:Moroccans in Belgium

{{Infobox ethnic group

| group = Moroccan-Belgians

| pop = 429,580 (2012){{cite news |title=429.580 Belges sont d'origine marocaine: deux fois plus qu'il y a 20 ans! |url=https://www.sudinfo.be/art/1056057/article/2014-07-14/429580-belges-sont-d-origine-marocaine-deux-fois-plus-qu-il-y-a-20-ans |access-date=29 July 2020 |publisher=Sud-Info |date=14 July 2014 |language=fr}}

| popplace = {{flag|Belgium}}
{{flag|Morocco}}

| langs = French, Dutch, Moroccan Arabic, Rifian, Shilha, Spanish,{{cite news |title=Spaanse Marokkanen: In dit apenland kan alles, redeneren ze |url=https://m.gva.be/cnt/aid870214 |access-date=10 December 2021 |publisher=Gazette van Antwerpen |date=13 October 2009 |language=nl}} Italian

| rels = Islam
Minority: Judaism, Irreligion, Christianity{{citation|last=Lederer|first=Gyorgy|year=2009|chapter=Hungary|title=Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 1|editor-last1=Nielsen|editor-first1=Jorgen|editor-last2=Akgönül|editor-first2=Samim|editor-last3=Alibašic|editor-first3=Ahmet|editor-last4=Maréchal|editor-first4=Brigitte|editor-last5=Moe|editor-first5=Christian|page=69-72|publisher=BRILL Publishers|isbn=978-9047428503}}

| related = Arabs and Berbers in Belgium

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

}}

Moroccans and people of Moroccan descent, who come from various ethnic groups, form a distinct community in Belgium and part of the wider Moroccan diaspora. They represent the largest non-European immigrant population in Belgium and are widely referred to as Belgo-Marocains in French and Belgische Marokkanen in Dutch.

History

{{Historical populations

| title= Moroccan-born population in Belgium

|1961 |461

|1970 |39,294

|1981 |105,133

|1991 |142,098

|2002 |90,642

|source = }}

There has been a Moroccan presence in Belgium since 1912 when France began recruiting workers from its North African colonies as immigrant workers, allowing some to cross into Belgium. At the time, Morocco possessed a largely agrarian economy and labour migration was attractive to many young men. There were thought to be 6,000 Moroccans living in Belgium by 1930, predominantly in industrial towns in Wallonia.{{cite news |last1=Laporte |first1=Christian |title=1/2 siècle d'immigration belgo-marocaine |url=https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/12-siecle-d-immigration-belgo-marocaine-5300f9173570c16bb1ce4c49 |access-date=29 July 2020 |publisher=La Libre Belgique |date=16 February 2014 |language=fr}}

The rapid recovery of the Belgian economy after World War II was based on the rapid revival of coal mining and heavy industry which experienced an acute labour shortage. As a response, the Belgian government entered into various guest worker programmes aimed at encouraging workers to travel to Belgium on work contracts. The first such agreement was made with Italy in 1946 but the arrangement collapsed after large-scale loss of life among Italian workers in the Marcinelle mining disaster in 1956. Alternative agreements were concluded with Spain (1956) and Greece (1957) and later Turkey (1964). Belgium also began to look to recruiting migrant workers from North Africa from 1957 but the process was complicated by the ongoing Algerian War.{{cite web |last1=Loriaux |first1=Florence |title=L'immigration marocaine en Belgique (1964-2004) |url=https://www.carhop.be/images/Immigration_marocaine_F.LORIAUX-2005.pdf |publisher=Centre d'animation et de recherche en histoire ouvrière et populaire (CARHOP) |access-date=29 July 2020}}

A guest worker agreement was signed with Morocco on 17 August 1964. This made Morocco the first North African state to make such an agreement with Belgium. In following years significant numbers of Moroccan workers, mainly single men, were recruited for work in Belgium. The program was cancelled in August 1974 amid the fall in demand created by the 1973–1975 recession and the country's escalating deindustrialisation. However, the spread of family reunification and high birth rates led to the rapid expansion of the community after the scheme's abolition. In following years, there was also immigration into Belgium from students and political dissidents opposed to the regime of King Hassan II.

As of 2023, there are a total of 699,296 North Africans in Belgium, of which a majority are Moroccans. A total of 258,603 North Africans reside in the Brussels-Capital Region, and 120,356 reside in Antwerp. A total of 275,421 North Africans reside in Flanders and a total of 165,272 North Africans reside in Wallonia.{{Cite web |title=Origin {{!}} Statbel |url=https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/population/structure-population/origin#figures |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=statbel.fgov.be}}

class="wikitable"
colspan="10" style="text-align:center; background:#ffdead;"\| Number of Moroccans in larger cities {{citation needed\|date=September 2023}}
style="background:#ddd;" ! style="background:#ececec;"\| #	style="background:#ececec;"\| City	style="background:#ececec;"\| People
style="text-align:left;" \| 1.	Brussels	34,984
style="text-align:left;" \| 2.	Antwerp	11,780
style="text-align:left;" \| 3.	Liège	7,634
style="text-align:left;" \| 4.	Charleroi	5,403
style="text-align:left;" \| 5.	Namur	2,836

Community

Moroccans form a major immigrant ethnic group in Belgium. The number of people with at least one parent born with Moroccan nationality was 430,000 on 1 January 2012, or about 4 percent of the national population.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} This proportion was 6.7% among those under 15 years of age. Belgium also represents one of the most important centres of the Moroccan diaspora. The Brussels-Capital Region has the most Moroccans in Belgium (45%), followed by Antwerp (22.7%), Liège (8.8%) and Charleroi (5.2%).

