Under the main theme of “Humanising Migration”, the SI Committee on Migrations convened in Tangiers, Morocco, on 2-3 May 2014, hosted by the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, USFP. In a widely attended opening session, the gathering was addressed by Driss Lachguar, First Secretary of the USFP, Abdallah Boussouf, Secretary General of the Council of the Moroccan Community abroad, CCME, and by Luis Ayala, the SI Secretary General. Representatives from member parties in Algeria, Angola, Dominican Republic, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Mali, Morocco, Palestine, Spain and from SI Women attended.
Being the constituent meeting of the Committee since its re-establishment by the Council, the Committee’s first task was to elect its Chair and Vice-Chair for the current inter-congress period. Habib El Malki of the USFP, a former Minister of Education and of Agriculture in two previous governments of Morocco and currently Chair of the Administrative Commission of the party, was subsequently elected as Chair of the Committee, and Marco di Lello, National Coordinator of the PSI, Italy, and Chair of the Parliamentary Group of the party, was elected as the Vice-Chair.
The discussions focused particularly on the crisis of migration in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The East-West dimension of migration was also on the agenda as well as the priorities on this issue in the Americas, including at the same time, perspectives from other regions. The serious situation of the refugees forced to flee armed conflicts in different parts of the world equally received special attention, and a call was made to reinforce efforts in the search for peace.
It was agreed that the positive results of the migration phenomenon needed to be emphasised in order to counter the growth of xenophobia and extreme political positions, as was the need to support efforts in all parts of the world against the mafias trafficking in human beings and to work to promote full respect for the human rights and dignity of all migrants. The situation of migrant women and girls was also highlighted, being particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
The Committee agreed that the SI should convey to the United Nations the need for the subject of migrations to be included in the new post-2015 objectives of the millennium development goals. It also agreed to develop a Charter on the Rights of Migrants, for which parties of the SI would be invited to contribute.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the Committee adopted a Declaration of Tangier, outlining its discussions and goals. In terms of its future programme of work, the Committee agree to hold its next meeting in September in Italy, hosted by the PSI.
