The debate in the Netherlands over "double loyalty" continues regarding Dutch parliament member Khadija Arib's participation in a Moroccan advisory council to the Moroccan king. Here are the opinions of other Moroccan-European law-makers.
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Alima Boumediene, a French-Moroccan parliament member that takes part in Arib's workgroup doesn't think there's an issue of a loyalty problem and says she has no power in Morocco. "The problem of double nationality only comes into play if I was a candidate for the Moroccan parliament."
Boumediene doesn't feel any connection to the Moroccan king; she doesn't do her work for him, but for the country. "I don't want to convince or advise the king. I'm concerned about the immigrants. How can we improve the situation of the Moroccans in Europe and in Morocco?" she emphasizes that the workgroup is independent because she only gets reimbursed for trip expenses.
Brussels parliament member Fatiha Saidi decided for these reasons not to accept the invitation to Arib's workgroup. "My position is: People can't take part in two different government institutions. My Moroccan nationality comes in second place. I have, in the first instance, responsibilities because I am a Belgian parliament member."
She points out that the does have respect for the work of the CCDH and that she doesn't see any impediment if in her function as Brussels parliament member she keeps in touch with various Moroccan organizations and political institutions. "But I have never been part of a Moroccan government institution. For me that's unthinkable."
Arib claims that the CCDH is an independent human-rights organization. But according to Moroccan-Belgian immigration researcher Said El Amrani, who was involved in the prarepations for Arib's workgroup, the CCDH is "absolutely not independent". El Amrani says he has refused to take part in this workgroup because its connections with the Moroccan king were too close. "I think that the king is the only one who in the end can make decisions and not the workgroup or the CCDH in its totality".
He points out that the human rights council was founded by the former king Hassan II, who was not known for his democratic principles. He founded the council in order to show the West that he was an enlightened monarch.
The human rights council CCDH, whose participants included victims of Hassan's regime, is always criticized by Moroccan NGOs because they are "financially and morally dependent" on the king.
About Arib El Amrani say "I respect her decision, but you can't serve two countries at the same time."
Source: Wereldomroep (Dutch)
See also: Netherlands: I am not loyal to the Netherlands
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