[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 72 (Thursday, May 13, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H3466-H3468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CALLING ON MOROCCO TO RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of my
colleagues the precarious situation of Christians and other religious
minorities in Morocco. In March, Moroccan authorities deported
approximately 40 U.S. citizens and scores of our foreign nationals. The
individuals deported
[[Page H3467]]
were charged with proselytism, which is against the law in Morocco.
However, Moroccan authorities have refused to turn over any evidence or
offer any explanation of the charges.
Among the individuals who were deported or denied reentry were
businessmen, educators, humanitarian and social workers, many of whom
had resided in Morocco for over a decade in full compliance with the
law. Those deported were reportedly forced to leave the country within
2 hours of being questioned by authorities, leaving all of their
belongings behind.
As a result, a number of organizations which were run by foreign
nationals and provided vital community services have been shuttered.
One organization which has been adversely affected is the Village of
Hope orphanage in Morocco's Atlas Mountains. Time Magazine reported
that: ``The Village of Hope deportations are part of what appears to be
a widespread crackdown on Christian workers in Morocco.''
A New Zealand native and staff of the orphanage, Chris Broadbent,
told Time that ``most of the couples were there as foster parents and
had raised these children since infancy.''
Colorado couple Eddie and Lynn Padilla were amongst those expelled
from the Village of Hope, forced to leave their two Moroccan sons
behind. Mr. Padilla told 9 News Colorado that his 2-year-old son,
Samir, ``didn't understand what was happening but knew it wasn't
good.'' He went on to describe the heart-wrenching story of their
sudden separation and how Samir jumped into his father's arms and
cried, ``I want to go with you, Daddy.''
The harsh nature of these expulsions call into question the
longstanding friendship and mutual cooperation between the United
States and Morocco dating back to the letter the Sultan of Morocco sent
to George Washington at Valley Forge declaring that American vessels
were permitted to enter Moroccan ports to ``take refreshments and enjoy
in them the same privileges and immunities as those of the other
nations.'' This letter signified the first official recognition of our
fledgling Nation.
I have worked with Moroccan and U.S. officials over the last 2 months
in an attempt to find a satisfactory solution to this matter.
Unfortunately, the Moroccan Government seems to be unwilling to
compromise, as evidenced by a recent letter I received from a
representative of the King.
Earlier this week, 10 additional foreign nationals were asked to
leave the country. It is our responsibility to speak out on behalf of
human rights abuses which have been perpetrated by the Moroccan
Government.
President Reagan modeled this approach by consistently speaking out
on behalf of the persecuted and tirelessly defending human rights and
religious freedom.
Today I sent Secretary of State Clinton a letter asking her to issue
a travel advisory for Morocco so all U.S. citizens are aware of the
potential risks. Additionally, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission,
which I cochair, will hold a hearing on June 17 to further explore the
issues of human rights and religious freedom in Morocco.
I call on the Government of Morocco again to uphold its commitment to
the principles of religious tolerance and freedom that for so long made
it a model of tolerance and modernity in the Arab world.
Again, I call on our Embassy, and I think our ambassador should be
speaking out, the State Department should be speaking out, and the
White House should be speaking out to raise this issue with Moroccan
authorities at the highest levels in defending the rights and interests
of these American citizens whose lives have been shattered by these
events.
[From Time, Mar. 21, 2010]
In Morocco, a Crackdown on Christian Aid Workers
(By Lisa Abend)
March 8 is not a day that Chris Broadbent will soon forget.
The preceding weekend, gendarmes entered the Village of Hope,
a Christian-run orphanage in Morocco's Atlas Mountains where
Broadbent, a New Zealand native, worked as a human resources
manager, and began questioning children and staff. At first,
he and the other foreign workers were assured that the
interrogation was routine. But as it dragged on, the
questions turned to subjects like `How do you pray?' and the
police began searching homes on the compound for children's
Bibles. On Monday morning, after being held in a separate
room from the orphanage's 33 children, Broadbent and his 15
colleagues were summarily deported from Morocco, accused of
illegally proselytizing for their faith.
