Children await protection as the Ceuta counts diverge
Morocco and Spain report different crossing and death totals, while more than 800 unaccompanied children in Ceuta need shelter, care and the legal protection required by Spanish law.
Geopolitics··Evening
Two sets of figures for the same crossing
Moroccan and Spanish authorities describe the mass crossing into Ceuta with different totals. Morocco's interior ministry said about 40,000 people took part, that 1,135 were stopped from entering Melilla and that 11 people died, mostly by drowning. Spain said more than 60,000 people reached Ceuta by land and sea, put the death toll at 72 and reported that health services treated more than 1,000 people. Moroccan spokesperson Rachid El Khalti said the gap of less than 70 metres between the shores encouraged a mistaken belief that the crossing would be easy; the ministry blamed misleading information on social media and trafficking networks. A later Al Jazeera report said 3,000 to 5,000 of the roughly 60,000 people who arrived on Thursday had avoided expulsion. Although the totals do not agree, the two reports establish the scale of movement and show that thousands remained in Ceuta while returns continued. The disagreement matters because the same people enter administrative systems on opposite shores under counts that assign different dimensions to the crossing and its human cost.[2], [1]
More than 800 unaccompanied children are among those remaining
The need for shelter and protection among those left in Ceuta is concrete regardless of the dispute over the overall crossing count. Al Jazeera reported that more than 800 unaccompanied children were in the city. Article 35 of Spain's 2000 law on foreigners' rights requires protection and immediate care when police identify children or teenagers without an accompanying adult. The migrant centre, with capacity for 600 people, was full; food was scarce, and many people were staying outside, on the beach or on nearby hills. Most Moroccan adults had returned voluntarily or were pushed back by Spanish police. Children without adults, however, require an assessment of their age, transfer into child-protection services and suitable accommodation. Those remaining did not all come from Morocco: the report also identified people from Sudan, Gaza, Afghanistan and several other African countries. That range of origins means asylum, return and care cannot be completed through one bilateral process. The immediate question is no longer only how many people crossed the border. It is how the city will provide the protection required by law to children who remain after the rapid return of many adults, while its main reception facility is already beyond capacity.[1]
The European meeting will discuss the external border
The humanitarian and administrative pressure in Ceuta is also on the European Union's agenda. 22 of the 27 member governments signed a letter calling for coordinated action and stronger external borders, and Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency, said interior ministers would meet by video on Tuesday. Several governments acted before that meeting: Italy suspended its Schengen arrangement with Spain, France increased police numbers at the Spanish border fivefold and Portugal tightened controls on its southern land and maritime borders. The joint letter says uncontrolled mass crossings cannot be allowed, but the powers and instruments to be discussed were not specified. Meanwhile Morocco has issued its own crossing and death totals, and Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said the vast majority of those who entered had already returned to Morocco. The meeting therefore begins with movement already occurring in both directions and with authorities on the two shores using different figures. It will address border control while Ceuta still faces immediate accommodation and child-protection needs. Coordination will have to connect those two levels: decisions made among EU governments and the practical return, reception and care arrangements carried out in and around Ceuta. How that connection will work in practice has not yet been explained.[3], [2]
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