Dutch-Moroccans ask MPs aid in fighting mandatory dual-nationality

A group of Dutch-Moroccan people is asking the Tweede Kamer for support in their fight against compulsory Moroccan nationality. "After 50 years we want full Dutch citizenship", they said in a manifesto handed to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, RTL Nieuws reports.

"We want to be free to choose whether or not to opt for dual nationality and not be obliged by a foreign power to be a lifelong citizen of a state with which we do not wish to be bound", the manifesto reads. It is signed by 12 Dutch-Moroccans, including students, journalists and entrepreneurs. According to the Volkskrant, thousands more Dutch-Moroccan people support the manifesto, but do not dare to sign it out of fear of reprisals.

Due to a recruitment treaty signed between the Netherlands and Morocco in 1969, when migrant workers from Morocco started coming to work in the Netherlands in large numbers, people with both Dutch and Moroccan nationality are obliged to keep their Moroccan nationality for life. That means that they have to adhere to Moroccan laws and penalties on things like naming, marriage, divorce and sexual orientation, according to the broadcaster.

The Tweede Kamer cannot change the rules in Morocco, but the signatories think that support from the Dutch government and parliament can help them in their fight to get rid of the mandatory dual-nationality.