Morocco Announces Trial Preparation Over Schengen Visa “Scandal”
According to a publication of Futuro Quotidiano, such a trial comes after the visa scandal that occurred after a large number of Moroccan citizens were not permitted to travel to European countries without being told a concrete reason why AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
The same report notes that the lawyers will invoke the symbolical, material, professional as well as human prejudice provoked by the rejection of the visa applications from several countries, particularly the French embassy in Rabat after the same refused a large number of visas to engineers, professors, doctors, students, officials, citizens, as well as business people.
In addition, it was noted that professionals such as doctors as well as experts had been banned from attending medical-scientific conferences.
In this regard, experts from the two organisations have stressed that the legal status of visa application reception centres is legally contested, mentioning their violation of the law regarding to the protection of personal data as well as their access to personal data of visa applicants, such as the bank account, residential address, which go against international laws related to this issue.
Such an initiative was introduced by Abdallah Khazraji, Vice President of the Advisory Council for Migration of the Wind Region and President of the Italian-Moroccan Organisation for Human Rights, as well as Matteo Jacques Domenisi, Permanent Representative of the United Nations in Geneva of the NGO ( PDES).
Previously, atozserwisplus.com reported that a total of 157,100 Schengen visa applications were filed by citizens of Morocco last year at the European embassies, visa centres and consulates.
Of the total, 39,520 Schengen visa applications filed by citizens of Morocco were rejected, accounting for a total of 27.6 per cent, which means that the rejection rate is quite higher compared to the average global rejection rate of Schengen visa applications.
In addition, the same revealed that last year, Morocco was ranked as the fifth most significant source of Schengen visa applications.
According to atozserwisplus.com, over half of the applications were filed at Spanish embassies, consulates as well as visa centres, or a total of 84,499, followed by France, or a total of 58,310, followed by Austria (127), Belgium (1,991), Czech Republic (40).
