Spain deports African, Asian asylum seekers to Morocco amid rights group outcry

Spain has returned to Morocco more than a dozen sub-Saharan African and Asian migrants who reached the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and were turned down for asylum, the first deportation of its kind from the enclave since a mass border crossing in July. The Interior Ministry said the group had been sent back to Morocco after it agreed to receive them and they remained on Moroccan territory at present. It declined to give numbers or nationalities but migrant and rights charities operating in Ceuta said 16 people from Senegal, Nigeria, Yemen, Cameroon and Bangladesh were deported. The NGOs claim such returns fail to take into account the risks associated with Morocco’s treatment of migrants from other countries and fly in the face of the values espoused by Spain’s leftist government. Virginia Alvarez, an Amnesty International researcher, said Spain’s posture was hypocritical. “Spain, despite its (progressive) speeches in Europe, is not ensuring that human rights guarantees are met for people who cross its borders in Ceuta and Melilla,” she said. “Morocco does not respect many human rights.” Morocco’s Interior Ministry did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The International Organization for Migration, which cooperates with Moroccan authorities on voluntary return programmes for third country nationals or migrants, told Reuters IOM does not participate in deportations or forced removals. “Decisions on removals are the sovereign responsibility of States, and IOM has no role in determining who is removed or where they are sent,” it said, adding that its voluntary return programme supports migrants to rebuild their lives after choosing to go back to their countries of origin. A spokesperson for Spain’s Interior Ministry told Reuters that Morocco is considered by the EU to be a safe country, and deportations are carried out “with all the necessary safeguards”, without providing further details. Over 48 hours in July, some 80,000 people crossed from Morocco into Ceuta, a tiny enclave that along with Melilla represents Europe’s only land borders with Africa. While most returned within days, thousands remain and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government is under pressure from the EU and a frustrated populace to fix the Ceuta crisis before elections on November 29. Spanish authorities are housing 8,000 migrants in reception centres and processing asylum applications lodged by the majority of people remaining in Ceuta. Several NGOs including Amnesty International have complained to the Spanish ombudsman that some of the more than 13,000 people the government says have returned to Morocco voluntarily since the middle of August were forced to leave, including non-Moroccans.