Eight NGOs file complaint over migrant rights violations in Ceuta — TimesLIVE
Eight charities, including Oxfam and Amnesty International, have filed a complaint with Spain's ombudsman over alleged serious violations of migrants' rights in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in northeastern Morocco. As TimesLIVE reports, the complaint concerns, among other things, the alleged forced return of people from conflict-affected countries, as well as the denial of interpreter services and legal assistance.
After a mass border crossing on July 30, thousands of migrants remained in Ceuta. Some of them are living outdoors or hiding in the hills around the city. The government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is trying to speed up the processing of asylum applications, intending to return most people, mainly to Morocco, as economic migrants.
Claims of forced returns
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that no covert deportations are taking place and that returns are voluntary. According to him, 12,000 people decided to return from mid-August. Authorities also received up to 1,200 asylum applications and reviewed 700 of them.
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At the same time, at least nine non-governmental organizations say that the migrants they assist were forced to return. Asociación Elin said that on September 24 and 25, police summoned migrants from Sudan and Chad, after which they were deported without warning. Moroccan migrant Azhaar Chaouni told Mission Lifeline volunteers that he and other people were taken by bus from temporary camps on the beach allegedly to reception centers, but were ultimately transported to Morocco.
Overburdened asylum system
Current rules require that each migrant's circumstances be assessed individually, including Moroccan nationals, despite the country's status as a safe country of origin. In August, the Spanish government estimated that more than a thousand people from sub-Saharan African countries were among the migrants remaining in Ceuta. According to government statistics, nationals of these countries are granted asylum in Spain in more than 90% of cases.
Already, 262 minors have been transferred to mainland Spain. Police union representative Raúl Piera said that as of October 14, approximately 100 cases were registered daily due to a lack of staff and technical resources. The union estimates the number of people still in the city at 7,000–8,000. Doctors at Ceuta's only hospital are treating migrants for scabies, tuberculosis and gastrointestinal infections; at least seven women have given birth.
