In partnership with the National Human Rights Council, the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad and the Ministry in charge of the Moroccan Community Abroad, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region, the Souss-Massa-Drâa Region, the Wilaya of the Souss-Massa-Drâa Region, and with the support of the urban commune of Agadir (5th stage), the Association of Moroccan Miners of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-AMMN (France) is organizing from November 02 to December 08, 2012, the Caravan of Moroccan Miners of Nord-Pas-de-Calais under the theme: "Memory at the service of Human Rights".

The main objective of this caravan is the valorization and rehabilitation of the memory and history of Moroccan miners from Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France and the reminder of their rights.

So, after the stages of Ouarzazate, Tiznit, Taroudant and Guelmim, the caravan has finally arrived in Agadir where several activities will be organized throughout the week.

Indeed, upon their arrival in the capital of Souss, the members of the caravan kicked off the caravan's program on Monday evening at the Amazigh Heritage Museum with the opening of an interesting photo exhibition on work in the coal mines, miners' tools and books dedicated to Moroccan miners and their cause, as well as synoptic tables on the AMMN and the fight of Moroccan miners for their rights.

This opening was then followed by the screening, at the Chamber of Commerce, of a documentary film entitled: "Les gueules noires racontent le charbon" (The black faces tell of coal), in the presence of the president of the Regional Council, the president of the Ibn Zohr University of Agadir, the president of the regional human rights commission, numerous academics, students and Gadiris who came to express their sympathy and support for this noble action initiated by the Association of Moroccan Miners of Nord-Pas-de-Calais (AMMN) chaired by Abdellah Samate, a former Moroccan miner, originally from Aoulouze, a first-hour activist for the cause of this category of Moroccan workers abroad who spent long and painful years in the coal mines of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and who are still, today, claiming their rights.

It should be noted that throughout the week, guided tours of the exhibition will be organized for the Gadiri public and students from the city's schools who will thus be able to discuss with the Moroccan miners participating in this caravan. Conferences are also planned during this fifth and final stage.

Furthermore, information meetings, workshops on updating rights, and free health check-ups for former miners in the region will be organized throughout the week at the headquarters of the regional human rights commission on Rue de la Foire (ex. Ibn Zaydoune school) next to Auto-hall Agadir.

On Saturday, this major event will be closed by a press conference which will take place in the town hall room at 6:00 p.m. It will be followed by the presentation of a play entitled: "Memory of a Moroccan miner in the coal mines of Nord-Pas-de-Calais."

On this occasion, Abdellah Samate, president of the AMMN, told us: "Our Association was created in 1989. And for twenty-two years, we have not stopped helping Moroccan miners from Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France. But we have not forgotten those who returned to Morocco either. We carried out a tour in the region in 1995 to tell them: 'Organize yourselves, try to defend your rights, try to show that you exist, that you are still there...'. Unfortunately, we noticed that this initiative did not have much echo. So, our Association decided to remedy this by organizing this caravan. We were in Ouarzazate, Tiznit, Taroudant, Guelmim and today, we are in Agadir to try to see the former miners of the region as we did in the other cities where we met a large part of these former Nord-Pas-de-Calais coal miners who returned permanently to the country. We also discovered widows of miners. And unfortunately, these people do not benefit from any help to face their administrative problems and obtain their rights (pension, supplementary pension...). So, here too, most of them are tired, silicotic, or suffering from the aftereffects of work accidents they had previously. We are therefore trying to help them as best we can, by organizing three workshops to inform them, explain the situation to them, listen to their grievances, and compile files that we will take back to France. We also have doctors who will examine them and give us a report on their state of health. So all this is very heavy, and very difficult to organize. But we were able to face all the logistical and other problems thanks to the help we received from the local authorities, elected officials, local associations, the regional human rights commission and also from our friends. Our objective is not only the caravan, because there is also the post-caravan. We must prepare files, make statistics that will allow us to challenge the French government on this subject, but also the Moroccan government. France benefited from the work of these people, and Morocco from the money they sent to the country. If we do this, it is to avoid them suffering the same fate as the veterans, something we will never admit".