Morocco is not a country in the grip of a civil war, and yet 381 unaccompanied Moroccan children in Sweden are classified as refugees from a total of 7000, according to a report released by Gatestone Institute, based in Stockholm.
According to the think-tank close to the conservative circles, the majority of minors are “street children from Tangier and Casablanca who start using drugs at an early age,” says the document. It also wishes to state that “they are wary of all the authorities.”
“In 2015, more than 200 Moroccan minors are present in Stockholm alone”
On May 10, in statements to a local channel, a police officer made a rough profile of these “200 children aged nine years and older. In many cases they smoke hashish and commit some crimes, mostly thefts or small attacks “.
The same officer said that the authorities do not know which approach to take when young Moroccans decline the assistance offered by the Swedish state. “We can put them in the centers but it’s just for a while. We need to coordinate our efforts at the national level to solve this problem, “he added. Moroccan children often choose to stay on the streets instead of staying locked up in centers for youth.
Of course the report of the Conservative Institute turns a blind eye to the violence against Moroccan children. The recent case of a nine year old boy assaulted by a security guard at the Malmö station is a salient example itself.
In Sweden this issue is taken very seriously. Political considerations are involved. Xenophobic parties play the card of these children for electoral purposes just like Denmark which during the recent legislative elections saw the extreme right formation place in second position.
In Stockholm, the government is left with a difficult choice. It may grant asylum to minors from war zone and may even bring their relatives under family reunification. Nevertheless, millions of Euros are devoted every year for these children.
While waiting to find a solution, the Swedish Immigration Service will propose to other countries of the European Union the creation of enters specifically dedicated to unaccompanied migrant children, announces the Gatestone Institute.
