Human Rights Violations Documented in Ceuta
A recent report by Amnesty International has raised alarming concerns regarding the treatment of migrants who have arrived in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta during a significant influx at the end of July. Following a field mission where the organization interviewed approximately sixty individuals, the findings shed light on serious allegations of abuse. In a report published on September 30, Amnesty International condemned the "torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" inflicted by members of the Spanish military on migrants still present in Ceuta after the unprecedented surge at the end of July.
To document these occurrences, Amnesty International conducted an information-gathering mission from September 10 to 15, collecting 65 testimonies from migrants and asylum seekers originating from Morocco, Algeria, Somalia, and Yemen. Among those interviewed were 31 minors aged between 13 and 17 and 26 women, two of whom were pregnant. Out of the 65 testimonies, 22 directly reported experiences of beatings, harassment, insults, theft of money, and confiscation or destruction of mobile phones. These actions were confirmed to have been carried out by Spanish soldiers patrolling the city.
Reports of Torture and Gender-Based Violence
The Amnesty International report detailed harrowing accounts from two Moroccan youths who displayed head injuries and indicated that one was forced to kneel before being beaten. Another Moroccan youth recounted being left paralyzed for 25 days after being pushed from a height by a soldier. Additionally, a Moroccan boy and an Algerian man reported being repeatedly beaten with batons and punched while restrained with plastic ties.
Amnesty International has gathered photographic and video evidence of these abuses, showing individuals with severe injuries on their backs and heads, as well as marks consistent with being beaten. The organization also documented instances of gender-based violence and sexual violence, particularly the humiliating and degrading treatment of Moroccan women. One young Moroccan woman described being mocked by a soldier who made sexually charged comments about her pregnancy.
Daniel Canales, a researcher from Amnesty International involved in the report, stated in an interview with Spain's national radio (RNE) that the assaults perpetrated by soldiers against migrants and asylum seekers in Ceuta could be classified as torture under international standards.
Moreover, among the individuals interviewed by Amnesty International were asylum seekers who entered the Spanish enclave before the influx on July 30, yet they had never been registered as asylum seekers, nor had they undergone any assessment regarding their vulnerable situations or specific needs. Since the implementation of the European Pact on Asylum and Migration in early June, EU member states are obliged to conduct screenings of individuals arriving at their borders to identify asylum seekers and refer them to appropriate asylum procedures. However, Amnesty International found that in Ceuta, asylum seekers from war-torn countries like Somalia and Yemen had not had their asylum applications opened, received no vulnerability assessments, and were often victims of illegal expulsions.
In mid-September, the Spanish government announced the initiation of an internal investigation to address the allegations of violence targeting Moroccan migrants, following reports by the Spanish media outlet El Diario, which had gathered nearly twenty testimonies from migrants who reported experiences of violence. Human rights organizations documented approximately one hundred victims of such incidents. A 17-year-old minor, with swollen and bloodied lips, remarked, "My head hurts. We were very scared. We were cornered, and the soldiers laughed at us while they beat us." The leftist party Podemos condemned these acts as "extremely serious" and called for the suspension of all military personnel involved in violence against migrants in Ceuta until the circumstances surrounding the case are clarified.
After the influx on July 30 and 31, during which around 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta, many returned to Morocco, but thousands more—5,000 according to the government and 13,000 according to local authorities—remain in the Spanish enclave, where conditions have deteriorated, leading to outbreaks of violence and near-daily protests from local residents demanding a return to normalcy. Thousands of migrants continue to live on the streets and beaches of Ceuta, where makeshift camps have been established. Since the onset of the crisis in the Spanish enclave, approximately 6,000 accommodation places have been created as a measure deemed "necessary" by Madrid to identify migrants and ensure that "everyone without entitlement to international protection is returned to Morocco."
As reported by infomigrants.net.
