Sam
Today I helped a friend translate an interview from French to English for her research project. We interviewed a Sub-Saharan African man who is an asylum seeker. Let’s call him Sam. I’m keeping this very vague for Sam’s safety. Sam is also gay.
A little context: Being gay in Morocco is very illegal. A few weeks ago, two girls from Marrakech were arrested and will be in prison for up to three years for taking a picture of themselves kissing. Their own aunt was the person who reported the photo to the police. More context: Sub-saharan migrants in Morocco face A LOT of racism and prejudice. Many Moroccans do not view themselves as African, but Moroccan. Morocco is the only country on the continent of Africa not in the African Union. So there is a total disassociation from the rest of Africa amongst Moroccans. Race also doesn’t really exist here. The word for race in Darijah (Moroccan Arabic) is the same word as nationality (thanks Leila for that little tid bit). So, if you ask a black Moroccan what their race is, chances are that they’ll say they’re Moroccan or be confused by the question. Sub-saharan Africans, who are for the most part black, thus face a ton of discrimination.
So, we started out by asking questions about Sam like where he was from and what he does for a living, and his response was definitely not what we were expecting. Sam has been an asylum seeker in Morocco for three years but wasn’t supposed to stay in Morocco this long, because Morocco obviously isn’t the safest place for LGBTQ people to live. He says the reason he’s been here for so long is that the Moroccans from the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) that are in charge of Sam’s case and other refugees in Morocco’s cases are racist and homophobic. Granted, I’m sure not all members of the UNHRC from Moroccan are homophobic or xenophobic, but the people controlling Sam’s case without a doubt are. This unfortunately isn’t very surprising, given the illegality of being queer in Morocco and the major racial issues that exist here. The UNHRC members controlling his case haven’t made any effort to relocate Sam to a different place. Sam said the majority of people who work from the UNHRC from Morocco are more concerned about Syrian refugees, probably because most Syrian refugees are Muslim
Sam then went on to say that because of the fierce discrimination he faces as being a black individual in Morocco, he hasn’t been able to get a job in the three years that he’s been here. As a result, Sam has had to resort to being a sex worker. He said sex work isn’t a choice for him, it’s absolutely necessary in order for him to survive and put food on the table. It can only provide for him so much; Sam still barely makes ends meet and lives in a single bedroom with five other migrants.
Of course there are NGOs in Morocco in place to help refugees and asylum seekers get jobs, proper housing and situated in Morocco, but there aren’t very many. The NGOs that are here are Catholic and refuse to work with LGBTQ people. Similarly, the NGOs that do help the LGBTQ community are from his experience pretty racist, and had no interest in helping him because of his racial identity. They were more concerned with helping LGBTQ Moroccans. And beyond this, the migrant and black community is also not very accepting of him because he is gay.
We asked him if he’s tried to emigrate to somewhere more accepting of LGBTQ individuals like countries in the European Union, knowing that this not something easy to do, and he confirmed that the immigration and visa process is almost impossible, especially for someone in his situation. Before moving to a country within the European Union he said he would have to show proof of residency, proof of employment and proof of financial stability. Sam literally cannot do that because of his identity and where he lives. He could show proof of residency, but he can’t prove that he has a ‘real job’ by the EU’s standards and he can’t create a bank account or take out loans because he has no credit or steady income.
Sam is one of the bravest and strongest people I’ve ever met in my life. He’s not alone either, there’s hundreds of other asylum seekers and refugees in Morocco experiencing the same discrimination everyday. I was at a loss after hearing his story. I literally had no idea that these problems were so intricate and deep-seated (very naive and privileged of me). I didn’t know what to do.
We thanked Sam for sharing his story and said that we hoped that my friend’s research would be able to better his situation. We said that we would share his story with as many people as possible to hopefully be able to make a change in this situation. Sam kindly said thank you, but that this wasn’t the first time he had been interviewed, and it wasn’t the first time that someone had said this to him. In reality, he’s still telling his same story and nothing has changed.
Sam and other LGBTQ asylum seekers absolutely shouldn’t have to live like this and cannot afford to live like this anymore. So, this is what I’m going to do, and I hope you will help me. My immediate action is going to be that I’m going to write a complaint to the UNHRC explaining Sam’s situation (Granted, emailing the inspector general of the UNHRC, who is in control of looking over misconduct, would be way more direct, but when emails were sent to the address provided, they bounced back). In this complaint I will demand and that there absolutely must be a change in staff in Morocco’s office of the UNHRC so that it is more inclusive towards all refugees and asylum seekers. Hopefully by changing the staff, situation’s like Sams will get better or cease to occur. Having homophobic and racist staff members at this office is a conflict of interest, and under the UNHRC’s standards, it qualifies as misconduct. If you would like to help me in doing this, see the post below which has a template for a complaint you can send to the UNHRC via the online complaint form. The more complaints sent, hopefully, the more likely there will be a change in Sam’s situation.