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Spanish authorities announced on Tuesday, October 23rd, that 55 migrants among those who forced their way into Melilla on Sunday will be expelled to Morocco. The decision is based on a migration agreement signed in 1992 by Rabat and Madrid, and which allows the Iberian Kingdom to expel foreigners who have illegally entered the enclave.
140 migrants, who have made it to Melilla, sought asylum. 10 of these migrants are underage, 10 were wounded and 5 others are currently hospitalized.
However, NGOs in Spain believe that repatriating these migrants violates their rights. Indeed, Ignacio Alonso, one of the lawyers sent by the Spanish authorities, told El Pais that «when [he] arrived, the expulsion decision had already been signed by the government delegate» in the autonomous city.
These 55 migrants were sent back to the Beni Ensar port, said the same source. Once in Morocco, the local authorities announced that they are expelling them to their countries of origin, said the Moroccan Interior Ministry in a statement.
These migrants are currently held in a police station in Nador, Omar Naji, head of the Nador office of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) told Yabiladi on Tuesday.
A problem that affects the two countries
According to the Moroccan NGO, «identifying these migrants can not be done in less than 24 hours». Speaking to Yabiladi, Naji believes that «the procedure was rushed as it is nearly impossible to listen to all of these migrants in this short period».
Moreover, the activist thinks that the agreement on which Spain and Morocco based their decision «was never applied before», adding that at the time «it covered only Moroccan migrants, because in 1992, when the agreement was signed, there were not many Sub-Saharans who took this route».
Unlike the 20 migrants expelled from Ceuta to Morocco in August, who were sentenced to prison and fined by the Kingdom, those expelled on Monday by Melilla were not prosecuted, added Naji.
The Moroccan authorities «keep them at the police station while waiting to contact the embassies and the authorities in charge». However, this practice is seen as illegal by the association, because «it doesn’t provide the legal guarantees to the migrant and doesn’t take into account their asylum applications».
