Since the events of 30 and 31 July, when around 80,000 people entered Ceuta from Morocco and we documented 145 deaths on both sides of the border, the city has been living through an unprecedented humanitarian and human rights crisis. Faced with the lack of response from Spanish institutions, we have turned to the United Nations protection mechanisms.
23 PEOPLE DETAINED AT THE CETI AND ABANDONED IN MOROCCO
On 30 October, together with Coordinadora de Barrios, we submitted an urgent communication to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. We copied it to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, the Special Rapporteurs on the human rights of migrants and on torture, and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers.
In it, we denounced what happened to 23 people who were living at the CETI (Temporary Stay Centre for Immigrants) in Ceuta. They came from Bangladesh, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Conakry, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Togo and Yemen, and none of them is Moroccan. On 23 and 26 October, the National Police detained them at the centre and took them to the border at night, away from any authorised border crossing. Several of them had pending appeals concerning their asylum applications.
For days, they remained trapped between the Spanish side of the border and the Moroccan zone, with no food, little water and no shelter. Neither State acknowledged that they were in its custody. They were then taken to the customs facilities at Bab Sebta and, from there, forcibly transferred to southern Morocco.
The Committee on Enforced Disappearances, in its General Comment No. 1 (2023) on enforced disappearance in the context of migration, expresses its concern about enforced disappearance in the context of migration and calls on States to adopt urgent measures to prevent and respond to this phenomenon and to guarantee victims’ access to justice.
That is why we are asking the United Nations to demand that Spain and Morocco clarify the whereabouts of these people, guarantee their integrity and take responsibility for disappearances in migration contexts.
DEFENDING RIGHTS IN CEUTA IS DANGEROUS
In a situation of such vulnerability as the one Ceuta is experiencing, it is essential to protect human rights defenders, who since 30 July have faced criminalisation and stigmatisation in the autonomous city.
For this reason, on 4 November we sent a report to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Andrea Bolaños Vargas. In it, we documented a pattern of harassment and violence against those who defend rights, those who report on the situation and even those who provide humanitarian assistance in the city: social organisations blocked while delivering food, journalists attacked and harassed while doing their job, lawyers assaulted by a crowd, and more.
We also drew the Rapporteur’s attention to the particular risk faced by leaders of migrant communities who are human rights defenders. They are the first to document violations and to stand by their people, and also the most exposed: their migration status puts them at risk of detention and expulsion, and they have no protection mechanism whatsoever. Attacking a leader leaves an entire community without a voice.
On 5 November, we met with the Rapporteur’s team to expand on this information. As a result, the Rapporteur spoke out publicly. She expressed concern about the attacks and obstacles faced by those who defend the rights of migrants in Ceuta and warned that fear is leading some organisations to stop wearing the vests that identify them. She also acknowledged the particular risks faced by leaders of migrant communities. Finally, she announced that she will continue to follow the situation so that the State prevents attacks, investigates assaults and protects humanitarian organisations, journalists and community leaders.
WE WILL KEEP DEMANDING AN END TO IMPUNITY AND THE RIGHT TO DEFEND RIGHTS
No border can be a space without rights. We will keep working with the UN mechanisms, with families and with human rights defenders so that the Spanish State is held accountable and no one has to hide for defending rights.