EU must ensure Morocco respects migrants - Amnesty

BRUSSELS, Jan 9 (Reuters) The European Union must review its cooperation with Morocco to make sure it respects migrants' rights, Amnesty International said today, adding its voice to accusations of abuse of migrants by Rabat.

The rights group said around 100 people were unaccounted for after hundreds of migrants, including women, minors, refugees and asylum seekers were rounded up and forcibly displaced to the border with Algeria after raids in December.

Several complained of theft and sexual abuse by security force personnel in both Algeria and Morocco, it said.

The European Union has given Morocco 76 million euros to help manage migration, boost border security and crack down on trafficking as the wealthy bloc steps up security to stop illegal migrants entering by its southern flank.

''Can you cooperate with a partner like that?,'' asked Dick Oosting, director of Amnesty's EU office, referring to the actions of the Moroccan government.

''By not reacting forcefully you give a signal that you can get away with it,'' Oosting said, adding the EU should think about making aid conditional on respect of migrants' rights.

Yesterday, rights bodies including Moroccan human rights group AMDH said Moroccan police had violently rounded up more than 430 sub-Saharan migrants since late December and tried to force them over the Algerian border.

They said the 27-nation EU had a shared responsibility for the fate of migrants after effectively ''sub-contracting'' control of its borders to Morocco to stem a tide of sub-Saharan Africans wanting to reach Europe.

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