Transregional and Transnational Protection of the Rights of Moroccan and Foreign Minors in the Migratory Process between Morocco and Catalonia: The Case of the Rassif Project

RASSIF is a participatory action research project, which has been developed in three phases from 2020 to 2025, funded by the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, promoted by the Casal d'Infants del Raval (a children's support NGO, with offices in Barcelona and Tangier, Morocco), with the participation of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and several Catalan and Moroccan entities. The objective of the project is the protection of the rights of minors in the migratory process between Morocco and Catalonia, at the three stages of this process: origin (Tangier, Nador, Oujda, Rabat, Casablanca, among other cities), transit (Ceuta, Melilla, Spain) and destination (Barcelona, Catalonia, Europe). The project is based on multi-site ethnographic research, carried out both at origin and destination, based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with migrant minors, educators, professionals and policy makers. It analyses the impact of the protection systems in force in Morocco and Catalonia, and converges in a pilot training plan, currently underway, aimed at social and street educators who work with minors in both countries. This paper presents the main results of the project and makes proposals for public policies. The central axis of RASSIF is the need for a transregional, transnational, transgenerational and transdisciplinary approach, which improves knowledge of the situation of minors migrants, and contributes to the protection of their rights at origin, transit and destination.