In their own words

“In Mauritania, we need capacity building of those involved in the reintegration of return migration efforts, to be able to welcome return migrants and provide them with the technical and logistical assistance to easily reintegrate in their country.”

Mohamed Cheikh Lehbib, Ministère de l’emploi – Mauritania

“Returning migrant workers, such as artisans who spend 5-10 years or more in Europe, upon their return to Tunisia they do not find the conducive environment for work, they do not find needed health coverage, or the adequate salary. This can represent an obstacle in their reintegration. Undocumented migrants, who lack resident permits, regular salaries, health coverage or unemployment benefits, face even greater obstacles in their reintegration.”

Mourad Labiadh, UGTT – Tunisia

“The returning Moroccan migrants needs to find employment, education for their children, health coverage and pension. There are several differences between return migrants for example those returning from Gulf States do not have pensions as such they encounter difficulties in continuing their lives in Morocco. Even in the case of education as in Gulf States English is the language of choice, while it is French in Morocco. As such, their children will find difficulties in acclimating and enrolling in public schools.  The living conditions can also be difficult, for this reason there is a need for a tailor-made training for those deputized by the government to take care of this group and accompany them in their path, as they need more support as the result of how different their lives were in the destination countries. Governments, when taking into considerartion BLA’s, they need to take into account return migrants and negotiate the possibility for return migrants to find alternative projects upon completion or termination of their employment contracts in destination countries.”

Samira Htila, ANAPEC – Morocco

“There is a lack of legal mechanisms pertaining to return migrants in reference to OSH, working conditions, decent pay or utilizing their capacities acquired abroad, and this is a shortcoming. The government needs to tackle the challenges in collaboration with the entities tasked to deal with return migrants, by updating old agreements which are no longer adequate to address the issue.”

Henia Ben Salah, UGTT – Tunisia

“The majority of return migrants face challenges regarding their training and competencies, as such there would be a need to devise a training program designed to aid them in their reintegration within their social and professional contexts. The majority of them return without jobs and in difficult conditions. In order to reintegrate them, we need to train them, teach them a profession, as well as provide them with material support, at least initially, provide them with economic support, which would allow them the time to gain employment and to reintegrate within their social and professional lives”.

Mahmoud khairou, UTM – Mauritania.