Every year, thousands of Moroccan women travel across to Spain to help with the strawberry harvesting in the province of Huelva in southern Spain. This year, there were fears that, due to the political situation between the two countries, Morocco would not open the border and the women would be stranded in Spain.
Currently, there are 12,600 women picking the strawberries in the region. Yesterday, Moroccan and Spanish officials came to a compromise to allow the women to cross back home after June 15 when the border will reopen.
Euroweeklynews.com quoted Pedro Marín, the manager of the Interprofessional Association of the Andalusian Strawberry (Interfresa), as saying: ”As of June 15 these women will be able to return to their country, with their families, giving a good end to the process of circular migration and hiring at origin”.
Marín also thanked the administrations of both countries “for having been able to reach a point of understanding in a situation that was still somewhat critical due to the context in which we find ourselves”, while stressing, “it will allow normality in the development of the end of the campaign”, emphasizing that “the most important thing is that the workers have the guarantee and the tranquility, that they will be able to return to their homes with total normality.”
Photo source: Dreamstime.com