2023-06-23 01:01:00
There are still at least 22 unidentified bodies in the morgue in Morocco.
Amnesty International activists will join the ‘I March for Justice 24J’ in Melilla tomorrow.
“The families of those who have died or are missing are caught in uncertainty as the apparent cover-up by the Spanish and Moroccan authorities hampers their attempts to find out what happened to their loved ones and their efforts to obtain justice, truth and reparation.” Amnesty International declared on the eve of the first anniversary of the deadly events on the border of the Spanish enclave of Melilla.
At least 37 people died after around 2,000 sub-Saharan migrants and refugees tried to enter Spain from Morocco on June 24, 2022. Their whereabouts remain unknown at least 76 others. The authorities of Spain and Morocco have so far not carried out an effective and independent investigation, which leaves dozens of families in a situation of anguish.
“One year after the Melilla massacre, the Spanish and Moroccan authorities not only continue to deny any responsibility, but also frustrate attempts to find out the truth. There are still bodies in a morgue and in graves, and efforts to identify the dead and inform their families are blocked,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
“The barriers to truth and justice are also a reflection of the harmful treatment that continues to be inflicted due to race and immigration status. Even so, while the hope of finding the 76 people whose whereabouts are unknown alive is fadingthe demand on the authorities to establish the truth and guarantee justice for the victims and their families is increasingly powerful.”
One year after the tragedy, the authorities have made no attempt to repatriate the remains of the victims and at least 22 bodies remain in a morgue in Morocco. The authorities in Spain and Morocco have not provided a complete list of the names of the victims and the causes of their death, nor have they provided images from surveillance cameras that could serve as the basis for an investigation. In addition, they have not adequately investigated actions that constitute crimes under international law and human rights violations, nor racism and discrimination at the border.
The Spanish authorities refused to open an independent investigation and, in December 2022, the prosecutor’s office closed its investigation into the deaths on the grounds that they had found no evidence of criminal conduct by the Spanish security forces.
The Moroccan authorities, for their part, have not opened any investigation into the use of force by their border agents and have made it virtually impossible for families and NGOs to search for the unaccounted for and the deceased. Written requests for information sent by Amnesty International to the Moroccan and Spanish governments have so far received no response.
Meanwhile, the Spanish authorities have continued to carry out illegal practices at the borders, such as collective expulsions, in which excessive force is often used. On the Moroccan side of the border, as a consequence of the cooperation between the two countries, the Moroccan authorities continue to prevent black sub-Saharan people from reaching Spanish territory to request asylum at the border post.
A 2022 Amnesty International report concluded that the tragic events of June 2022 were foreseeable and the loss of life avoidable. In November 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance said that the violence in Melilla “reveals the status quo of the European Union’s borders, namely the use of racialized exclusion and lethal violence to prevent the entry of people of African and Middle Eastern origin and other non-white populations”.
“We are just immigrants and we are human beings. We are not animals. We need respect like anyone else”, he told Amnesty International today Aboubidafrom Sudan, which was beaten and sprayed with tear gas, and who was denied medical assistance in Melilla.
“What happened in Melilla is a good reminder that racist immigration policies aimed at fortifying borders and restricting safe and legal pathways for those seeking safety in Europe have real and deadly consequences. It’s hard not to see the racist element in what happened in Melilla and the dehumanizing way in which black people are treated at the borders of Europe when they live, disappear or die”, concluded Agnès Callamard.
“A year ago, amid a mounting mountain of evidence of gross and multiple human rights violations, Amnesty International demanded an urgent and impartial investigation into the Melilla deaths. A year later, the conclusion that we are dealing with a deliberate and concerted cover-up is becoming more apparent. If the lessons of Melilla – or the recent shipwreck off the Greek coast – are not learned, the arbitrary loss of life, violence and impunity at the borders will continue, and the suffering of those seeking protection will worsen.”
The Melilla massacre in the new legislature
Among the 14 requests that Amnesty International has sent to the political parties ahead of the July 23 election is that “Ceuta and Melilla stop being places where it is practically impossible to ask for asylum, and where exceptional legislation is applied regardless of the international obligations contracted by Spain”.
“In the previous legislature, the opportunity to end the ‘hot returns‘. In the next one, it is necessary to adopt the necessary legislative changes to ensure asylum applications at the border and that tragedies like the one in Melilla do not occur again,” claimed Esteban Beltrán, director of Amnesty International Spain.
In addition to joining the “I March for Justice 24J” in MelillaDuring this week, Amnesty International activists have participated in events in 30 towns demanding justice for the victims and their families. The organization is also keeping open a petition for signatures with this claim and will deliver the nearly 22,000 tokens of support obtained internationally to both La Moncloa and the Moroccan Embassy in Spain.
Check the report “They hit him on the head to check if he was dead.” Evidence of crimes under international law committed by Spain and Morocco on the Melilla border.
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