Part three of the series of articles on Ceuta, comprising Part I: the humanitarian crisis and Part II: geopolitical causes.

Three months after the severe humanitarian crisis in Ceuta, in which 142 people lost their lives, thousands of migrants remain on the city’s streets without receiving any care, in conditions akin to apartheid and with nowhere to rest, as the beach settlements have been cleared without any alternative accommodation being provided. The Spanish state is pursuing a policy of attrition, violence and forced expulsion to Morocco.

Groups such as Border Resistance, Apoyo Mutuo Ceuta, No Name Kitchen and Asociación Elín have documented and denounced these systematic human rights violations in Ceuta. The more than 100 testimonies they have collected are harrowing: migrants recount how police and military personnel have pursued, harassed, physically and psychologically assaulted, humiliated and even stolen their belongings. The aim appears to be to ensure these people see no other way out than to return to Morocco, and to present these as ‘voluntary returns’. No Name Kitchen and Apoyo Mutuo Ceuta have been criminalized and persecuted for their work in documenting the situation and providing support to people living on the streets.

A week ago, a video came to light showing military personnel slapping migrants who appeared to be minors. The situation facing children in Ceuta is extremely serious: many are forcibly returned to Morocco, there are constant changes to reception procedures, and cases of physical and psychological violence have been reported in children’s centres. This constitutes clear violations of the law on the protection of children and young people.

The situation of asylum seekers is also worth highlighting: the Ministry of the Interior is returning asylum seekers to Morocco who had been granted permission to remain in Spain. Many of these people come from war-torn countries such as Sudan, and upon being returned to Morocco they suffer abuse and violence and are left stranded in the desert.

The situation facing LGBTQIA+ people is particularly serious and urgent: many of their applications for protection and shelter are ignored, leaving a persecuted and vulnerable group on the streets. Furthermore, there have been reports of humiliating treatment at CETI centres, as well as physical assaults and further thefts of their belongings and mobile phones by the authorities. If deported to Morocco, these people risk prison sentences.

As if that were not enough, the Spanish government has recently tightened its migration policy even further with a new Asylum Act that speeds up processing times and complicates the process, and an amendment to the Immigration Act, in line with the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum. What is happening in Ceuta is the result of centuries of colonisation and imperialism and of a necropolitics of the border in ‘Fortress Europe’. We cannot continue to normalise what is happening and look the other way. The revolution will be anti-racist or it will not be at all.

Sources

• «No Name Kitchen denuncia una campaña de criminalización tras un registro “lleno de irregularidades”». El Salto.

• «Un vídeo muestra a militares en Ceuta dando bofetadas a una persona migrante aparentemente menor de edad: “No entendéis la libertad, la humillación”». elDiario.es.

• «Los juzgados de Ceuta investigan denuncias por agresiones de militares». elDiario.es.

• «Elín denuncia redadas “violentas” en el CETI y devoluciones “ilegales” a Marruecos». El Faro de Ceuta.