Marrakech – Spain’s State Attorney General’s Office has opened more than 30 procedures over sexual assaults against migrant women in occupied Ceuta since the mass entry of migrants on July 30 and 31. In 40% of those cases, the victims were unaccompanied minors, according to a statement released Friday.
The figures emerged from a working meeting between State Attorney General Teresa Peramato Martín and Minister of Youth and Childhood Sira Rego, held at the headquarters of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Both officials pointed to the special vulnerability of migrant girls.
The two agreed on the need to speed up the transfer to mainland Spain of migrant children who have remained in occupied Ceuta since the mass entry. Rego told the attorney general that the government has made available 500 places on the Peninsula to carry out the transfer in the shortest possible time.
According to Rego, the measure would help ensure adequate conditions for the children’s care and wellbeing, while also easing the situation in the enclave. Both officials agreed that Spanish and international law require any decision affecting minors to prioritize the best interests of the child.
Peramato detailed a decree she issued on August 7 with guidelines to protect unaccompanied migrant minors in the Spanish-held city. The decree instructs delegated juvenile prosecutors to act when a destination region rejects or shows reluctance to immediately receive the minors assigned to it once a transfer resolution is known.
Spanish law allows the repatriation of Moroccan minors who entered irregularly, but it does not permit automatic returns based on illegal entry alone.
Under Article 35 of Organic Law 4/2000, minors must be placed under child-protection services, and authorities must examine family circumstances, hear the child where appropriate, and obtain reports before any return. Royal Decree 1155/2024 similarly requires an individual repatriation procedure, with the child, prosecutor, and guardian formally notified.
Courts have reinforced those limits. In January 2024, Spain’s Supreme Court confirmed that the 2021 return of Moroccan minors from occupied Ceuta was illegal because authorities skipped the required procedure.
The obstacle to their return, according to Moroccan political analyst Samir Bennis, is not Moroccan foot-dragging but Spanish law. A 2007 accord governs the repatriation of unaccompanied Moroccan minors, yet Spain has never faithfully honored it; the Spanish government itself acknowledged in 2020 that “since September 2007, no repatriation of unaccompanied Moroccan minors has materialized.”
The reunification track has faced its own obstacles. The meeting also addressed difficulties recorded in the prosecution’s annual report in carrying out family reunification with Morocco, even as Rabat cooperates on returns.
On the Moroccan side, the Moroccan League for the Defense of Human Rights announced Friday that it had submitted its report on the events in occupied Ceuta and Melilla to United Nations mechanisms, international rights organizations, and the Spanish ambassador to Morocco.
The League referred the file to UN special procedures covering migrants’ rights, torture, racism, violence against women and girls, children’s rights, and the right to life. It called for an independent, impartial, and transparent investigation, and for protection of the most vulnerable groups, chiefly women, children, and minors.
Read also: Ceuta’s 2,100 Migrant Children Become Flashpoint in Spain’s Political Debate
