Moroccans in Belgium

Moroccans and people of Moroccan descent, who come from various ethnic groups, form a distinct community in Belgium and part of the wider Moroccan diaspora. They represent the largest non-European immigrant population in Belgium and are widely referred to as Belgo-Marocains in French and Belgische Marokkanen in Dutch.

Moroccan-Belgians
Total population
429,500 (2012)[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Belgium
 Morocco
Languages
French, Dutch, Moroccan Arabic, Berber,
Religion
Islam
Minority: Judaism and Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Arabs and Berbers in Belgium

History
Moroccan-born population in Belgium
YearPop.±%
1961 461—    
1970 39,294+8423.6%
1981 105,133+167.6%
1991 142,098+35.2%
2002 90,642−36.2%
Source: [2]

There has been a Moroccan presence in Belgium since 1912 when France began recruiting workers from its North African colonies as immigrant workers, allowing some to cross into Belgium. At the time, Morocco possessed a largely agrarian economy and labour migration was attractive to many young men. There were thought to be 6,000 Moroccans living in Belgium by 1930, predominantly in industrial towns in Wallonia.[3]

Belgium's economic recovery in the aftermath of World War II was based the rapid revival of coal mining and heavy industry which experienced an acute shortage of labour. The Belgian government created various guest worker programs aimed at encouraging workers to travel to Belgium on work contracts. The first such agreement was made with Italy in 1946 but collapsed after the Marcinelle mining disaster in 1956. Alternative agreements were made with Spain (1956) and Greece (1957) and later Turkey (1964) and the Belgian government began negotiations about recruiting workers from North Africa in 1957 around the time of Morocco's independence while the Algerian War was still ongoing.[2]

A guest worker agreement was signed with Morocco on 17 August 1964. This made Morocco the first North African state to make such an agreement with Belgium.[2] In following years significant numbers of Moroccan workers, mainly single men, were recruited for work in Belgium. The program was cancelled in August 1974 amid the fall in demand created by the 1973–1975 recession. However, the spread of family reunification and high birth rates led to the rapid expansion of the community after the scheme's abolition. In following years, there was also immigration into Belgium from students and political dissidents opposed to the regime of King Hassan II.[2]

Community

In Belgium, the number of people of Moroccan origin (at least one parent born with Moroccan nationality) was 430,000 as of 1 January 2012, or about 4% of the country's population. This proportion is 6.7% for those under 15 years of age. This figure has more than doubled in 20 years. With a percentage of 4%, the Moroccan population (counting the Belgians of Moroccan origin) has the highest percentage in Europe among Moroccans residing abroad. The Brussels-Capital Region (45% of MREs in Belgium) has the most Moroccans in Belgium and Europe, followed by Antwerp (22.7%), Liège (8.8%) and Charleroi (5.2%). A large majority of Moroccans in Belgium originate from northern Morocco (Al Hoceima, Nador, Tangier, Tetouan and Oujda).[4][5]

It was reported in 2019 that six Moroccan-Belgians had been elected to the Chamber of Representatives and 21 in regional parliaments.[6]

It was reported in 2020 that more than 1,500 Moroccan-Belgian dual nationals in Morocco had request repatriation to Belgium during the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]

There is a small Moroccan-Jewish community which runs the Judeo-Moroccan Cultural Centre (Centre de la Culture judéo-marocaine, CCJM) in Brussels.[8]

Radicalization

In the 2012-2016 timespan, of the about 500 individuals left the country to fight in the civil war in Syria, the great majority were of Moroccan descent according to U.S. and Belgian authorities.[9] In a report by the Combating Terrorism Center, of the 135 individuals surveyed in connection with terrorism, there were 12 different nationalities. Of those 65% had Belgian citizenship and 33% were either Moroccan citizens or had ancestral roots there.[10]

Notable people

See also

References
  1. "429.580 Belges sont d'origine marocaine: deux fois plus qu'il y a 20 ans!" (in French). Sud-Info. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  2. Loriaux, Florence. "L'immigration marocaine en Belgique (1964-2004)" (PDF). Centre d'animation et de recherche en histoire ouvrière et populaire (CARHOP). Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  3. Laporte, Christian (16 February 2014). "1/2 siècle d'immigration belgo-marocaine" (in French). La Libre Belgique. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  4. Libre.be, La. "1/2 siècle d'immigration belgo-marocaine" (in French). Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  5. sudinfo.be. "429.580 Belges sont d'origine marocaine: deux fois plus qu'il y a 20 ans!". sudinfo (in French). Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  6. "Six Belgians of Moroccan Descent Enter Belgian Parliament | The North Africa Post". The North African Post. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  7. Loos, Baudouin (13 April 2020). "Coronavirus: 1.500 binationaux bloqués au Maroc se sont inscrits pour être rapatriés, annonce Goffin" (in French). Le Soir. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  8. "Les juifs marocains de Belgique fêtent La Mimouna" (in French). Conseil de la communauté marocaine à l'étranger (CCME). 11 May 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  9. "When It Comes To Radicalization In Belgium, Turks and Moroccans Are Different". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-03-10. More than 500 Belgians have left for Syria since 2012 and most of them, according to Belgian and U.S. officials, have been of Moroccan descent.
  10. Van Vlierden, Guy; Lewis, Jon; Rassler, Don (February 2018). Beyond the Caliphate (PDF). Combating Terrorism Center. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.

Further reading
  • Timmerman, Christiane, ed. (2018). Moroccan Migration in Belgium: More than 50 Years of Settlement. Leuven: Leuven University Press. ISBN 9789461662569.
  • Frennet-De Keyser, A. (2004). "L'immigration marocaine en Belgique". In Morelli, Anne (ed.). Histoire des étrangers et de l'immigration en Belgique, de la préhistoire à nos jours (2nd ed.). Charleroi: Couleur livres. pp. 329–54. ISBN 9782870034019.
  • Bousetta, Hassan; Martiniello, Marco (2003). "Marocains de Belgique : du travailleur immigré au citoyen transnational". Hommes & Migrations. 1242 (1242): 94–106. doi:10.3406/homig.2003.3977.
  • Bastenier, Albert (18 August 2016). "L'incidence du facteur religieux dans la "conscience ethnique" des immigrés marocains en Belgique". Social Compass. 45 (2): 195–218. doi:10.1177/003776898045002001. S2CID 144548558.
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