Beggars in Morocco - a new approach

Approximately 15% of beggars under the age of seven are hired workers and are paid between 50 and 100 dirhams per week to beg for their employers.

A new programme by the Ministry of Social Development, Family and Solidarity has been created to try and reduce the number of beggars on the streets of Morocco. In a recent report on the situation, a government spokesperson claimed that up to 15% of the beggars under the age of seven are in fact hired to work the streets.y 15% of beggars under the age of seven are hired workers. The total number of beggars in the country is estimated to be close to 500,000.

The new programme will encourage the assimilation of beggars into society through family integration, institutional sponsorship and economic integration.

According to an article in Magharebia, the programme calls for a "social approach" - that includes the integration of beggars into their family sphere by helping them find work, helping them locate an institutional sponsor, and by creating legal consequences such as the arrest of beggars that return to the streets.

A parallel approach involves raising public awareness of the need to discourage begging and to inform beggars of the options available to them. However, as alms giving is one of the pillars of Islam and giving to the poor, blind and infirm, part of everyday life, it is hard to see how people could be convinced to give less.

However, the Minister of Social Development Abderrahim El Harouchi says "The phenomenon of begging is an epidemic that weakens Moroccans’ honour and human rights and tarnishes the country’s reputation. Begging has become a circulating culture that eats away at the root of the social and economic reform efforts Morocco has made."

According to Magharebia, the programme groups beggars into three different categories: deviant beggars, beggars of need and beggars out of work. A 2004 Moroccan Childhood Protection League study showed that 56% of beggars are men and 44% are women. El Harouchi noted that approximately 15% of beggars under the age of seven are hired workers and are paid between 50 and 100 dirhams per week to beg for their employers.

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news