The Insecure Social Protection of Migrant Workers From the Maghreb

Is it possible to speak of just and equitable social protection for the active populations of poor countries which suffer from development problems and are dominated by an international order in which only the law of the strongest prevails, especially when those populations emigrate to seek work in order to live or merely to survive? Universal standards that are supposed to ensure some measure of international coordination of national legislation and practice in social security between developed countries and the so-called developing countries suffer from this somewhat original form of inequality. The adaptation of such standards at the bilateral, regional and multilateral levels only reflects the discrimination and selfish interests of States and of the rich and powerful, and indeed of broad sectors of their civil society who reject others simply because of their different culture and traditions. The debate is more involved than at first it may seem. By accepting others as being like oneself one can imagine a better world in which, when people move freely - including migrant workers and their families - they enjoy effective protection through social security. A study of the situation of Maghreb migrants employed and residing in western Europe and the Gulf States has much to teach us in this respect, especially in determining whether any form of solidarity is plausible or achievable in some not too distant future.