``Most of the couples were there as foster parents and had
raised these children since infancy,'' Broadbent says. ``When
they were told that their parents had to leave, it was
chaos--the kids were running after any adult they could find,
and just holding on. It was the most devastating thing I've
ever seen.''
The Village of Hope deportations are part of what appears
to be a widespread crackdown on Christian aid workers in
Morocco. An estimated 40 foreigners--including Dutch,
British, American and Korean citizens--have been deported
this month, including Broadbent and his colleagues. Among
them were an Egyptian Catholic priest in the northern city of
Larache and a Korean-born Protestant pastor in Marrakesh who
was arrested as he led services in his church. And this past
week, authorities searched an orphanage founded by American
missionaries in the town of Azrou called The Children's
Haven. Salim Sefiane, a Moroccan who was raised at the
orphanage and is still in touch with workers there, said the
officials interrogated the orphanage staff and asked children
as young as 8 years old to demonstrate how they pray. No
action has been taken yet against the orphanage's workers,
Sefiane said.
The large-scale deportations came as a surprise in a nation
that is among the most liberal of Muslim countries. Although
trying to convert Muslims to other faiths is illegal, Morocco
tolerates the presence of other religions and is home to a
number of churches and synagogues. ``There are several things
about this that are really striking,'' says Spanish
journalist Ignacio Cembrero, who has written several books
about the country. ``There have been occasional deportations
of people accused of proselytizing before, but never so many
at once, and they've never expelled a Catholic before. And
for the police to enter a church on Sunday, during services,
to arrest people? Absolutely unprecedented.''
According to the Moroccan government, the deportees all
broke the law, using their status as aid workers to cover
their proselytizing. ``They are guilty of trying to undermine
the faith of Muslims,'' Interior Minister Tayeb Cherkaoui
said in a press release.
But were they? Broadbent denies the charges. Part of his
job at the Village of Hope was to ensure that staff members
understood the rules prohibiting proselytizing, and he notes
that all the orphanage's children received instruction in
Islam. ``We weren't teaching Christianity in any formal
way,'' he says. But asked if reading the Bible to Muslim
children constitutes proselytizing, he said, ``We understood
that it wasn't. And in any case, the authorities have always
known that these children were being raised in Christian
families.'' In fact, Village of Hope had been operating for
10 years and had received ``institutional'' status from the
Moroccan government this year--a designation meaning it meets
government standards. Many of the other deported Christians
had also been in Morocco for extended periods of time. So why
were they evicted now?
Christopher Martin, a pastor since 2004 at the Casablanca
International Protestant Church, says he's talked to three
different people with connections ``high up in the Moroccan
government'' and heard three different explanations for the
action. But one common thread, he points out, is that the
officials leading the crackdown--the Justice and Interior
ministers--were both appointed in January. That suggests to
many Christians in Morocco that the officials were eager to
quickly make a mark on the political landscape with an
initiative likely to have broad popular support.
Although the Moroccan government has in recent years
dramatically reformed its family law to better protect the
rights of women and has even sponsored programs to train
women as Muslim preachers, it has also proven responsive to
an increasingly religious public. In recent years, alcohol
licenses have become much more difficult to obtain, and last
September, for the first time, police in various cities
arrested Moroccans who were eating in public during the fast
period of Ramadan. The action prompted a formal complaint
from the international organization Human Rights Watch.
Aaron Schwoebel, the information officer at the U.S.
embassy in Rabat, says that the Moroccan government has told
the embassy there will be more deportations, including other
Americans. He said the government did not indicate when. ``We
urge the Moroccan government to act in accordance with its
highest traditions of tolerance,'' Schwoebel says, ``and
respect the human rights of the members of these religious
minority communities, including those of our own citizens.''
Now living in Spain after the gendarmes escorted him and
his family to a departing ferry in Tangier, Broadbent hopes
for the same thing. The last he heard, the Village of Hope
children were still living at the orphanage, but he suspects
they may soon be sent to other homes. ``We'd like to open a
dialogue that would lead to reuniting these families,'' he
says. But in the meantime, he can only wonder about the
meaning of it all. ``Is this an isolated incident?'' he asks.
