Effects of Humanitarian Regulation on the Informal Economy and Remarginalization: Cross-border Smuggling between Morocco and the Spanish Enclave Ceuta

Abstract

The informal economy operates in many countries with tacit approval or toleration from the authorities. Also, the authorities sometimes try to control informal economic activities with the aim of reducing or eliminating them. This paper examines how regulations on the informal economy, especially those implemented from a humanitarian perspective, affect its participants, by focusing on cross-border smuggling between Morocco and the Spanish enclave Ceuta. Cross-border smuggling is an informal economic activity in which the porters, most of whom are poor women, carry merchandise from Ceuta into Morocco without paying customs duties. Such smuggling has been not only tolerated but also virtually controlled by authorities on both sides through regulations, some of which are intended to improve the porters’ working conditions. This paper revealed that even regulations implemented from a humanitarian perspective have led to the remarginalization of these informal workers, reducing their incomes and pushing them into even more marginal economic activities. Analyzed from transboundary and gender perspectives, the severity of such remarginalization is increased according to the workers’ vulnerability. As cross-border workers, they must deal with the different policies of the authorities on both sides of the border. As women who have less opportunity to earn in the patriarchal society, they tend to be more greatly impacted by regulations because it is difficult for them to make up for lost income.