Morocco/Spain. The slowness and shortcomings of the investigation “smell of concealment”, six months after the death of 37 people at the border of Melilla
Families of missing persons add their voices to a new international campaign for justice
The disastrous failure of the Spanish and Moroccan authorities to reveal the truth about the deaths of at least 37 people from sub-Saharan Africa and the disappearance of 77 others after the deadly events on the border of the Spanish enclave of Melilla, as well as ensuring justice for them, “smells of cover-up”, Amnesty International said in a report published six months before the tragedy.
Titled “They hit him on the head to see if he was dead. Evidence of crimes under international law committed by Morocco and Spain at the border in Melilla, the report details the events that occurred when migrants and refugees from sub-Saharan Africa attempted to cross the border from Morocco into Spain on June 24. Neither country conducted effective and transparent investigations to establish the truth about the events of that day. Repeatedly, Moroccan authorities have prevented families and expert organizations from searching for missing persons.
“As we commemorate these sad events, six months later, the Spanish and Moroccan authorities continue to deny any responsibility for the carnage in Melilla. Evidence is mounting of multiple serious human rights violations, including unlawful killings and ill-treatment of refugees and migrants, in addition to the lack of information, to date, on the identity of those deceased and the fate of missing persons,” said Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard.
is essential that both governments bring truth and justice to the events of that day so that nothing like this happens again in the future.
Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International
“This situation smacks of cover-up and racism, at the same time as it rubs salt into an already painful wound. It is essential that both governments bring truth and justice to the events of that day so that nothing like this happens again in the future.”
Drawing on eyewitness accounts, video footage, and satellite images, the report paints a detailed and horrific picture of what happened when 2,000 migrants and refugees attempted to enter Melilla through a border crossing called “Barrio chino”. Given the lack of transparency from both governments, Amnesty International has written to the Moroccan and Spanish authorities asking them to share information on the mandate and progress of the investigations. The organization also shared a summary of its findings with both governments in November. She received no response.
The report shows that the events of June 24 were foreseeable and that the loss of human life could have been avoided. It reveals that over the past months and days, refugees and migrants present around Melilla have come under increasing attacks from Moroccan security forces. The agents burned and destroyed all the belongings of many of these people, who ended up regrouping in their thousands and marching to the border, where they clashed with Moroccan and Spanish authorities who made illegal and murderous use of strength.
As they approached, the police showered them with stones and fired tear gas into dead-end spaces. Many injured people continued to be beaten while lying on the ground, half unconscious, unresponsive, or breathing heavily.
Zacharias, a 22-year-old Chadian, told Amnesty International: “Moroccan and Spanish security forces were throwing everything at us: tear gas canisters, stones, bullets, and rubber ammunition… We couldn’t see anything and we could barely breathe.”
Around 400 people were stranded in a small area surrounded by walls, cornered by Moroccan forces. Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab has helped build an immersive three-dimensional model and visual reconstruction of the facts that provide a chilling perspective on events and actions by security forces that may amount to torture and lead to unlawful killings.
“It looked like the Moroccan police had let us free to get there, then cornered us… They started throwing tear gas canisters at us, sound bombs… Everyone was trying to go where they could, it was the chaos,” Omer, a 21-year-old Sudanese, told Amnesty International.
A 27-year-old Sudanese Salih told Amnesty International: “The Spanish police sprayed our eyes while the Moroccan police threw stones at our heads.”
Neither the Moroccan authorities nor the Spanish authorities provided rapid and adequate medical assistance to the injured people; in particular, they refused access to the area to a Red Cross ambulance, while dozens of people were left to their fate in the blazing sun, without assistance for at least eight hours.
A person interviewed by Amnesty International said Spanish security forces had forced injured people back across the border into Morocco, even though they were “bleeding or had open wounds”. Many of the victims of summary returns to Morocco were imprisoned and suffered further violence and human rights abuses. A 17-year-old Sudanese boy told Amnesty International that “along with all the people captured, they were taken to prison by the Moroccan police, where they were beaten on the head with hammers until they died. follows. Other people died during their beatings.”
The coach drove an estimated 500 people to remote parts of the country, where they were left on the side of the road, without medical attention, after being stripped of their belongings. Some told Amnesty International they were forcibly transferred more than 1,000 km away.
Neither the Moroccan government nor the Spanish government has released the preliminary results of any investigation into the number of people who died and the causes of their death. In addition, they have not announced at any time that they have opened an investigation into the use of force by border agents. Neither government has released footage recorded by CCTV cameras along the border, and Spanish authorities have refused to open an independent investigation.
Instead of helping NGOs and the families of the dead and missing, the Moroccan authorities have made their search virtually impossible. This situation is difficult for families trying to trace their loved ones. Jalal, the brother of Abdel Shakour Yehia, a 24-year-old Sudanese, told Amnesty International: “If my brother was alive, he would have contacted us. I think he was a victim of enforced disappearance.”
After months of no news from him, Huwaida, the niece of Anwar – a 27-year-old Sudanese man missing since June 24 – saw videos and photos of his apparently lifeless body that had been posted online. She told Amnesty International: “Without him, there is no laughter or action. His mother thinks of him a lot. She wants to know what happened. I beg you to help us get justice.”
For more than a decade, UN experts have expressed concern about the discriminatory treatment of sub-Saharan people at this border. On November 1, 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance said that the violence in Melilla “is indicative of the current situation at the borders of the European Union, namely, an exclusion of racialized people and the deadly violence deployed to prevent people from Africa or the Middle East from entering, as well as other non-white populations”.
“The illegal use of force in Melilla leaves an indelible stain, not only on the hands of Moroccan and Spanish security forces but also on those of all those who defend racist migration policies, likely to cause harm and violence against people trying to cross borders. Instead of fortifying these borders, the authorities must open safe and legal pathways for people seeking refuge in Europe,” said Agnès Callamard.
“Moroccan and Spanish authorities must communicate transparently about the mandate and limits of any ongoing investigation; they must not only guarantee the effectiveness of the execution of these investigations by cooperating fully with them, but also ensure that their mandate is extended to include allegations of racism.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
States have the right to take steps to prevent unauthorized entry to their borders, but they must do so in a way that does not violate human rights.
In the months since June 24, more and more details of the events have come to light and the Spanish and Moroccan authorities are under increasing pressure.
Following a visit to Melilla at the end of November, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights publicly criticized the fact that asylum seekers present in Morocco had no access ” real and effective” to the asylum at the border post, which leaves migrants with little choice but to try to cross the border illegally.
Furthermore, the Spanish mediator concluded, after a preliminary investigation and a visit to Melilla, that at least 470 migrants and refugees had been summarily returned to Morocco from Spain, and reminded the State of its obligation to notify mistreatment.