``Or is Morocco steering away from its tolerant past?''
[[Page H3468]]
____
Royaume du Maroc, Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres et de
la Cooperation,
Congressman Frank R. Wolf,
Washington, DC.
Honorable Representative, His Majesty King Mohammed VI
acknowledges receipt of your letter regarding the
repatriation measures taken against American citizens by the
Government of the Kingdom of Morocco.
In answer to your request, I have been instructed by His
Majesty the King, Commander of the Faithful, to share with
you certain remarks and clarifications in the hope they may
alleviate your concerns regarding this issue.
Firstly, I would like to assure you that the Kingdom of
Morocco attaches great importance to its historic ties of
friendship with the United States of America, with which it
shares a unique and longstanding relationship which His
Majesty the King seeks to preserve and deepen in all areas of
exchange and cooperation.
The values of freedom, democracy and tolerance which
brought us together in the past are still, today, the solid
foundation on which we have erected an exemplary bilateral
partnership characterized in particular, by an open, honest
and candid dialogue. It is precisely this dialogue, pursued
at all levels of society, which has always allowed us to
bridge any temporal divides which may come between us by
working, together, past them on the basis of our shared
values and enduring interests.
In this spirit, I would like to expose to you my country's
perspective regarding the issue presently at hand:
The repatriation measures which concerned, amongst others,
a number of American citizens, solely and exclusively
targeted proselytism activities which are clearly and
categorically forbidden by both the precepts of Islam and
Moroccan legislation, equally vouched for by His Majesty the
King as Commander of the Faithful and Head of State.
The repatriation measures were not taken against the
concerned parties in relation to their Christian faith, but
because they had committed criminal offences, as proven by an
investigation conducted by the relevant legal authority,
namely the Crown Prosecution Office, following formal
complaints, namely by parents and close relatives of the
children concerned.
These measures should, thus, be construed as logical, legal
and legitimate decisions resulting from a thorough
investigation which established, on the basis of verifiable
and substantial evidence that foreign nationals, under the
pretence of conducting charitable actions, had engaged in
proselytizing.
Under such circumstances, Moroccan authorities were
obligated to fulfill their responsibilities by duly enforcing
the Law, in full respect of the rights and dignity of the
concerned parties.
Indeed, the choice of an administrative procedure of
repatriation--as provided for by national legislation--
instead of a legal procedure, was made to spare concerned
parties the unavoidable ordeal which would result from a
trial, no matter how fair it may be. In addition, were the
concerned parties to feel they had been unjustly treated,
Moroccan law provides them with the right to petition for
nullity of the measures taken against them if these are found
to be an abuse of power.
Moroccan Islam, founded upon values of openness, tolerance
and moderation, is the fruit of long years of peaceful
coexistence between the varied and rich strata of Moroccan
society. It constitutes a central pillar upholding Moroccan
society which needs to be preserved against any undermining
or perversions.
Whenever this serene Islam has been targeted by
proselytizing or heretical activities, Moroccan authorities
were obliged to act, in all legality, to protect the faith of
Moroccan society.
On this basis, it should be noted that repatriation
procedures were regularly undertaken, these past years,
against some of ``our brothers in Islam'' both from Shiite or
Wahhabi rites. In all these cases, the same type of
administrative procedure was followed.
Therefore, taking into account all these considerations,
there can be no mistake about the intent and attitude of the
Moroccan authorities in this issue. I can assure you that in
no way whatsoever are these isolated cases in breach freedom
of worship, which is guaranteed by the Moroccan Constitution.
Nor can they be perceived as having any political or
religious connotations.
The Kingdom of Morocco has always been a land of dialogue
and exchange, as well as a crossroads where different
civilizations, cultures and religions can meet. His Majesty
the King, Commander of the Faithful, warrants the exercise of
this freedom across the Moroccan territory as a whole and in
an equal manner, for Muslims, Jews and Christians of all
persuasions.
While remaining at your disposal should you wish any
further explanations, please accept the assurances of my
highest regards,
Yours Sincerely,
Taib Fassi Fihri,
Le ministre.
____________________