2024-04-12 15:16:42
Speaking during a feedback workshop on the theme “for a cohesive society free from begging”, Mr. Chami reviewed the Council’s recommendations, noting in this regard the need to prevent begging by strengthening the socio-economic resilience of households and the reduction of unemployment, the fight against poverty and social and spatial inequalities, the improvement of access to care, as well as the improvement of access to education, training and employment.
The President of the Council also underlined the need to eliminate all forms of child begging, by strengthening territorial child protection systems in terms of structure, organization, human and material resources and ensuring their generalization at the national level, in addition to the strengthening of repression against exploiters and traffickers of children, whether they are parents or strangers to the child.
It also recommends protecting vulnerable people against exploitation for the purposes of begging, severely punishing misdemeanor and criminal acts under the guise of begging, in accordance with the Penal Code, particularly with regard to exploiters of women, the elderly and people with disabilities, calling for strengthening protection and support policies for people with disabilities and the elderly.
It is also a question of strengthening support and socio-economic integration measures for migrant populations exposed to the practice of begging out of need or as part of organized gangs.
It is also important to rehabilitate and reintegrate people in a situation of begging, noted Mr. Chami, calling for a review of the legal system and an end to the criminalization of begging given the difficulty of determining the person’s ability to provide. to its needs given that the criminal offenses, whether individual or collective, associated with this activity are already taken into account in numerous provisions of the penal code.
In this sense, he noted that the CESE contribution proposes avenues of action likely to contain, or even eliminate, this phenomenon in our society, while ensuring the reconciliation of respect for the Constitution in particular, the economic and social rights of people in a situation of begging, without discrimination or stigmatization on the one hand, and respect for public order and security, on the other hand.
Mr. Chami, however, noted the absence of studies and updated data on begging in Morocco, which constitutes a major constraint in the development of public action capable of effectively combating this phenomenon, noting that individual findings and collectives in this sense reveal the increase and prevalence of the phenomenon of begging, particularly after the covid-19 pandemic and its repercussions on the economy, employment and purchasing power.
He cited risk factors linked to individual backgrounds and more broadly to socio-economic or cultural environments, often interdependent, which make people vulnerable to varying degrees, thus explaining the heterogeneity of the profiles of beggars.
The President of the EESC listed, among other factors favoring begging, poverty, difficulties in accessing the job market, widowhood, particularly of women, divorce, family abandonment, low level of education and training, the decline of the united society, the health status (state of health – physical and mental, disability), as well as a cultural predisposition of citizens to show charity.
Faced with the persistent challenge of begging, the current national system to combat begging is proving ineffective, said Mr. Chami, specifying that in terms of prevention, social programs to combat poverty and precariousness, given their fragmented nature, their targeting approaches and their implementation methods do not manage to compensate in a sufficient and lasting manner for the harmful effects of poverty on the most deprived populations, who often remain outside their field of intervention. .
In this context, he discussed the reform of the social protection system and the major challenge that this project is called upon to take up, in terms of its governance and targeting, particularly with regard to the generalization of compulsory health insurance. and direct social assistance, to combat the various sources of social vulnerability, including factors that can lead to begging.
2024-04-12 15:16:42