A large majority of Moroccans in Belgium originate from northern Morocco (Al Hoceima, Nador, Tangier, Tetouan and Oujda).{{Cite news|url=http://www.lalibre.be/actu/belgique/12-siecle-d-immigration-belgo-marocaine-5300f9173570c16bb1ce4c49|title=1/2 siècle d'immigration belgo-marocaine|last=Libre.be|first=La|access-date=2017-07-25|language=fr}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.sudinfo.be/1056057/article/2014-07-14/429580-belges-sont-d-origine-marocaine-deux-fois-plus-qu-il-y-a-20-ans|title=429.580 Belges sont d'origine marocaine: deux fois plus qu'il y a 20 ans!|last=sudinfo.be|work=sudinfo|access-date=2017-07-25|language=fr}}

It was reported in 2019 that six Moroccan-Belgians had been elected to the Chamber of Representatives and 21 in regional parliaments.{{cite news |title=Six Belgians of Moroccan Descent Enter Belgian Parliament {{!}} The North Africa Post |url=https://northafricapost.com/31334-six-belgians-of-moroccan-descent-enter-belgian-parliament.html |access-date=29 July 2020 |publisher=The North African Post |date=31 May 2019}}

It was reported in 2020 that more than 1,500 Moroccan-Belgian dual nationals in Morocco had request repatriation to Belgium during the COVID-19 pandemic.{{cite news |last1=Loos |first1=Baudouin |title=Coronavirus: 1.500 binationaux bloqués au Maroc se sont inscrits pour être rapatriés, annonce Goffin |url=https://www.lesoir.be/294189/article/2020-04-13/coronavirus-1500-binationaux-bloques-au-maroc-se-sont-inscrits-pour-etre |access-date=30 July 2020 |publisher=Le Soir |date=13 April 2020 |language=fr}}

There is a small Moroccan Jewish community which runs the Judeo-Moroccan Cultural Centre (Centre de la Culture judéo-marocaine, CCJM) in Brussels.{{cite news |title=Les juifs marocains de Belgique fêtent La Mimouna |url=https://www.ccme.org.ma/fr/medias-et-migration/49116 |access-date=30 July 2020 |publisher=Conseil de la communauté marocaine à l'étranger (CCME) |date=11 May 2016 |language=fr-fr}} The chief Rabbi of Belgium is Albert Guigui, born in Meknès in 1944.

Radicalization

In the 2012–2016 timespan, of the approximately 500 individuals who left the country to fight in the civil war in Syria, the great majority were of Moroccan descent according to U.S. and Belgian authorities.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2016/04/04/473004999/when-it-comes-to-radicalization-in-belgium-turks-and-moroccans-are-different|title=When It Comes To Radicalization In Belgium, Turks and Moroccans Are Different|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=2019-03-10|quote=More than 500 Belgians have left for Syria since 2012 and most of them, according to Belgian and U.S. officials, have been of Moroccan descent.}} In a report by the Combating Terrorism Center, of the 135 individuals surveyed in connection with terrorism, there were 12 different nationalities. Of those 65% had Belgian citizenship and 33% were either Moroccan citizens or had ancestral roots there.{{cite book|url=https://ctc.usma.edu/app/uploads/2018/02/CTC-Beyond-the-Caliphate-Belgium.pdf|title=Beyond the Caliphate|last1=Van Vlierden|first1=Guy|last2=Lewis|first2=Jon|last3=Rassler|first3=Don|date=February 2018|publisher=Combating Terrorism Center|page=1|access-date=24 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224171236/https://ctc.usma.edu/app/uploads/2018/02/CTC-Beyond-the-Caliphate-Belgium.pdf|archive-date=24 February 2018}}

Notable people

= Members of parliament or of government =

Imade Annouri - 2019.jpg|Imade Annouri

Fourat Ben Chikha.jpg|Fourat Ben Chikha

Sihame El Kaouakibi Vlaams Parlement.png|Sihame El Kaouakibi

EP, Štrasburk, Saïd El Khadraoui.jpg|Saïd El Khadraoui

Ahmed EL KTIBI.jpg|Ahmed El Ktibi

Latifa Gahouchi.jpg|Latifa Gahouchi

Yamila Idrissi.jpg|Yamila Idrissi

Zakia khattabi.jpg|Zakia Khattabi

Minister Meryame Kitir.jpg|Meryame Kitir

591443165 ID3479333 19 laanan 202544 0268P0 0.jpg|Fadila Laanan

LaaouejWiki.jpg|Ahmed Laaouej

Nahima-lanjri-1337435663.jpg|Nahima Lanjri

Rajae Maouane (2021) (cropped).jpg|Rajae Maouane

Nadia sminate-1517993155.JPG|Nadia Sminate

Olga Zrihen (2016).jpeg|Olga Zrihen

= Others =

Lubna Azabal.jpg|Lubna Azabal

Zakaria Bakkali.jpg|Zakaria Bakkali

Jamal-Ben-Saddik-2016-12.jpg|Jamal Ben Saddik

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.JPG|Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Soufiane eddyani-1476984294.png|Soufiane Eddyani

Marouane Fellaini vs USA.jpg|Marouane Fellaini

Mourade Zeguendi.jpg|Mourade Zeguendi

References

External links

{{commons category-inline|Moroccan diaspora in Belgium}}

Category:Belgium–Morocco relations