Melilla : An MP urges the EU to intervene for the repatriation of Moroccan minors

Daniel Ventura, city councilor for social welfare in Melilla, urged «the European Union to intervene for the repatriation of Moroccan minors in Melilla», reports EcoDiario.

«The European Union must invite Morocco to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and implement the repatriation agreement», said Tomas Bocek, a People’s Party deputy, and Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees.

The center that receives foreign minors in Melilla, and which can host 170 people, is home to 700 minors, according to the MP. Based on numbers, Daniel Ventura said that in 2017, more than 1,800 minors crossed the border. «The majority of them are 16 years old and 95% of them are originally from Morocco», he added. «Almost 400 Moroccan minors arrived in with their identity papers».

Moreover, Daniel Ventura recalls that Morocco signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2007, «but this agreement has never been applied», he said.