Amnesty International reminds Minister Marlaska that acting outside international treaties puts people’s lives at risk

2024-01-23 12:56:59
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, this Tuesday during his appearance in the Congress of Deputies.FERNANDO ALVARADO (EFE)

Given the ruling of the Supreme Court, which has shown that the returns of dozens of minors from Ceuta to Morocco, carried out in August 2021, and authorized by the Minister of the Interior and the Ceuta authorities without any type of administrative procedure, were illegal, the organization notes:

“It seems that we need to remind the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, once again, that acting outside the law and international human rights treaties puts people’s lives at risk. This is what various human rights organizations have told you, and this has just been confirmed by the Supreme Court,” denounces Virginia Álvarez, migration researcher at Amnesty International Spain.

“The Court itself is surprised that the returns were carried out alleging a mere conversation between officials, when administrative procedures cannot arise from the mere will of public workers. And it regrets that the physical and moral integrity of the minors was thus endangered, thus contravening Spain’s obligations in terms of human rights. At Amnesty International we agree with what was stated by the Supreme Court, and we believe that Minister Marlaska must assume his responsibilities once and for all. With this expulsion, Spain also violated the European Convention on Human Rights, since it carried out a collective expulsion as a result of an indiscriminate decision by the authorities,” declares Virginia Álvarez.

Between May 17 and 18, 2021, around twelve thousand people from Morocco entered the city of Ceuta, including at least 1,500 minors. Amnesty International already requested at that time that the returns be stopped until the protection guarantees were met.

Furthermore, the organization has been demanding investigations into what happened for some time, both in Tarajal (where at least 14 migrants died) and in Melilla (where at least 37 people died and dozens of them are still missing), demanding that the summary and collective expulsions stop.