA/MAG; PRM - LANGE E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2016 TAGS: PREF PHUM PGOV MO SUBJECT: UN-REFOULEING THE REFUGEES REF: A. SECSTATE 0494 ¶B. CASABLANCA 1333 Classified By: Classified by Deputy Chief of Mission Wayne Bush for rea sons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: The refoulement of UNHCR-documented refugees (reftels) appears to have been largely and well resolved. The Embassy intervened with the MFA urging the GOM treat humanely refugee and asylum seekers and work constructively with UNHCR. MFA Secretary General Hilale told Ambassador January 8 that GOM officials and UNHCR met that day and agreed on a range of practical issues, including return of the refouled refugees to Rabat--most of them were already back or scheduled to travel. Concluding a formal agreement on UNHCR operations remains problematic, however, with the GOM insisting that office responsibilities include Moroccan-claimed Western Sahara which the UN cannot agree to, but the two sides continue to talk. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Polcouns delivered reftel demarche to MFA UN Office Chief Azzeddine Farhane on January 5, indicating that the Embassy would follow up at a high level. Farhane took the message, but vigorously defended Morocco's prerogative to combat illegal migration and insisted that the issue in question was already on the way to being resolved. ¶3. (C) Ambassador raised the issue January 8 with the MFA's number 3 official, Secretary General Omar Hilale, who has the lead on UNHCR. The Ambassador stressed the importance of avoiding refoulement of recognized refugees and the need to empower UNHCR to do its work. Hilale, a former Moroccan Ambassador to Geneva, said he had just completed a 3-hour interagency meeting with UNHCR, in which all the issues had been essentially resolved. Of the 73 migrants/refugees/asylees who had been detained and moved to the eastern border at the end of December, 33 had already returned to Rabat. A list had been agreed and arrangements were underway to get the remaining documented persons back. The GOM will even foot their train ticket, Hilale maintained. ¶4. (C)Morocco is committed to the principle of asylum, but it was concerned that there were some persons who did not have their documentation and others who had faked documents. He had agreed in the meeting with UNHCR about document security measures that would limit the problems with forged papers. The GOM also agreed to accept training seminars from UNHCR for Justice and interior Ministry personnel who deal with the refugee/migrants, to sensitize them to international standards and rights. ¶5. (C) UNHCR local office head Johannes Van der Klauw later in the day confirmed to Polcouns the agreement with the MFA on the refugees, averting the current crisis. Interior Ministry officials had participated in his marathon meeting at MFA and now appeared onboard with proper treatment. Most of the individuals in Oujda had indeed returned and the final tranche was due back in Rabat the morning of January 10. As to the status of the agreement for the UNHCR office, it remained hung up on a Western-Sahara related point. The Moroccans wanted to treat his office as the single point of contact for all UNHCR issues in the country (which in their view includes the Western Sahara). Van der Klauw told them that would not be acceptable to the UN for obvious reasons regarding the disputed territory. Discussions are expected to continue. ¶6. (C) Van der Klauw had raised the issue with the press in an interview that appeared January 9. He followed up with us to confirm, however, that his interview had preceded his MFA/MOI meeting and that he anticipated no further publicity. There had been no further sweeps of documented persons in Moroccan cities since the beginning of the year, although some refugees had been picked up trying to depart Sahara by boat for the Canaries. This was not now an issue for him, he said. ¶7. (U) Embassy has coordinated closely with UNHCR on the ground. We will continue to follow these issues closely and engage as appropriate. ****************************************** Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat ****************************************** Riley